Eos - my green tree pythons

I took a few quick pictures of one of my green tree pythons, Eos, after s/he shed this week, so I thought I would share. She is a captive bred cross from a Biak sire and an Aru dam. Just about loosing all of her red neonate colouration. Looks like (or a least I am hoping maybe ) she will have a nice deep green with black, yellow, & blue highlights. I really love watching the ontogenetic colour change in these guys...





Thanks for looking!!

Dave

Cool python. Although I have never had one, green and white would be my favorite color when it comes to snakes.

How big is it? You can't tell the sex?
Is it the same python in the second photo? The color is a little different, and I am not sure if it is caused by the lights.

(04-16-2012 12:27 PM)Admin Wrote:  Cool python. Although I have never had one, green and white would be my favorite color when it comes to snakes.

How big is it? You can't tell the sex?
Is it the same python in the second photo? The color is a little different, and I am not sure if it is caused by the lights.

Very good questions It is the same snake, actually only a few minutes apart. And except for cropping the pics, unedited. The first pic is with a flash, and the second was fluorescent lighting. Green tree pythons can be very tricky to catch their true colours. Allot of the chondro guys are also avid photography fans.

She is around 24", give or take. You can tell the sex, and with many species it's actually easier when they are neonates. Green tree pythons are very fragile, especially their spines, and it is very easy to injure them, or what is commonly called "kink" them by probing them at too young of an age. There are many people that advise against even holding them before they are 6 months old. I don't really agree with that, but you can't force them off the perch, you have to "tickle" their tail and let them crawl onto your hand. I call her a she because outwardly she appears to be female most likely, and I don't like the term "it".

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And just for the curious, here is a pic of her as a hatchling, almost a year ago...

I saw you used s/he in the first post, so I thought you were not sure about the sex of your python.

What do you feed her? How often?
I like the idea to "tickle" her. Do you always take her out for a ride?

I'll probably actually sex her in another 6 months or so. She takes frozen/thawed hopper mice right off the tongs, every 7-10 days. I don't power feed anything, I like them to grow slowly and more naturally. Tickle may not be the best word, but it comes the closest to describing the action, to prompt her to move herself. I try to handle everybody regularly. This species can tend to be a bit, inactive, with all of their needs met. She is going to get a nice display cage in the future, with a good amount of naturalistic enrichment. To keep her active at night, when she is most alert.

I see you just updated the photo. I see, how red she was, now she is green. I never expected a snake can change color completely. Post more photos please, we can use a good one for the article section for snakes. You can also post some of your best photos and videos under the sticky thread on the top.

Those are such beautiful snakes. I so want my python back now. I hope she keeps you company for a long time.

(04-17-2012 12:51 AM)Admin Wrote:  I see you just updated the photo. I see, how red she was, now she is green. I never expected a snake can change color completely. Post more photos please, we can use a good one for the article section for snakes. You can also post some of your best photos and videos under the sticky thread on the top.

I will. I am working on an article now. All green tree pythons, morelia viridis, start out as red or yellow neonates, then undergo an ontogenetic colour change to their adult colours to, variety of shades of green, with yellow, white, black, and blue mixed in. The exact colouration depends mostly on the locality of the animals parents. And now there are a number of "designer" chondros, with people specifically breeding to get high blue snakes, high yellow snakes, black snakes, etc...

Here is a picture of my little yellow neonate. S/he is a few months old, a Jayapura x Lereh cross.



And the emerald tree boas, corallus caninus, also start off as red neonates, undergoing an ontogenetic colour change to their adult emerald green with white highlights. I think this is one of the coolest examples of convergent evolution in old world pythons and new world boas. There are some research papers out there suggesting the neonate colouration has developed based on the colours of the leaf litter, foliage, and flowers in the localities that they are from.

Nice one. I like the yellow one too. So it seems people are also doing selective breed with snakes for better colors. Just like with fish and shrimps. All these photos without a hand in there is hard to tell how big your snakes really are.

Oh, selective breeding is very big in snakes. Just like with the fish, exact same concept. There are many species that have been bred for an exact colouration or pattern for over 20 years. And that is not even getting into genetic mutations, what are commonly called "morphs" in the herp community. But, that is a subject for another post.

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And that little yellow one is tiny, almost as big around as a man's pinky. I'll get some pics with a size reference in them. He should work out to be deep green, with the red dorsal stripe turning blue.

Around a man's pinky?
That is really small. What a tiny snake that size can eat? Insects?

Sorry, no, he is as thick as a man's pinky. 12-14" long.

Oh, but that is still really tiny. Would love to see a cute photo of you holding him in the hand.

(04-17-2012 04:19 AM)lhins Wrote:  Those are such beautiful snakes. I so want my python back now. I hope she keeps you company for a long time.

And thank you You should get one then. I really enjoy them.

(04-17-2012 09:22 AM)Admin Wrote:  Oh, but that is still really tiny. Would love to see a cute photo of you holding him in the hand.

Some pictures of the two above in the hand. My wife is doing the hand modeling

Nice photos. Very nice indeed! Your pet snakes are very cute! You have both snakes in the new photos, right? The last two photos have the yellow one. I was wondering why you wear 3 rings until I saw "my wife".