Choose Wisely: Don’t leave your Snake’s Temperament to Chance

Welcome to Royals at the Ranch for Thursday, April 14, 2022. This week instead of a Behavior Break in the middle of the episode, we’re having a Bit of Behavior as the focus for this week. Royal Pythons are produced in large numbers under captive management and are still imported from the wild. This means the potential for a lot of genetic diversity which in turn equates to a wide range of temperaments among individuals of the species. Remember that temperament is innate and while it contributes to personality, temperament is something individual organisms are born with. Personality develops over time as a result of genetics, epigenetics, environment, learning, and experiences. It has become clear while studying Python regius behavior for two years with my own snakes and those of my clients that if you select your Royal based on looks alone, or in some random manner, you are taking a chance on the temperament and personality of the animal you bring home. It may or may not meet your expectations as a family member. To increase your chances of the Royal you bring home meeting your expectations as a pet, work with your breeder to choose one with a suitable temperament. Have them do simple temperament checks, ask them about the individual’s behavior, and that of its parents and/or siblings. Ask how it is raised and if it is exposed to novelty, handling, environmental stimulation, complexity, or training. Ask if anything been done with it at all to prepare it for life in a home, as a family pet, exposed to all of the stimuli that will likely entail.
Pfynix is just one example of how this can be a predictor of how the animal is likely to fit in once you get it home. We worked with her breeder to perform some temperament testing as part of the decision-making process as to whether to add her to our behavior program or not; and then we had them expose her to novelty, environmental complexity, and cognitive stimulation prior to her arrival here. She was compared to clutchmates and chosen for her apparent bold temperament during the checks. In her case our predictions were correct. She has been a bold, curious, resilient snake since arrival. She is visible most of the time, seldom hiding except when in an ecdysis cycle, she is physically active, and mentally engaged. She excels at learning and readily chooses to engage in training exercises.
In contract we have chosen a few Royals randomly or based on color and the temperament we end up with has been random, either turning out middle of the road or proving to be extremely shy, fearful and defensive. If you’re choosing a snake to be your family pet, you want to do everything possible up front to choose one that will be likely to succeed in that capacity and meet your expectations, don’t leave it to chance.
The range of behaviors on the temperament spectrum for Python regius can be anywhere from extremely shy, fearful, defensive, and/or reactive to the complete opposite like bold, confident, assertive, and resilient; or, the snake can fall somewhere in between or more towards one end or the other. You just don’t know, you can’t know what you’re going to end up with if you choose randomly with no prior investigation into the animals behavior and personality. You may luck out and end up with one that is perfect for you or you may end up with an extremely shy and fearful snake that you never see and is difficult to interact with or to acclimate to your proximity at all.
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