GTP do's and don'ts?

[SerpentWanderer]

Hi everyone, I am expanding my collection with a GTP juvenile and would just like some tips and tricks as my research has found them to be fickle to keep. I know they need humiditty more than most and like to hide and stay on thier perch.

Just curious as to how I can make a set up as low maintenance as possible for the best results. I couldn't find much in the forums about keeping these guys and thought a thread like this might help.

 

[Sdaji]

Hi everyone, I am expanding my collection with a GTP juvenile and would just like some tips and tricks as my research has found them to be fickle to keep. I know they need humiditty more than most and like to hide and stay on thier perch.

Just curious as to how I can make a set up as low maintenance as possible for the best results. I couldn't find much in the forums about keeping these guys and thought a thread like this might help.

If you want an example of low maintenance, I bought plastic tubs for $1 each, cut ventilation into the sides, grabbed some bamboo from a garden and installed it for perches, a water bowl, damp sphagnum moss for substrate, and they're in a herp room which has a comfortable ambient temperature. I make sure the water bowl is always full and the sphagnum moss is damp, that's about it.

They are definitely tricky snakes but not especially high maintenance. They're far more sensitive to temperature and humidity variation, their comfortable range is much more narrow and stepping outside those ranges causes bigger problems more quickly. They're literally thin skinned and very prone to sloughing problems which do need to be dealt with and it's more difficult to deal with them than with other species. Even highly experienced keepers are fairly prone to having them spontaneously dropping dead without warning when everything seemed fine hours earlier. Also prone to prolapse and other health issues. Great snakes, not exactly high maintenance, but require much more skill to keep and are prone to problems.

Have fun!

 

[SerpentWanderer]

If you want an example of low maintenance, I bought plastic tubs for $1 each, cut ventilation into the sides, grabbed some bamboo from a garden and installed it for perches, a water bowl, damp sphagnum moss for substrate, and they're in a herp room which has a comfortable ambient temperature. I make sure the water bowl is always full and the sphagnum moss is damp, that's about it.

They are definitely tricky snakes but not especially high maintenance. They're far more sensitive to temperature and humidity variation, their comfortable range is much more narrow and stepping outside those ranges causes bigger problems more quickly. They're literally thin skinned and very prone to sloughing problems which do need to be dealt with and it's more difficult to deal with them than with other species. Even highly experienced keepers are fairly prone to having them spontaneously dropping dead without warning when everything seemed fine hours earlier. Also prone to prolapse and other health issues. Great snakes, not exactly high maintenance, but require much more skill to keep and are prone to problems.

Have fun!

Thats a very negative but accurate pep talk haha. Thanks for the advice. I plan on having a thermostat to control the humidity and temp. Feeding it smaller rats to prevent prolapse and less often than I would my diamond python or stimsons.

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[Sdaji]

Thats a very negative but accurate pep talk haha. Thanks for the advice. I plan on having a thermostat to control the humidity and temp. Feeding it smaller rats to prevent prolapse and less often than I would my diamond python or stimsons.

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I could be like most people and say 'They're fine, easy as any other snake, just different, don't worry" but I'd be lying like them.

Be careful about your heat source. With some species, the type of heat is as important of what the temperature is, and Chondros are an example of this, and they're not forgiving of problems.

I've fixed prolapses in Chondros in collections other than my own, but I've absolutely powerfed my own Chondros with very large meals given to them frequently and have never had a prolapse in my own animals. I've never found prolapse to correlate with heavy feeding. I've actually found Chondros to do quite well with heavy feeding. People are often scared of heavily feeding Chondros because they're so sensitive in just about every other way, but even compared to other python species I've found them to really do well with powerfeeding. This isn't to be confused with overfeeding adults, which Chondros will suffer from at least as much as other species.

 

[SerpentWanderer]

I could be like most people and say 'They're fine, easy as any other snake, just different, don't worry" but I'd be lying like them.

Be careful about your heat source. With some species, the type of heat is as important of what the temperature is, and Chondros are an example of this, and they're not forgiving of problems.

I've fixed prolapses in Chondros in collections other than my own, but I've absolutely powerfed my own Chondros with very large meals given to them frequently and have never had a prolapse in my own animals. I've never found prolapse to correlate with heavy feeding. I've actually found Chondros to do quite well with heavy feeding. People are often scared of heavily feeding Chondros because they're so sensitive in just about every other way, but even compared to other python species I've found them to really do well with powerfeeding. This isn't to be confused with overfeeding adults, which Chondros will suffer from at least as much as other species.

What heat source and thermo/hydrostat do you recommend? I live in South East Queensland, Aus. so the ambient temp is always 26°c or higher with humidity being above 30%.

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[Sdaji]

What heat source and thermo/hydrostat do you recommend? I live in South East Queensland, Aus. so the ambient temp is always 26°c or higher with humidity being above 30%.

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I wouldn't bother with a hydrostat, I'd just set them up so they'll always be moist. I use moist sphagnum moss as substrate.

Heat source depends of your circumstances and how you want to do it. Ideally I would just heat the room and not the enclosure. This is one of the few species I'm not actually fussed about giving a thermal gradient to. If the room never goes below 26 degrees and averages much higher I wouldn't heat them, but I doubt that's the case in south east QLD. But, if you do live in a well insulated house which does have that climate, I probably wouldn't heat them.

Assuming you will be heating them, it's a complicated story. A heat source which works in one enclosure might not work in another due to multiple variables. A few months ago I was talking to the guy who is arguably Melbourne's best known and respected Chondro keeper, and he said he was having a lot of problems keeping Chondros when he moved house, and he just couldn't get anything to work which kept them healthy, but the same heat sources and.enclosures in a different room of the same house fixed everything. These are fussy snakes.

I'd personally use heat cords, but exactly how I did it would depend on too many variables to describe here.

Maybe the biggest don't with Chondros is keeping them with less than about 100 snake years of experience, which takes most people 5-10 calendar years or more to accumulate.

 

[SerpentWanderer]

I wouldn't bother with a hydrostat, I'd just set them up so they'll always be moist. I use moist sphagnum moss as substrate.

Heat source depends of your circumstances and how you want to do it. Ideally I would just heat the room and not the enclosure. This is one of the few species I'm not actually fussed about giving a thermal gradient to. If the room never goes below 26 degrees and averages much higher I wouldn't heat them, but I doubt that's the case in south east QLD. But, if you do live in a well insulated house which does have that climate, I probably wouldn't heat them.

Assuming you will be heating them, it's a complicated story. A heat source which works in one enclosure might not work in another due to multiple variables. A few months ago I was talking to the guy who is arguably Melbourne's best known and respected Chondro keeper, and he said he was having a lot of problems keeping Chondros when he moved house, and he just couldn't get anything to work which kept them healthy, but the same heat sources and.enclosures in a different room of the same house fixed everything. These are fussy snakes.

I'd personally use heat cords, but exactly how I did it would depend on too many variables to describe here.

Maybe the biggest don't with Chondros is keeping them with less than about 100 snake years of experience, which takes most people 5-10 calendar years or more to accumulate.

Thank you this has reinforced my thoughts exactly. You have been a great help.

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[Sdaji]

Cheers Good luck with your Chondro!