White Lip Care tips needed

I have been raising my ball pythons about four years now, so i have basic knowledge but these new guys appear a bit more snake to handle. At the white plains show i just picked up a pair of white liped pythons. guy thinks there about a year old, females a bit bigger than the male.

At the show they were a bit hissy upon first contact but they quickly calmed down and started crawlin gall over us and entertaining the croud. All good i think to my self. My sister has a Papuan that is fidgity about its home so i figure these guys will be the same way.

But i got home and got them in my "pop" up exo terra mesh cage for the night with some repti bark, snakes deficated fairly quickly, and it appears to be normal poo. But my male especially is VERY snippy and hissy now that hes home. Maby just give him a few days? I don't want a snake that i need to dress up in riot gear to handle.


Also there seems to be a bit of debate on the care. Are these guys arboreal or terrestreal? Do i build a 2X2X4 tall or wide? Also do i really want to keep there temperatures in the high 80's? I'm guessing lots of stuff to climb on?

We had a white lipped for awhile that we loved. Ours had an abundance of ability to climb, and tended to curl up on branches more often than in the ground hide.

The best site I found for advice on them is www.leiopython.de and actually addresses the frequent hissing. Ours was not much on hissing, and never acted aggressively, so I think we were lucky...but talk about a MOVER! He was the fastest moving boid I've ever had!

Yeah i think he is worse than a rattler as far as caution entering his terreria. He changed direction once so incredibly fast there would have been no way i could have gotten out of the way if he chose to strike. luckly he just swung around and stared at my hand.

I agree that www.leiopython.de is a great site for D'Alberts (yeah, I still call them that, lol).
If given the choice of ground, branches, or a soaking area, the WLPs will definitely select......D) all of the above. As for cage size, that will depend on what you want, as they will certainly utilize as much as you will give them - though they do spend a lot of time in hides...esp when they know you are watching (guess that is why they are called "hides"). Regarding temperature, there are a number of approaches to work with, depending on your preference and the caging. I have used both consistent environments (controlled room temp) and temp gradients with good success. Constant temps of approx 84 degrees, or a gradient from 80-88 is what I used. Humidity is of HUGE concern with WLP's, and probably one of the biggest areas of keeper failure (leading to sick, poorly acclimated animals). As such, balancing humidity retention with ventilation should be of major consideration when selecting housing options.

I keep my room at %50 so between that and misting it should be about right.

One thing to note, my female has some sort of respritory thing. a bit of mucas from the mouth. Should i just keep the temps up for a week or so?

Unfortunately, that is not uncommon with White Lipped Pythons - they are prone to resp symptoms (well, when husbandry is not just so). I am not a proponent of automatically using the term "infection" at the first sign of trouble (see my rants elsewhere, lol). Adjust your temps to the higher end of the range (mid-80s to low-90s). Humidity, again, is a big concern...many will automatically tell you to lower the humidity, but that will cause even more problems with this species. The call to raise or lower humidity with these guys can really only come with seeing the conditions (enclosure & snake). For the time being, try to get it around 60% (consistently, not up to 60% for an hour in the morning after misting). The easiest way to do that is with a moisture retentive substrate (ie cypress mulch).

OK so how do i pick these mean mothers up? Right now they are chilling in there tank, they will Hiss and jump if you touch them then continue to hiss for a while as you "pet" them a bit. I'm trying to figure out what will happen if i go the next step once i have it letting me touch it. They were prefectly cool with me holding esp the female at the expo. if i go to pick her up will she strike? The male has struck at other people thru the mesh but my female has never struck at me yet. just alot of hissing

I can only speak from my experience, but we removed with a hook, directed them to an arm, and then let them crawl around on us until they were comfortable. I'm not sure how large yours is, so I'm attaching a picture of mine....maybe smaller is easier?

Will they strike? Only one way to find out, lol. Try it.
White lips, as a rule, are much more inclined to flee than strike...though there are individuals that haven't heard that news. Basically, when you are reaching in for them, they are cornered so they strike. Once they are out of the enclosure, they have someplace to go...so they run. They tend to be flighty - always on the move, wanting to get away from you (I have encountered a few that weren't too bad in that respect, and had one that would calmly accept handling). Using a hook to get them out is the easy way (don't plan on them staying on the hook, lol)...but I rarely bothered with it. I just reached in and got them. They are actually a very readable snake, once you are used to them.

Well it worked with me female at least just stayed away from her head and slowly got her used to me touching her before going for a pick up. i was able to lift her out of the tank. once out she was a sweet heart untill she really settled in and passed out in my arms. then she wasn't too happy with me moving too much.

I think her saliva thing is getting a bit worse, when she hisses shes getting some bubbling outside her mouth. But got the room humidity to 60% and her tank has a *91 hot spot and a *80 cool spot, along with freash water. So i guess i just keep it clean for her at this point?

The male i still need a bit of work on. hes a lot more jumpy, maby tomorow i'll try him.