The Papuan Spotted python (Antaresia papuensis) is one of the smaller python species found in Australia and New Guinea. Known for its manageable size and relatively calm disposition compared to larger pythons, this species offers a different experience from more commonly kept large-bodied snakes. Antaresia papuensis is a relatively recent addition to python taxonomy, having been formally described and recognized as a distinct species in 2021. This makes it one of the most recently defined python species, reflecting ongoing developments in the classification of Australian and New Guinean pythons.
Despite its smaller size, Antaresia papuensis retains many of the core behaviors seen in larger pythons, making it an interesting species for keepers looking to work with pythons in a more manageable format.
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🥈 QUICK FACTS
Quick Facts – Papuan Spotted Python (Antaresia papuensis)
• Scientific Name: Antaresia papuensis
• Common Name: Papuan Spotted Python
• Origin: Australia, New Guinea
• Size: 2–3 feet
• Behavior: Terrestrial/semi-arboreal, generally calm
• Diet: Small mammals
NATURAL HISTORY
Antaresia is a genus of pythons native to Australia, West Papua and Papua New Guinea. They are known as spotted pythons or children’s pythons but they didn’t get this name because they are small and something for kids but rather one species was named in honor of John Children who was a curator at the British Museum in London. So today’s video is about a more recently discovered species that occurs in West Papua and Papua New Guinea, and if you a regular viewer of this channel, you should be somewhat familiar with this one by now. This animal was previously known as Antaresia maculosa but in 2021 was given species status and is now a newly recognized python Antaresia papuensis or Papuan Spotted Python. It is believed to have a very small range and is only known from a small number of specimens found in two areas with similar habitat on the southern end of Papua and within about 15-20 miles of each other….Sota on the West Papua side and Weam on the PNG side. This species only gets about 3’ long and presents a calm demeanor.
CAPTIVE CARE/ACCLIMATION
This species is extremely rare in captivity so all of the information I am providing you in this video is based off of my personal experience but limited to only three individuals(now has become 6 field collected individuals with a handful of offspring). This is not a species I can say I have been working with for X amount of years like many of the other animals in my masterclass videos. I received my three animals in September 2019 and it was comprised of a male/female pair of which appeared to be adults and one hatchling which turned out to be a female. While the baby was a cinch to acclimate and was a very strong feeder on pinky mice, the two adults were a bit different. Realizing that all of the decisions I would make during acclimation would affect the outcome of this rare project, I opted to take the least aggressive approach with these animals and go as slow as possible. The male was a good eater but had a very large number of subdermal parasites. Now usually, these are not a big deal, you manually remove the couple of worms you may see with a tiny incision and that is the end of it. Well, this male was covered in very small dermal bumps probably numbering upwards of fifty. They were so small that I didn’t see anyway that I would be able to actually manually remove them and the sheer number would cause a lot of stress to the snake. Having experience with these types of issues, I also know that this is an intermediate stage in the life cycle of these parasites, they do not usually take much of a toll on the snakes, they do not multiply, and would eventually just die. You see, these parasites are counting on the host being consumed by another animal and then the life cycle goes on from there in the next host. My hypothesis proved correct and after one year, everything cleared up on its own and my only male, the most vital part of this project being there was only one, was solid. Now the adult female would not eat and I tried everything. At first I was considering the possibility that she may be gravid beause her body weight was fantastic, but she wasn’t. She went 8 months without eating and to my surprise one day she simply ate a f/t mouse. I tried everything in my arsenal and nothing worked. Once she took that first meal, she essentially never missed another meal. Each of the three snakes were treated with flagyl and panacur but only in meals which meant that female didn’t get her treatment until about 9 months after arrival. In the 2+ years of raising these animals, the hatchling female is now a small adult. I maintain these in CB80 tubs on cypress mulch or coconut husk for bedding, a large water bowl and a hide. I keep the warm spot at 85-87f, the thermostats provide a night time drop of about 10 degrees and my room is influenced somewhat by outside temps so colder in the winter and warmer in the summer.
BREEDING
Knowing that the region where these come from have very little seasonal changes and the fact that these particular animals may take quite a while to acclimate to captivity(especially based on what happened with the female and feeding), I did not attempt any cycling with these animals to induce breeding. I did palpate the larger female for follicles periodically but never felt anything. Around Christmas of 2020, I moved to Thailand and I decided to continue with this rare project and left them in the care of my family and a friend to assist. My plan was to basically monitor everything through their observations and give them directions based on what I was being provided both verbally and through photos. The animals were very straightforward for care and feeding so I really didn’t have any concerns that they would require any advanced care. My instructions were to feed weekly, separate the adult male and female for feeding and pair together for about 5 days every single week starting around December and stopping this practice around June or July. This was the protocol that was followed in all of 2021 and yielded no results. I was home during the summer and the animals appeared in great condition, I only made some food item adjustments because the snakes had grown a little bit. Because I knew that it would likely be a number of years before these animals adjusted fully to captivity, I decided to go with the same thing this year for 2022. In February I was getting reports that the large female was not eating so I thought something was up and asked that the male continue to be paired in between feeds. More weeks went by and the female was still off food. I finally asked for some video and pics to see if I could tell what was going on through those. I was quite optimistic after I saw what I was sent. I had dialed in my incubator before I left the country for this moment so it only needed to be plugged in and within minutes it would be ready. Through some phone calls we managed to get egg boxes set up and ready and I got further information that the female was sitting inverted, belly up. She had not shed since the beginning of the year so while I expected a pre-lay shed to occur before any egglaying, I knew that things don’t always follow the rules. On March 23rd, 2022 I woke up to a barrage of images and videos and the update that she had laid 8 eggs. A 9th infertile egg was laid a few hours after the main clutch. In addition, the momma snake was very easy going and allowed herself to be separated from her eggs with no bites or huff and puff.
OFFSPRING
Fast-forward to 2026, we have now produced a small number offspring four years in a row. I am incubating at 87.5f and eggs are hatching at around day 50. Babies have mostly been establishing well on live day-old pinky mice but others have been resistant to taking food. While waiting them out we have had luck getting some to take pinkies scented with fish and others with gecko. Any of the real stubborn feeders we have assist fed mouse tails as a last resort and usually they feed after the very first time afterward.
FINAL THOUGHTS
We have since acquired 1.3 additional wild-caught individuals bringing our breeding group of field collected animals to a total a seven. This year we have our first F1 male in the breeding rotation with a wild-caught female. Moving forward we should be in the running for F2’s possibly in 2027 and this project is well under way. The very first captive bred Antaresia papuensis have now been released into the US hobby in very limited numbers. The hard work has now been done and I believe this new species will be firmly in the reptile hobby…something I never dreamed I would be able to accomplish but now I have created a small legacy behind my name.
👉 For larger python species, see our Scrub Python (Simalia spp.) care guide.