(Antaresia Childreni)
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 Female Children's Python wrapped around her eggs |
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 hildren's
pythons come from Northern Australia ranging from the Kimberly Plateau in
Western Australia across the Northern Territory and into North Eastern Queensland.
They also occur on many islands off the Northern Coast of Australia. Children's
Pythons are actually quite rare in Canada. In the past many of the snakes
sold as "Children's Pythons" were actually the more common spotted pythons. |
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| In fact, prior to 1985 the entire antarisa group (maculosa, childreni, stimpsoni and perthensis) were all called children's pythons and were usually represented by photos or descriptions of spotted pythons (A.Maculosa) even in the overall excellent book "the Reproductive Husbandry of Pythons and Boas" by Richard A. Ross and Gerald Marzec, published in 1990. It refers to only a single species "liasis childreni" (the Children's Python) and clearly shows photos of what are obviously spotted pythons. |
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Children's Pythons are the second smallest python species in the world,
only the Anthill Python (A. Perthensis) is a few inches shorter. Most adults
will max out at somewhere between 2 to 2.5 feet with occasional older specimens
approaching 3 feet. They are very hardy and easy to maintain and captive
husbandry is identical to that of the spotted python. Hatchling Children's
Pythons are tiny snakes but can still handle newborn pinky mice with relative
easy. Babies are boldly patterned with a light colored background and dark
brown blotches, this pattern gradually fades with age and older adults of
6 or 7 years are almost patternless. |