Children's Python – enclosure
Spatial requirements
Children’s pythons must be housed in an enclosure that is appropriately sized in relation to the size of the snake. For example, juvenile snakes must be in smaller enclosures and then be moved into larger enclosures as they grow and reach mature size. Adult snakes require larger enclosures.
Enclosure size is an important aspect of housing snakes as young snakes will feel vulnerable in an enclosure that is too large and hence may not thrive. Similarly, snakes that are housed in an enclosure that is too small may not thrive as they won’t be able to move around as they would in their natural habitat.
Glass aquariums with a secure mesh top can be used as snake enclosures but are not ideal as glass has poor insulation properties and can allow the enclosure to cool down too easily or over heat quickly for example if it has sun shining directly on it. Wooden custom built enclosures with glass fronts and commercially available enclosures (examples pictured below) are preferable and recommended as they provide a safe and secure environment for both the snake and handler and also allow easy observation of the snake’s activity. Children’s pythons should not be housed in outdoor enclosures in NSW.
It is recommended to use a long rectangular shaped enclosure with a reasonable height that may allow snakes to climb onto furniture and move about easily. When purchasing juvenile snakes, it is important to consider that multiple enclosures will be needed at different stages of the snake’s growth.
The tank must provide the minimum spatial requirements for pythons and are based on the extended length from snout to tail tip of the longest animal to be housed in the enclosure.
The minimum spatial requirement for Children’s pythons can be found in the Standards for Exhibiting Reptiles in New South Wales. These standards state that the minimum spatial requirements for one specimen are (L refers to the extended length from snout to tail tip of the longest animal to be housed in the enclosure)
The enclosures must be no less than 0.25L2 (0.5L x 0.5L) or 20cm x 30cm, whichever is greater with no dimension less than 0.3L. However, for an adult Children’s Python these minimum sizes are not ideal and it is always recommended to provide more space if possible so they can move around as they would in their natural habitat.
Floor
The floor of a snake enclosure can be covered with a variety of substrates. “Butchers paper” two or three sheets thick can be used as the lining of the enclosure. Paper must be replaced as required when it becomes wet or soiled. More natural looking substrates that can be used include sand and coco peat mix with leaf litter, these can be “spot cleaned” with faeces and the surrounding substrate removed as needed. Soil type substrates must be removed and replaced at least once per term or more often as required.
Furniture
Furniture in the snake enclosure should provide the snake with shelter and areas that they can climb and sit upon and also helps enrich the snake’s environment. Although aesthetically it is nice to replicate the natural environment where the snake would typically live and take shelter with the use of natural furnishings such as rocks, branches and hollow logs, other “unnatural” furnishing can work just as well. These could include cardboard boxes, bricks/pavers and commercially available furnishings such as plastic hide boxes and plastic/terracotta plant pot/saucers (you can cut a hole in these to make an entry/exit for the snake and place it upside down in the enclosure to make a hide). It is important that snakes have multiple places to hide and have privacy in order to feel safe in their enclosure.
When providing furniture for a snake enclosure it is important to remember that some furnishings can be a cause of danger for the animal. For example, if heavy furnishings are used, they can pose a risk of crushing the snake if they somehow shift due to not securely being planted in the enclosure. Also if moving heavy furniture, the snake should be removed from the enclosure first to prevent the risk of accidentally dropping the furniture on top of the snake. These can be provided using boxes or any other mostly enclosed container with an entry hole or a hollow log. Specially designed snake furniture is also commercially available.
It is important to provide a hiding area at the warm end and the cool end of the enclosure to allow snakes to move to an appropriate temperature that suits them.
Housing pythons
Watch Housing pythons (3:28)
Narrator: Toronga Zoo keeper
Some of the more important aspects of keeping a small python in captivity in their enclosure includes the heating.
One of the important facts of the heating is that you want to have an enclosure that varies from around twenty five degrees at the cool end to around thirty degrees Celsius at the warm end with a basking area or a warm spot where they can get up to around thirty five degrees Celsius and that can be provided in a couple of ways.
One, it can be though a basking spot, so it can be something like a red globe above it can give heat down to a small basking spot for the snake to elevate its body temperature. Or alternatively, for a snake you can have a heated area under the enclosure whether it be a heat mat or a heat cord under the substrate that elevates the temperature of that ground.
For some of these small pythons that can be more natural because small pythons are mostly terrestrial and they’re nocturnal, they come out at night time when there’s not a large basking light from above and they do sit on warm surfaces. So, that can be a more of a natural thing for a really small python.
Within the enclosure in terms of furnishings it’s important to have somewhere for the snake to hide. That can be provided through either a rock outcrop area, a hollow log like the one in the enclosure beside me or even a hide box of some sort. These days you can purchase from a number of pet shops all sorts of naturalistic looking hide boxes that you can use inside your enclosure. And you can even set one of those up in the warm end of the enclosure and one in the cool end of the enclosure and that would be ideal for the snake to have the choice of what temperature to hide at.
A number of important factors of the enclosure is also the water bowl. Make sure it’s always got fresh water available within the enclosure at any given time. In terms of the size of the enclosure for a small python like these ones that only get to around maybe the one to one and half metres maximum mark an enclosure of about I guess four foot length, about one to one point two metres in length by about maybe forty to fifty, sixty centimetres in width would be I guess a good size enclosure for one of these animals.
The enclosure I’m next to here is quite ideal. It’s certainly got a large enough ground space for the python of this size to move around quite freely. It’s quite spacious vertically.
For a small python like this you would not need such a height on the enclosure. One of the reasons for that is because they’re mostly found down near the ground, they don’t use that space too much. So, having an enclosure half this size would even be ideal. And the other reason why half the size enclosure might be ideal on some occasions too it’s more efficient to heat that size enclosure rather than trying to heat this large enclosure.
When cleaning an enclosure of a python there is not a lot of cleaning involved. One of the important things is to make sure there’s always fresh water available for the snake to drink.
In terms of cleaning up when it defecates they’ll typically only defecate as often as they feed. And for a snake that only feeds once or twice a fortnight you only have to clean up its faecal matter once or twice a fortnight as well.
Pythons will also produce something called Uric or Uric acid, Uric paste and that’s typically a white excreted substance that comes out of a snake. And same as when it defecates, it’s simply a matter of obtaining a spoon or a set of gloves and just spot cleaning pulling that excreted matter out and disposing of it.
The substrate of the enclosure should probably be replaced once every few months. As often as once every six months would be ideal for a snake like this. Even though you’re spot cleaning every week it’s ideal just to get rid of that, give it a good disinfection with something like F10 veterinary disinfectant or Virkon just to make sure there’s no bacteria loads building up in the enclosure and then replace the substrate.
[End of transcript]