Bredli Python (Morelia spilota bredli) CaresheetDescription | Habitat | Housing | Temperature | Feeding | Life Span | Breeding | Price
They are an attractive snake, with colours ranging from orange to dark brick red. They have an extemely variable pattern of yellow / tan markings, dark-edged spots, blotches and longitudinal bars / strips on adult specimens, although these markings are somewhat muted in younger snakes. Clusters of all cream or predominantly cream scales form roughly diamond-shaped blotches over back and flanks. Lips cream barred with black. Bredli pythons are usually fairly docile, well mannered snakes and rarely bite. There can however be exceptions to this rule as with most snakes. HABITAT: Shelters in hollow trunks and limbs, disused burrows, caves, rock-crevices and beneath boulders. Often encountered on rafters and in ceilings of buildings, including those in many urban areas. HOUSING: Bredli / Centralian pythons can grow up about 2.5 metres, as such you will need to have an enclosure suitable to house the python. All pythons in the Morelia family are reasonably very powerful animals and as such their cages must be built to withstand considerable force. All doors and lids to the enclosure should be very strongly built and be able to withstand the considerable force. As a minimum the enclosure should measure 1.2m x 1.2m x 0.6m (4ft x 4ft x 2ft). A hatchling or juvenile Centralian will only need a small cage, and may be stressed in a large one. Several hide boxes should be included. These can included hollow logs as well as a standard box made of plywood or plastic or even a ceramic pot. The opening has to be just large enough for the snake to get inside after a meal. The boxes should be placed in a variety of placed in the cage, eg. on the floor, attached to the roof, in a branch, away from the heat source, close to the heat source. As the Bredli / Centralian python is semi-arboreal, branches are a must, so provide lots of climbing areas, branches, logs, plants. Provide a large drinking bowl. These snakes also enjoy soaking in their water dish. A water bowl large enough for the python to soak in is ideal but unfortunately is often impractical. Rocks and logs will also give the snake something to rub against when it is shedding. TEMPERATURE: Having a heat gradient between 23°C to 34°C. during the day with a basking site of about 30-42°C. will work very well for most specimens. Night temperatures should range between 16-23°C. Provide moderate levels of humidity for these snakes. A basking light should be directed towards a large rock or at a suitable distance from a branch to provide a "hot spot" within the enclosure. This basking light should also be connected to a timer to allow for night time cooling and the timer adjusted seasonally. Where possible make sure that the basking light is screened or covered with mesh as some snakes like to hang on the lights, and as a result might burn themselves. It is important that the animal is able to thermoregulate, by moving between cool and warm areas in its home. FEEDING: Bredli Pythons will happily eat mice, rats, rabbits, day old chickens and any other mammals it can get its mouth around. Feeding should occur every two weeks with adults and weekly for juveniles. Juveniles feed well on pink/ fuzzy mice. It is recommended that you switch the pythons diet to rats as soon as possible. Mice are fine for a juveniles, but an adult Bredli will happily consume a large rat or 4+ adult mice. Some pythons have difficulty moving from mice to rats when thay are adults, so it is easier to introduce the change to rats when the python is young. An adult bredl will take a couple of adult rats (in proportion to the snake's size) every 2 - 3 weeks in summer, monthly in winter, unless cooling for breeding, in which case do not feed at all. Hatchling and juvenile animals will take one or two pinky or fuzzy mice or rats, again in proportion to the snake's size every two weeks in summer. less frequently in winter. It is best not to handle your python for at least 48 hours after a meal, or it may regurgitate. It's easy to overfeed pythons, as they tend to be quite greedy, and will usually take anything offered. In the wild, snakes may go for months without food, so if they refuse a meal or two, don't worry too much. LIFE SPAN: Carpet pythons typically live to be between 20 and 30 years old in captivity. BREEDING: Bredli pythons generally reach sexual maturity at 2.5 to 3 years of age,depending on your feeding regime. Mating occurs after Winter cooling. Males and females should be housed separately except for during the breeding season which starts at the end of Winter. During this time, they won't feed. When changing the temperature, it's best to do it slowly, perhaps a degree per day, until the desired temperature, say 18 C in the cool part of the cage is reached. A warmer basking spot should always be provided. You can put the snakes together for a couple of days every week or so during this time, and also during the warming up period. When they are back to normal temperature, you may wish to leave them together for a while, or at least until the female ovulates. Matings after ovulation have no effect on the fertility of the eggs.
Gravid females should be able to bask in temperatures around 33°C to 40°C. Ovulation is when the eggs move down the body creating a visible lump (like a food lump) for up to 24 hours. About 20 days after ovulation the female will shed her skin. About 25-30 days after she has shed her skin, she will lays her eggs. Eggs could be laid November - December, and should hatch 60 - 65 days later, however occassionally incubation can last up to 15 weeks. Morelia bredli can lay between 12 - 50 eggs. APPROXIMATE PRICE RANGE: ~ $300.00 - $450.00
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Once
the female has mated successfully, she will bask with a section of her
belly directed towards the light, she may also refuse food. If your
female is observed basked belly up under a basking light, you can be
slmost sure that she is gravid (pregnant). Other signs include, a dramatic
change in colour, or darkening.