Baby Burmese python

There are essentially two types of baby Burmese pythons offered for sale; wild caught animals, and captive born babies. We will take a look at both options here are provide our opinion on which we feel is best.

Burmese Pythons are still imported into the United States from Myanmar (Burma) in moderate numbers. The babies all arrive at roughly the same time every year. Often priced very inexpensively the baby Burmese Pythons are generally available for several weeks per year. It is our belief that you should not purchase newly imported babies as the pressure placed on the wild stocks of animals is having substantial negative impacts.

The skin, or leather trade, represents a more significant threat to the wild stocks now that captive breeding is producing such large quantities of babies for the pet market.

The other Burmese Pythons that are available are those that are actually born in captivity. Typically these pythons are hatched by individual hobbyists, or breeders and then resold to the pet stores. In some cases the babies are available for resale by the breeder themselves at pet shows and other similar events. This is by far the best way to support not only your local pet store or reptile show, but also is a much more "eco-friendly" way to obtain your new pet snake.

From a health perspective baby Burmese Pythons that are born in captivity are generally much less likely to contain parasites, illnesses etc. These pythons are generally much healthier and adjusted to feeding than a wild caught animal. Care should be taken to observe fecal matter for worms and other basic husbandry techniques

When choosing your new pet look for obvious signs of health such as clear, bright eyes, a clear nasal area and overall bright coloration to the skin.

Determining the sex of your new baby is only accomplished by "probing" the young snake. If you have no experience at this procedure it is best left to an accomplished individual to determine the sex.

It is always a wise idea to have your new pet's habitat set and ready to go before you bring any new pet home. While this snake does not require highly specialized environments there are certainly some basic criteria that must be met for the overall health and well being of your new snake.

The single largest consideration when choosing this species as a pet snake is the future housing needs of the adult snakes. While young animals can be easily housed in aquariums the adult snakes housing needs can only be met with large enclosures.

Each home is different, the ambient air temperature, location of the enclosure and other factors may require a day or two for you to ensure the temperature and humidity factors are stable before brining your pet home. Always try to determine the temperature of the enclosure both during the day and night to ensure the enclosure is not too hot or too cold.