The Snake Guru
02-20-2008, 06:37 PM
White-Lipped Python Care sheet
Common Names: White-Lipped Python; D’albert’s Python
Scientific name: Leiopython albertisii
Distribution: The gold phase white-lipped pythons are native to the northern half of Papua New Guinea while the Black phase is native to the southern Half of the island and several small islands in the Torres Strait in Northern Australia. There is also a third form of White-Lipped Pythons native to the Bismarck Archipelago though there have only been a few specimen’s collected from here and not much is known about them.
Size: These are a medium sized python with a medium girth. The head tends to be slightly wider than the body. The gold phase tends to max out around 6 feet while the black phase can get up to 9 feet.
Housing: I house all of my white-lipped pythons in plastic bins in rack systems. This species has the thinnest skin out of all of the pythons and therefore requires high humidity. Plastic bins help keep in a lot more moisture than most other types of caging. I often use aspen bedding as a substrate or newspaper. I tend to use aspen more as this species has a relatively high metabolism and therefore defecates frequently and aspen makes it easy to spot clean. I use a large water bowl to make sure the humidity is kept high and provides plenty of water for drinking. I also suggest a daily misting. I keep these snakes with an ambient temperature of 82o with a hotspot of 90o.
Feeding: This species has an amazing feeding response. In my experience even fresh wild caught specimens will accept frozen thawed mice or rats. These snakes can also take relatively large prey items. I am not hesitant to provide prey items that leave a decent sized bulge in their belly.
Temperament: White-Lipped Pythons, like many other pythons, have sort of a bad reputation for being mean tempered. The gold phase in general can be pretty nippy but often are not too bad once out of their cage. Captive bred individuals tend to be calmer than wild caught ones as would be expected. Many captive bred specimens can be very handleable as adults. The black phase, for the most part, is very calm and handleable. There are quite a few that can be just as nasty as the gold phase but in my experience even fresh wild caught adults can be very handleable.
Sexing: The only way to tell the sex of this species with 100% certainty is to probe them. They tend to probe deeper than other pythons with the males probing between 10-14 subcaudals and female probe 3-7 subcaudals.
Breeding: This species is very seldom bred in captivity, part of the reason being that the females are extremely mate selective. If the pair is not compatible the female will try and kill and eat the male. There is really no way of telling if a pair will be compatible before placing them together. You just have to place them together and hope for the best. I would highly suggest standing by and observing the pair for a long period of time after placing them together. This way you can pull the male if she tries to kill him. I have been told that the calmer your snakes are the greater the chance is that they are compatible. For breeding season, I would cool them to70o at night time and give them a warmer daytime temp (I do 83o for mine) to offset the nighttime low to keep them from getting respiratory infections. I would also suggest for people that are very serious about trying to breed this species to have a large group of both males and females in hopes that at least one pair is compatible.
Conclusion: This species is truly one of the most spectacular looking pythons and have become a favorite of mine. The amount of iridescence on these guys is amazing and rivals that of any rainbow boa I have seen. They stay a very manageable size and are great feeders. I feel they are slightly more high maintenance than many other pythons (such as carpet pythons) but are not too difficult to keep.
Submitted by:
Blake Bauer
Common Names: White-Lipped Python; D’albert’s Python
Scientific name: Leiopython albertisii
Distribution: The gold phase white-lipped pythons are native to the northern half of Papua New Guinea while the Black phase is native to the southern Half of the island and several small islands in the Torres Strait in Northern Australia. There is also a third form of White-Lipped Pythons native to the Bismarck Archipelago though there have only been a few specimen’s collected from here and not much is known about them.
Size: These are a medium sized python with a medium girth. The head tends to be slightly wider than the body. The gold phase tends to max out around 6 feet while the black phase can get up to 9 feet.
Housing: I house all of my white-lipped pythons in plastic bins in rack systems. This species has the thinnest skin out of all of the pythons and therefore requires high humidity. Plastic bins help keep in a lot more moisture than most other types of caging. I often use aspen bedding as a substrate or newspaper. I tend to use aspen more as this species has a relatively high metabolism and therefore defecates frequently and aspen makes it easy to spot clean. I use a large water bowl to make sure the humidity is kept high and provides plenty of water for drinking. I also suggest a daily misting. I keep these snakes with an ambient temperature of 82o with a hotspot of 90o.
Feeding: This species has an amazing feeding response. In my experience even fresh wild caught specimens will accept frozen thawed mice or rats. These snakes can also take relatively large prey items. I am not hesitant to provide prey items that leave a decent sized bulge in their belly.
Temperament: White-Lipped Pythons, like many other pythons, have sort of a bad reputation for being mean tempered. The gold phase in general can be pretty nippy but often are not too bad once out of their cage. Captive bred individuals tend to be calmer than wild caught ones as would be expected. Many captive bred specimens can be very handleable as adults. The black phase, for the most part, is very calm and handleable. There are quite a few that can be just as nasty as the gold phase but in my experience even fresh wild caught adults can be very handleable.
Sexing: The only way to tell the sex of this species with 100% certainty is to probe them. They tend to probe deeper than other pythons with the males probing between 10-14 subcaudals and female probe 3-7 subcaudals.
Breeding: This species is very seldom bred in captivity, part of the reason being that the females are extremely mate selective. If the pair is not compatible the female will try and kill and eat the male. There is really no way of telling if a pair will be compatible before placing them together. You just have to place them together and hope for the best. I would highly suggest standing by and observing the pair for a long period of time after placing them together. This way you can pull the male if she tries to kill him. I have been told that the calmer your snakes are the greater the chance is that they are compatible. For breeding season, I would cool them to70o at night time and give them a warmer daytime temp (I do 83o for mine) to offset the nighttime low to keep them from getting respiratory infections. I would also suggest for people that are very serious about trying to breed this species to have a large group of both males and females in hopes that at least one pair is compatible.
Conclusion: This species is truly one of the most spectacular looking pythons and have become a favorite of mine. The amount of iridescence on these guys is amazing and rivals that of any rainbow boa I have seen. They stay a very manageable size and are great feeders. I feel they are slightly more high maintenance than many other pythons (such as carpet pythons) but are not too difficult to keep.
Submitted by:
Blake Bauer