Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[new-b]

hey everybody! my names hannah an i'm from scotland. i'm looking to gather as much information as i can on royal pythons as my fiancé is looking to get me for my birthday and i'd rather know as much as possible before i actually get the little guy (or girl). any information would be greatly appreciated. thanks

[Scott W]

hi Hannah,

what would you like to know? Give us a list of questions and we can all give our opinions / experiances

Good choice on the Royal, great snakes.
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Please DO NOT pm orders for reptiles, send email instead scott@captivebred.co.uk

[new-b]

hey! there are so many things i want to know, ive done abit of research online but alot of the information was conflicting. i made a list of things i think might be important to know.

Which sex has a better temperament?
Recommend sellers (Scotland preferably)
Assisting with shedding
Types of food
Vivarium sizes
How to handle properly
Feeding patterns
Types of heating equipment
Humidity levels and how to keep it at the right level
Exercise activities
How active is your snake supposed to be?
Any way to tell if your snake is ill?
How often do you have to clean the vivarium?
Best thing to use in the bottom of the vivarium
Best types of hidey hole
Temperature of vivarium

thanks very much for your time its greatly appreciated

[mark]

Which sex has a better temperament? = no difference both tend to be easy going

Recommend sellers (Scotland preferably) =cant help you there sorry

Assisting with shedding= only needs doing if they dont shed complete what i do is when the eyes are clouded i give them a soak in warm(closer to cold than hot) water for around 25mins then they seem to shed complete same goes if theres bits of shed left on the snake get it in the bath to soak and gently peel the bits off

Types of food = rats or mice i use rats myself because as they grow up theres bigger rats available than mice

Vivarium sizes= depends on size of snake my male lives in a 3foot viv my adult female used to but never seemed to happy with it she now lives in a cube 2/2/2 and shes well at home everyones opinions are different when it comes to housing snakes but this is my own expierence

How to handle properly= erm just pick them up and let them do what they want to

Feeding patterns = i feed all my snakes once a week

Types of heating equipment = i use habistat thermostat(a must) and heat mats covering 1 3rd of the viv floor i also cover that with a thin piece of hardboard

Exercise activities= regular handling i suppose but its not a must they will happily just be lazy lol

How active is your snake supposed to be?= all are different royals are mainly only ever active at night

Any way to tell if your snake is ill?= theres loads of signs id say best bet if you suspect a problem ask on here

How often do you have to clean the vivarium?= i clean all of mine throughly once a month but spot clean as soon as i see any poop etc

Best thing to use in the bottom of the vivarium= everyones different i use aspen with my royals but the burms get newspaper

Best types of hidey hole= logs,plant pots,tubs the list is endless royals like to feel tight in there hides my male who is real fat still uses a piece of plastic pipe that he used when he was a baby its well funny his body sticks out everywhere and it just rests on top of him i use a few hides in the vivs though gives them choice

Temperature of vivarium = leave that for someone else cant be bothered to go out and check same for humidity lol but these 2 things are a must
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boas and burms

[new-b]

thanks mark the info is very helpful

[Scott W]

Which sex has a better temperament?
No different
Recommend sellers (Scotland preferably)
Can only think of UKbob (on this forum)
Assisting with shedding
humid hide during shedding periods, although not normally needed
Types of food
Rodents, rats or mice, defrosted (and warmed)
Vivarium sizes
3ft x 2ft would be fine for an adult
How to handle properly
No real skill needed, just don't handle 24hrs after feeding (needs time to digest)
Feeding patterns
Weekly is normally fine, but you will need to judge if it gets too fat or skinny
Types of heating equipment
Depends on your set up, Vivs = Ceramics on dimming stats, Tubs = mats on pulse stats
Humidity levels and how to keep it at the right level
again depending on set, easist is to provide good size water dish and humid hide (plastic tub with hole in filled with damp moss)
Exercise activities
Not particularly active snakes
How active is your snake supposed to be?
All are different, but overall a little exploring at night normally, just need to watch that it's not always at one end (could indicate it's too hot or too cold)
Any way to tell if your snake is ill?
Off food, sneezing, poor muscle tone, mucus around nose / mouth
How often do you have to clean the vivarium?
Depends on substrate, newspaper replace weekly (normally mess once per week) Aspen can be spot cleaned and changed monthly (depending how bad it gets)
Best thing to use in the bottom of the vivarium
Personal choice, I use Aspen for adults and newspaper for young, other choices are orchid bark chips
Best types of hidey hole
ANYTHING, I use buckets cut down with a small hole cut into the bottom, but cork bark is good
Temperature of vivarium
basking temp of 95f, cold end temp no lower than 82f (provide hides at BOTH ends)
_________________

Please DO NOT pm orders for reptiles, send email instead scott@captivebred.co.uk

[Scott W]

forgot to say...Great list of questions..Well thought out!!!
_________________

Please DO NOT pm orders for reptiles, send email instead scott@captivebred.co.uk

[new-b]

thanks very much the info is great it helps alot! thats everything i could think of i'm sure theres plenty more things i'll need to know but it helps having people that can give me their own experiences. thanks again.