Are Children's Pythons Friendly?

Children’s pythons (Antaresia childreni) are fairly popular pet snakes that are native to Australia.

Children’s Pythons are easy to care for and typically considered good for beginners with a typically docile personality.

You may be wondering:

Are Children’s pythons friendly?

Yes, Children’s pythons are friendly and docile snakes that are placid during handling. However, some individuals may be more flighty. Like all snakes, Children’s pythons do not form attachments to humans.

Friendly Behavior

An important thing to note about snakes is how they view the world. Children’s pythons are not social animals. They do not bond with other members of their species.

While the mothers do incubate their eggs, that care does not extend to the neonates.

This means that your snake doesn’t really have any natural behaviors that involve bonding with other creatures. A snake does not feel emotions in the same way that humans or even dogs do.

It is unfair to your snake to anthropomorphize it by attributing human emotions to your snake.

This can result in you ignoring or misinterpreting your snake’s behaviors and needs. Snakes feel basic emotions related to their needs. Y

our snake needs to feel safe with access to everything it needs to stay healthy. It will never be able to return the love you may feel for your pet.

While your snake may not feel love the same way humans do, it can come to trust you. You can teach your snake that interacting with you will not be scary or painful.
It may even become something your snake can enjoy like a chance to see new sights and experience new smells.

handling a children's python outside its tank

Your snake will learn that you won’t hurt it and you can earn its trust. Given that Children’s pythons are frequent prey to many animals, this means a lot.

Humans are very scary to most creatures. We move fast and in strange ways. Convincing your snake that you won’t hurt it gives you a very special bond of trust with your pet.

While it isn’t the same as a dog, this is still a very valuable bond that gives you a chance to see new and interesting behaviors from your pet.

You can enjoy seeing your snake explore and exhibit natural behaviors without the snake worrying about you at all.

Captive Children’s Pythons

Children’s pythons are typically considered docile snakes. Most adults will rarely bite or act defensively around humans. This does depend on the snake, since some individuals may have a feisty personality.

This can make them less suitable for handling than other members of the same species.

All animals can have preferences. Some will tolerate or even enjoy handling sessions. They may welcome being handled every few days or enjoy hanging out and going for walks around your home.

Others may dislike being handled and want to be left alone.

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They may tolerate handling in brief bursts or not at all. How snakes react to you opening the enclosure and reaching in can depend on individuals too.

Most Children’s pythons won’t mind once you establish you won’t hurt them. They may look at what you are up to but won’t be too bothered by you reaching in to clean or replace the water.

Others may hiss or show other defensive behaviors. Remember that all animals are unique creatures that have things they like and dislike.

No species has perfectly uniform animals that all like the same things. Take any advice on a species as a general guideline but be prepared that your pet may be different.

Children’s pythons as a whole are easy to handle. They are small and easy to hold since they are capable of hanging on so you don’t need to worry as much about dropping the snake.

Young snakes can be defensive and hiss or bite. This is normal since you look like a big scary predator to a young snake.

Taking some time once a week to calmly and gently handle your snake can teach it that you are not a threat.

Keep things positive and short. Wait until the snake relaxes, give it a few minutes to explore, and put it back. If the snake bites you, never put it back so it doesn’t learn to bite you to signal it is done being handled.

These snakes make good pets since they are docile and most will at least tolerate being handled. They don’t need as much patience as some species to get them used to human contact.

So long as you are patient and never hurt your snake, it will come to trust you. Just remember that snakes live at a slower pace than humans.

Stick with giving your snake a week between handling sessions until you know how they react. Make sure you understand what a stressed snake looks like.

Stress can make a snake very sick since it suppresses their immune system. Look for a lack of appetite and irritability. Your snake may snap at you more often if it feels stressed.

It may also spend all of its time hiding when it might normally prefer resting on a branch.