Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,
About 14 months ago I bought an "adult" pair of spotted pythons from a seller on Kingsnake. When I received them the male weighed 132gm and the female weighed 120gm. Not having any prior experience with this species I took the sellers word that this was adult size. They did not breed over the past winter and I was a little worried that maybe I didn't have a M/F pair. I have since rechecked this with probes.
Anyway, they are both now well over 400 grams with the male pushing 450! Meaning they have grown 340% in a little over a year! I can only assume from this kind of growth that they weren't adults when I got them so my question is what IS adult size for sexually mature spotteds? Should I cool them and attempt to breed them this fall/winter or wait another year until their growth slows?

Any input would be much appreciated, I have been hard pressed to come up with much info on the internet aside from the basic description of them that everyone seems to cut and paste to their site.

Thanks,
John Yezbak

I don't think I ever weighed a spotted, but anywhere aroung 21/2 -3 ft. is about right! That's uaually about 2 years w/normal feeding!

Thanks for the input. I have them set up in 20L aquariums and they stretch the length of the front plus one side so that would be about 42"...should be good to go!

BTW, for anyone interested in spotteds I highly recommend them. They are VERY active, easy to feed, and are very hardy. They seem to prefer room temperature; only occationally using the hot spot in their cage. I keep them just like corn snakes.

Thanks,
John

John;

Congrats on obtaining a pair of Spotted Pythons.

In regard to breeding, while size is an important factor, age is equally important. Female pythons should be at least 3 years old to breed. They may produce at a younger age, however the result often tends to be smaller clutches and infertile eggs.
Males however can breed at 18-months.

Also, you should not assume your Spotteds "seem to prefer room temperatures" because they do not use your heat spot regularly.
Most likely, your hot spot may be too hot.
Hit it with a temp gun and let us know the results.

Hope this helps!

Gary

Thanks, but I'm not new to keeping snakes, I know how to check temps. I have 20 years experience keeping dozens of species and hundreds of animals. I was just hoping to gather some more info on this particular species. Apparently nobody else knows what the mature weight of a Spotted is either. I guess I will just continue keeping detailed records and see how it goes.
Again, thanks for the input.
Regards,
John