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Housing the Diamond Pythons
Diamonds are quite arboreal, especially as youngsters. Typically, they are raised in flat-bottomed cages with virtually no limbs. This isn’t best for the snakes, and to this day some of my breeders almost never leave their limbs for the bottom of the cage. One male, in particular, virtually never leaves his branches, except for defecation. Others, especially the large females, spend more time on the cage floor, in hide boxes. Nevertheless, providing diamonds with limbs and shelves for basking is a good idea. They will use them a LOT, and especially for the young, by providing them with elevated areas they’ll feel more secure. Keep diamonds in fairly large cages, usually six to eight feet long, by 28” wide, by 24” to 42” high. They are very active, and if given enough room will exercise on a regular basis. One common syndrome of diamonds is obesity and resultant flaccid muscular development. An active snake by nature, it stands to reason that this activity (exercise) should be provided in captivity. Since nobody makes a hide box of adequate size for diamond pythons , provide my diamonds with cork bark hiding places. While they love to hide, typically they’ll pose as sentries, ready just inside the hide box entrance for any passing food item. It seems an obvious read that diamonds are opportunistic feeders, as my careless hands can attest. Picking up cage litter, or the water bowl, in the vicinity of the hide box opening often results in a feeding stab - by no means an act of aggression toward the keeper, but merely an opportunistic snake’s response to a warm body within striking range!
This care sheet is Copyright of Stan Chiras and can be found at http://sthcoastherpsociety.bizland.com/diamondpaper.chtml