Buying your Green Tree Python
by Winslow Murdoch
Due to the collecting methods of this species, the large number of
illegally imported animals, and the false documentation that comes with
them, I feel that you are best buying animals that come from captive
born stock (with animals whose parents you have seen and evaluated for
similarity in general traits), or from reputable wholesalers that will
stand behind their products. The greatest problem is when you buy
animals from even reputable dealers, you often get an animal you weren’t
expecting. I have seen dehydrated animals that were of good to great
color that after a six month stint in captivity died unexpectedly. I
have also seen animals that came from reputable dealers that were of
below average color and health, advertised as screamers. Like a lot of
things in life, if you want the best, you have to pay extra. Never buy
sight unseen!
The market of reptiles as living art and novelties will soon make it
necessary for a two tiered market to form. One will have yearling color
changed animals, and there will be unknown neonates for sale at a lower
price. Larger long time breeders will still have the ability to sell
captive proven lines of neonates with desirable color traits in the
adults for a premium.
As to the acclimation process, I always assume that even "well
acclimated" wild (or even captive animals, until I get my fecal report
back and finish mite treatment prophylactically, and quarantine) animals
from reputable breeders are covered with mites, and full of worms, and a
bevy of other parasites. I de-parasitise all animals that come into my
collection with several doses of no pest strip, droncit (for tapeworm),
flagyl, and panacur, and find all wild animals, regardless of who I
bought from, to be heavily parasitised on arrival. Many post treatment
scats initially look like fishing bait with all the round worms and tape
worm segments. If the animals arrive in very good condition, with lots
of fat stores and eat well, they might breed quickly in the first 6-8
months in captivity if cycled early. The risk is that they will be
stressed out and die a few months after egg laying or mating, and this
is a real issue with about ¼ of these female animals. Many will
establish themselves well initially, but not breed successfully for 4-6
years after arrival for reasons yet unknown. Females in particular are
noteworthy for this fact. As to the interest in locality specific
animals, I have spoken to numerous individuals who state that all
localities produce variable color types. It is hard to say with
certainty that a given animal, with it’s particular yellow or blue or
white speckled pattern, is without question from a given locality. We
as breeders are just now trying to breed animals with similar color
traits and hopefully we will have answers soon..
One last detail that I picked up at the 1997 Mid-Atlantic reptile
show from Dave Barker, who I guess doe not mind researching minutia (as a taxonomist by training and
volition). I couldn't think of a more tedious way to spend my years in
grad school,
counting snakes scales, or studying law, but without diversity of
interests, our world
would be a much less interesting place. He is coming out with a new book
in a year or
so that examines the diversity and complexity of python species native
to Indonesia and
New Guinea. He is stalled due to his research that has found that the
old taxonomy of this
area is largely inaccurate. He has now identified over five previous
subspecies of
amethystine python that he now feels need to be classified under
separate species status.
Even though they superficially have the same scale counts, they inhabit
vastly different
bio niches, come from isolated locations, have vastly different colors,
temperament, size,
and reproductive biology/fecundity, and basically are all very
different. He has personally invested over five thousand dollars to a
genetics lab
to investigate the general, and mitochondrial genetic similarities of
these superficially
similar animals, and has found very significant genetic differences.
Likewise, with Chondros, he has noted significant variations in this
taxa, even to the point
of very different scale counts among the different locality types, and
feels that there are
likely seven distinct subspecies (if not true separate species) that
exist. He has already
bred this taxa, and isn't working with them or spending $ on genetic
studies, but feels the
same likely applies. In his book, he will lump them together, but will
likely state what is
noted above. Bottom line, we really don't know exactly what we are
doing! since all the
species in the Indo-Australian region have all come from a common
ancestry (at least
that's the present party line), many of them can be intergraded, and
even produce fertile
offspring. This used to make them be classified under the same species,
but with lower
vertebrates, this doesn't hold true.
By the way, I and am not an authority in these matters. if anyone has
more formal
training in these issues, feel free to chime in, and tell me I’m off
base. I've never been
good at citing literature, but i have a knack for remembering the gist
of what i learn, and
then never forget. sometimes not forgetting can lead to stale
assumptions.
