Children's python (Antaresia childreni) is indegenous to Australia. It accurs in the north-central part, from Western Australia eastward through
Northern Territory into Queensland.
They live in a variety of habitats like dry forests, grass savannas, coastal plains, riverbeds, termite mounds and rocky areas.
The snake has been named after John George Children, the curator of the British Museum's zoological collection at the time of the discovery in
1842.
The Children's python is one of the smallest pythons not only in Australia, but in the world. It reachs about 3 feet, but most max out
at moderate 2 - 2.5 feet. As babies, the Children's pythons have dark brown blotches on a light background. In older adults this pattern fades away
and they become almost patternless.
In the wild their diet consists from small reptiles and rodents (small lizards, geckos, frogs, birds), but in captivity they can be kept exclusively on mice.
Newborn Children's pythons are very tiny, but they have no problem with eating pinky mice. As they grow, they will
graduate to fuzzy mice and as adults they will be happy with adult mice.
Juveniles can be nippy, but this is basically due to their defense and aggressive
feeding response. As they grow they become nice docile and tame snakes.
Children's pythons can be housed together, especially in larger naturalistic setups. They do like to climb and will
make use of any available branches inside the cage. Saying this, these pythons can be successfuly housed using
plastic container - the preffered method for keeping multiple snakes in a rack system. They are easy to care
for and don't require any fancy setups. An adult can be kept in a 23 x 16 x 6 inches Rubbermaid container.
Keeping them in a glass aquarium will require a 15 - 20 gallon tank for a single snake or a pair. Aspen shavings
are idea as substrate. They will need a small bowl dish with clean water available to hem at all times, and at
least one hide box, which could be an inverted clay flower pot with a hole at the top, or a smaller plastic
container set up the same way. The cage should have a cool and hot end. This can be accomplished best with
an undertank heating tape. The hot spot should be set at 88 - 90 Fahrenheit, and the cool end at about 80.
Children's pythons are not difficult to breed. In captivity they are annual breeders. The female will lay 10 - 15 eggs, which
will hatch after about 45 days. The hatchlings will shed in about 10 days and start feeding after that. As a
general rule, the male Children's pythons are ready to breed at 2 years and females at 2.5, but well fed animals will
reproduce much earlier (females can produce smaller clutches at 18 months).
Children's python (Antaresia childreni) is indegenous to Australia. It accurs in the north-central part, from Western Australia eastward through
Northern Territory into Queensland.
They live in a variety of habitats like dry forests, grass savannas, coastal plains, riverbeds, termite mounds and rocky areas.
