The Cold Blooded News The Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological Society Volume 28, Number 9;   September, 2001

My Experience With Bismarck Ringed Pythons

by Gina Wolfe

I'd like to preface this article by saying that I am not an authority on pythons. My only formal natural history training is as a docent at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo. I offer this article as an account of my experiences with these fascinating animals and hope you accept it as such.

I got hooked on small python species after the acquisition of my first snake, a ball python, three years ago. My love of Bismarck Ringed Pythons started as an internet romance. I saw a photo of one online and it was love at first sight. The photo was of a juvenile with spectacular bright orange and black rings overlaid with a shimmering rainbow iridescence. I had to have one of these snakes! So I started saving money to buy them, researching breeders, and trying to find out about their natural history and captive care.

The last was the toughest. There is not much information readily available about ringed pythons. What I was able to find out is:

1. They are found only on a chain of small islands off Papua-New Guinea, called the Bismarck Archipelago, hence the name Bismarck Ringed Python.
2. They are fossorial, or burrowing snakes.
3. They grow to an average length of about 5 feet.
4. They undergo what is known as an ontogenic color change. That means they appear different as juveniles than they do as adults, with the bright orange turning a duller brown.
5. They are one of the most iridescent snakes in the world.
6. They live in rainforest habitat and require high humidity and warm temperatures.
7. In their native habitat, they are often found around coconut husk piles.
8. Many keepers, even experienced breeders, have shedding problems with this species.
9. They are generally voracious feeders and tend to be snappy as babies.
10. They breed readily in captivity and are well established in the US pet trade.
11. They can be ophiophagous and there have been reported instances of cannibalism in this species.

Armed with these facts, I set out to buy a pair of hatchlings that I hope to breed some day.

Acquisition:
I ordered my pair from Dave & Tracy Barker of VPI from whom I got a lot of the information above. They had several bloodlines and I could get an unrelated pair from them. In Spring 2000, I placed the order. After a seemingly endless wait for the 2000 clutches to hatch and mature enough to ship, they finally arrived!

My husband Brett and I went to the Delta Air Cargo office to pick them up. When we opened their packing boxes to make sure they had arrived safely, we were greeted with two tiny orange and black jewels. We took them out of the snake bags to check them out and the first thing the little male did was leap from Brett's hand and try to make a dash under the counter. That was our first hint that we could not expect to treat these like hatchling ball pythons. These snakes are thin and fast, not your "typical" python. After retrieving the wayward male - later to earn himself the name Houdini for reasons obvious to anyone who owns a snake - and returning both to the snake bags, we headed home.

Housing:
Their homes had been prepared for them with overhead lamps and under tank heaters. The substrate was coco-peat (ground coconut husks that come in pressed blocks that expand with water) placed over red lava rocks for drainage. We also planted tropical plants and small sections of Repti-lawn with growing grass. The substrate is kept moist, but not wet or soggy. We also provided them with water dishes and small hide boxes with moist sphagnum moss. These arrangements changed fairly quickly.

First off, we found that the hide boxes were a complete waste of time and effort. The ringed pythons never use them. They just burrow into the substrate through which they can move incredibly fast. So the hide boxes came out. Then we got an insect infestation, some kind of tiny fly, in the female's tank. Thinking that the coco-peat was the source of the infestation, we removed it and replaced it with potting soil mixed with sphagnum moss. The female, named Diamond for the roughly diamond-shaped markings on her neck, cannot move through this nearly as quickly as through the coco-peat, but it seems to be good for her skin. Neither of our Ringed pythons has shedding problems.

Diamond also lost her plants because her tank is much shorter than Houdini's and the heat lamp burned them out. So her tank looks very bare right now, but she seems quite satisfied, anyway. Houdini will occasionally come out of his burrows at night and perch up on his plants, though.

Feeding:
We feed them pinkie mice, frozen & thawed. On Dave Barker's advice, we tried them on live fuzzies, but it was too awful. These particular snakes are not strong constrictors. Whether this is true of all ringed pythons, I can't say. After watching ours constrict fuzzy mice for long minutes and, failing to kill them, proceed to swallow them alive, we decided frozen was best for them. Visions of what larger mice or rats would do to them made me shudder, let alone watching the poor little mice get swallowed alive. It turns out they take frozen thawed much more readily anyway and display the voracious appetite we had heard about but not yet seen.

Handling/Socialization:
While these snakes are quite spectacular, especially as juveniles, they make really bad display animals. They spend probably 95% of their time underground. This is great for them since it allows them to feel secure and act out instinctive behaviors, but it can be a disappointment for the keeper. It also tends to make you forget about them - out of sight, out of mind.

However, since they are snappy as hatchlings, it is important to spend some time handling & socializing ringed pythons as babies so they don't grow into snappy adults. When handling them, we have to be prepared for their quickness and their ability to leap, launching their whole body forward with a lunge of the head and neck. They don't jump off the ground, but they do not hesitate to leap from an unwanted grasp from any height. Once they have calmed down from their initial fright at being picked up, they are active and curious animals. Short, frequent handling sessions reduced their snappiness. Ours don't snap at us now but still panic and run when we go to pick them up, though they calm down quickly.

Observations:

1. The head is pure black, including the eyes, tongue & linings of the labial pits. This seems to be an aid in camouflage as I have occasionally seen Diamond sitting in a burrow with just the front of her head sticking out, probably waiting in ambush for prey. She is very easy to overlook in this position, blending in perfectly with the soil substrate.
2. They seem to display specific adaptations for a burrowing lifestyle:
   • Sharp snout & wedge-shaped head, perfect for digging through soft soil.
   • Nares (nostrils) positioned on the side of the snout rather than the top like most pythons, to prevent them clogging with dirt when they dig with their up and down rooting motion of the head.
   • Labial pits only in a recessed area at the back of the lower jaw. Also prevents clogging with dirt while digging.

Conclusion:
I find these snakes beautiful and fascinating and wish there was more information available about them. While ours are still juveniles and at their most spectacular right now. I'm sure I will be able to appreciate the more subtle beauty of the adult snakes. I look forward to their maturity and the opportunity to attempt breeding them. There is much to learn from these shy animals and I will enjoy working with them for many years to come.

| Next Article: Tortoise Called Up for Jury Duty |
| Previous Article: Snake Venom: New Weapon Against Breast Cancer? |
| Return to Cold Blooded News Page | Return to CHS Home Page |