Congrats. Spotted and children's pythons are awesome snakes to keep. They can have quite an inquisitive nature compared to most colubrids in captivity. Cannot beat the size.

I agree that they are quite tolerant of temperate ranges, however, they will sometimes bask at temps that exceed what many colubrids will choose. Or better put, these pythons will sometimes bask at elevated temps for longer periods of time compared to kings/corns/etc. They can withstand cool temps for short periods just fine, but not like kings for example, which can sit at 60 deg for quite some time - weeks, months.

Regarding them being found in pairs - this can be true of kingsnakes too. During Winter, male and female pairs have been known to stay together until they breed in Spring. I would suspect that certain types of snakes that spend much time in underground retreats will choose similar retreats, and mating pairs will stay together for some time prior to breeding. It could be that the male found the female and stuck by her until his job is complete - and he'll probably return the next season if a more suitable male has not displaced him. Females can be picky too based on genetic differences.. thats right, females often are attracted to males that have a difference in DNA from themselves. It comes out in scent. The purpose is for more genetic diversity in offspring (ever here of opposites attract? There is some truth to that.)

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