So, I know green tree pythons have a reputation for being nippy, but if you’re willing to put in the work and don’t mind them being defensive, would you say green tree pythons are easy to care for?
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I would say no. They require very specific environmental conditions to thrive. Any of those conditions aren’t met the effects can be pretty permanent on their longevity. I would only recommend you buy a captive bred one, but knowing the price of one it is hard to say go ahead and try. Even without the reputation most people consider they intermediate to advanced. Due to their strict husbandry means I would say that you need at least be very on top of humidity, possibly a misting system that would auto-correct the humidity.
I hope some others can add some input on these awesome creatures.
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Define “easy”
As babies, they can be more than a little difficult. As adults, they can be fairly robust.
I have a 2003 animal that, until this past weekend, has spent the last fifteen years in a glass aquarium with a screen top using only incandescent bulbs for heat. There are chondro “experts” that would probably have an aneurysm if they heard that however, Rico Walder (the godfather of all things chondro) kept most of his animals the same way.
The reputation of them being nippy is also a bit of a fallacy. My girl has bitten me exactly once, and it was my fault for opening the tank after lights out when she was in hunt mode. During the day, she is a baby doll and I have, on more than one occasion, allowed children to handle her.
I do concur with Riley that they are an intermediate-level animal, at least in terms of keeping. If your goal is to breed them, I would bump to advanced-level
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@lumpy @t_h_wyman ok. I wanted to get some sort of morelia next spring/summer and I was deciding between a darwin carpet python and a gtp, and I think I’ll go with the carpet python now.
Yeah, start with the carpet first. Much more forgiving
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As someone that has kept both for the better part of 25 years, I’d choose a CBB established chondro over a carpet, but that’s me.
As far as breeding goes, chondros are very easy. Hatching eggs and getting babies to eat is where the advance patience comes into play.
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I definitely wouldn’t say chondros are difficult to keep but there is a smaller margin for error than other Morelia. If they’re in solid health then they’re usually pretty simple and straight forward but I’m in complete agreement with the above on starting with a CBB animal. The extra money spent there will save you a lot of heartache and frustration! A lot of people also end up paying what they would’ve for a CBB chondro when buying an import because of the vet bills that are usually needed once the import is brought home.
As far as the nippy-ness goes in my experience the stereotype is half accurate. Almost all the biaks I’ve kept were pretty high strung and snappy but I have had a few that were just as mellow as some of my others. The other side to that coin is I’ve had some other non-biak chondros that are just as bad if not worse than the biaks.
Being smart and not jumping that the cheapest option you see will give you a good head start with the species. Like I said, when they’re solid, they’re SOLID snakes.
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Different definitions of breeding LOL. I use the whole span from pairing through reliably feeding babies as my definition of “breeding”
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In my experience getting eggs was as easy as breeding cornsnakes. Getting babies to hatch and eat will make you question why you ever bred them. I couldn’t begin to tell you the pain and suffering.lol
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