Hi, Im new to the site but not new to having snakes as pets. I have had a b.p. and a red tailed boa in the past and both were great pets, and easy to handle. I am currently looking for a new snake, but im trying to have the best of both worlds....an exotic sweet looking snake but one that is somewhat nice and easy to handle. I know gtp's arent easy to handle except a for a few that ive heard of being nice and docile. I have been to a few stores to look at the amazing reptiles but am confused. They are called green tree pythons but can range from green blue yellow and redish brown. do they have a cycle in thier life where they change colors at certain points or what? If i buy a baby yellow gtp is it going to change color? because i really LOVE the blue gtp's. Are the blue ones more expensive? Also if you have any suggestions on other snakes i should purchase that would be great. I have looked at hog island boas, carpets, and bloods..dont get me wrong i like the balls and variations they come in, but im looking for something a bit cooler looking with a vibrant set of colors and very exotic looking(However i do like the mojave's, but to pricy i think?). I prefer boas and pythons over other snakes because they fit this preference i have. Ive had corns and other smaller snakes for a while but my favorites were the b.p. and red tailed boa. I know this sorta just turned into a big rant, but this is really what im contimplating right now. If you could somehow reply to this that would be awesome, if you have any input on another type of snake i should check out, let me know. Help finding the RIGHT snake for me would be much appreciated p.s. today is tuesday the 15th, I am going to a rep. swap this weekend on sunday the 20th to view and possibly purchase a snake. so any help between now and then would be awesome.
GTPs come in every flavour you think of...when they're juveniles, but will ultimately end up as green adults (hence GREEN tree python)..although some may maintain some degree of coloration (ie. blue). IMHO, if you want pretty snakes, ETBs, GTPs and ATBs are the way to go....but they dont always play ball when it comes to handling. Depends whats more important, a good snake to look at, or a snake to fetch the paper for you.
I agree with skunky. I love GTP's and ETB's but they are in a totally different handling class then the snakes you have had previously. Theirs very little middle ground.
thanks for the replies, yeah i kinda figured everyone was gonna say that, but i just love the way they look so much. Ive seen pictures of people handing their gtp's but i wonder how much trouble they went through to hold them. anyways, what about a blood python, any reccomendations?
The final coloration depends on bloodline and locality. Parents with blue usually have offspring with blue. A red GTP will end up green. Sometimes you will see reds being more expensive because they are thought to have more blue when they grow up. Wether this is fact or not is probably debaitable. I have a sorong locality GTP and it is easy to handle. Its actually hard to get off of you once you have it. ETBs are hit and miss with personality as well. I think they get bigger teeth though. Amazon tree boas are cool too. They come in loads of colors and are usually way cheaper and easier to keep than the other 2 listed. Blood pythons are cool too. They have a rep for being nippy. Again I got lucky and mine is very nice. He will breath heavy when i get him but calms down soon after. They dont move much though. I dont know much about carpet pythons other than i want one. I really like all the snakes i just listed. I have all but a carpet and ETB but i plan to get both someday. Really its all about what you want and what you are comfortable taking care off. all snakes listed take some specialized care, more soo with the gtp and etb.
I know these Green Tree Pythons you are looking at require much more care than a ball python or red tailed boa(I have both). What I mean as, they're not as hardy in captivity as those other two snake species I just mentioned. They are very nice looking, but are infamous in general for their distaste to handling. A GTP requires humidity levels of about 80%, but on the plus side not as much of a big enclosure because of their natural habit of hanging on a branch for long periods of time.
Is there such a snake that i can get that i can house 2 of them in the same enclosure? can they get along?
Id like to make a correction to my earlier statement. GTPs mostly dont turn out to look like thier parents. Some do, some dont. They all look different. What i should say is, if you buy from a breeder who has blue parents and has produced blue offspring, you have a better chance of a chondro (GTP) with blue in it. also you can buy a chondro from parents with no blue and get blue. Unless you get a blue adult, you are not garunteed to get a neonate that turns blue. the only chondro i know that has a good chance of staying its birth color is a canary gtp. They are very expensive and are not garunteed to stay yellow. They are all yellow babys as far as i know. some locals will stay thier neonate color longer than others. Biak locals are the quickesst to change, usually starting at about 8 months old. color changes can last anywhere from a shed to few years of sheds.
damn, just having a snake that has a dramatic color change like that would be awesome, i would love if i could buy one that would eventually turn solid blue, the blue ones are gorgeous.
not that i know of. Most snakes tend to be solidary creatures. I know someone on another forum keeps a bush viper and a ball python together. Its a very odd pairing, but one is arboreal and on terrestrial so they leave eachother alone. Well i guess the ball takes the squams food from time to time. I personally wouldnt suggest housing snakes together. a blue chondro would be amazing. although i like the bright green ones too.
I think it might just not be worth it as of right now to purchase a gtp, they are bit more pricy than other snakes and i cant handle htem as much which sucks, so i think ill get a different snake, im looking at blood pythons a ton, and at hog island boas, but im not sure what im gonna get i want something vivid with color and easy to handle. but wont mind if i have to deal with it being nippy at times.
I have had one of all the snakes your talking about. My GTP's are VERY nippy and I wouldn't dare handle them w/o gloves. My ATB's are young also, and they are strikey when you reach in to get them, but the bite if they hit you, rarely ever brings blood. Feels like you're running your hand along the bottom of a broom. Its actually really funny, but I wouldn't recommend getting one if you don't have time to handle them 3-4 times a week. B/c the little biters will eventually get pretty big, and will deliver a nasty bite if you don't handle them enough to get them more accustomed to being handled. I feel terrible, b/c I just bought a blood python about 3 weeks ago, and someone has already bought him from me. I hate to admit it, but he was VERY nippy. He would blow up like a water balloon when I opened the front sliding doors and would hiss and immediately start striking when you made any kind of movement. I tried to keep his humidity up, and when I would mist the tank he would strike at the water until I finished misting. He ate great, and shed in one piece in the duration of having him here, but I just didn't feed comfortable having such a mean snake w/ his potential of getting sooo large. They don't get that long, but can be 5" diameter. Very fat snakes. But of those you're talking about, I would recommend a ATB. GTP's are beautiful but nippy, and very picky about their environment. Good luck buying though!!! Try a Woma Python or a Blackheaded Python if you're willing to pay a little! They're colorful snakes, and rare. Wonderful personalities also...The one I just purchased has a temperament like my Red tail. They don't require much either. They're desert animals that don't like that much humidity!
Hog islands are great. as for the color a normal would not be anything special. don't get me wrong they are AMAZINGLY beautiful but not really a abnormal color. maybe you could look for a BP morph? You can sometimes find Pastels for a pretty decent price.
nice snake!! This vendor at the Raleigh show had a hatch of fancies that were beautiful! I kick myself for buying that blood, and not getting a couple of those and that Woma!!!
i have nothing against b.p.'s but honestly the only way ill buy a b.p, is if i fall absolutely in love with it, but other than that ive had one before it was a fun snake but i want something a little more exotic looking. I really like fat looking snakes and the bloods that i have been looking at are amazing looking. I have looked at woma's but they are a little out of my price range atm. (i think?)
You can get a Woma at 500 at a show if they are available around your area. There were a couple at the show I recently went to that were around that, most people, if you show a huge interest in them, you can get them talked down a little bit on them. I talked one guy down from 600 to 500. You would pay that for just about any kind of morph. If you end up w/ getting a blood........good luck finding that one in a million!!!!
