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The Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological Society

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Ice Python

Housing is very easy. An appropriately sized fridge or walk in freezer is ideal but holes must be made to ensure that the snake gets plenty of ventilation. A word of warning though; make sure that the freezer you choose is NOT white. It can be very difficult to see the snake against a white background, especially if the snake is shy and stays still. The snake must be kept below freezing during the winter to do well, and they will not eat at all if the temperature rises above 4°C. Water needn't be supplied, but some ice-cubes can be offered occasionally. During the summer the snake can be kept in a normal vivarium as the temperature can be allowed to come up to about 60°F. If the temperature goes too high, a good air conditioner is advised, as this will keep the snake cool. Although most people refer to this summer warming as 'sumnation,' it is more correctly termed aestivation as it does not involve raising the temperature so high that the snake will perspire.

The photo-period is very important. Lighting must be on continually for three months during the winter and off for three months during the summer. The day length must be graduated gradually during spring and autumn. UV light must not be used. The snake can be kept on any substrate that resists the cold. Expanded polystyrene chips are good. The usual precautions must be made to prevent ingestion whilst. the snake is eating. Breeding is usually quite easy with these species, although the smaller species has been known to get aggressive at breeding time and can get a taste for human blood. Both species require an elaborate mating ritual (dance) and many ice-rinks will be only too willing to let you rent their facilities for a weekend to get the snakes into breeding condition. Sometimes it is even possible to club together with other serious keepers to rent artificial ski-slopes and the like. The sight of three or four Ice Pythons dancing serenely on the ice is a beauty to behold and I suspect that this is the main reason why this species is kept.

Feeding is sometimes quite difficult. Fish fingers are a favorite but are rather small fare for the larger species. You can also offer penguins but it's best to pre-kill them and add a small amount of sodium chloride. The beaks can cause a lot of damage if is the bird is not constricted properly. Pinky polar bears and pinky seals are a good first food for the hatchlings of the larger species and often it is as well to stick to this diet. The largest snakes can consume a full grown polar bear or two (which must also be offered pre-killed). Although the snakes love shark, these should only be offered when all else fails. If it is necessary to feed shark, an appropriate amount of vitamin/calcium supplement must be sprinkled on the shark to create a more balanced diet (because sharks are cartilaginous, they are very low in calcium).

There is one problem with these snakes, and that is that they are very prone to getting arc-tics. These white insects are very easy to get rid of, however. You either wait until summer when they will melt or you spray the snake with nitrous oxide. This causes the arc-tics to lose their grip and fall off. It can be a little messy because they generally split in two along their lateral lines.

Interestingly there are stories of a southern species (the Antarctic Polar Boa or Frezius eskimo ocelsius, but these stories can almost certainly be dismissed, as this species is thought to have been extinct for hundreds of years. It is possible that a subspecies of the Antarctic polar boa is still kept on the island of Hokkaido in Northern Japan. This snake was prized for its blood, which contains a glycol based anti-freeze similar to some species of land tortoise. It is because of this that the people of Hokkaido would capture the animals, chop off their heads, and drain the blood into their car radiators. Another more sinister use of the blood is to ferment it and produce a very strong but nasty smelling (of rat) beer. This practice has been stopped in recent years after a scare connected with a rather inexperienced keeper in Austria when unfermented glycol was found in some bottles of wine.