Keeping Jade Pythons in Louisiana: What Actually Works
Lafayette Parish sits in the heart of southwest Louisiana, which means your ambient humidity and temperature ranges are already pretty close to what a jade python naturally experiences in Papua New Guinea. That is one of the few advantages you have going for you. I moved here a few years back and started keeping jades because the local climate does half the work for you if you pay attention to it. These snakes are small — adults max out around 2 to 3 feet — and they are generally calm, but they have specific needs that a lot of beginner guides skip over. Jade pythons (Simalia tracyae) were only described as a species in 2015, split from the broader Morelia viridis complex. Before that, most people just called them green tree pythons without distinguishing the subspecies. The ones you find in pet trade collections from the Lafayette area are mostly captive-bred now, which matters because wild-caught jades tend to carry mouth rot and parasitic loads that take months to clear. I picked up my first one from a breeder inCarencro, and the difference between a properly acclimated captive-bred and a random pet store import was night and day. The captive-bred took two nights to fully settle in and start eating. The wild-caught one I knew someone else had was shut down for six weeks. Your enclosure needs to be vertical more than horizontal. These are arboreal snakes and they will stress out in a long, shallow tank. A 18x18x24 inch screen cage is the minimum for one adult. I use Exo Terra enclosures because the mesh top works with the Louisiana heat — you do not want to be running a sealed glass tank through a July in Lafayette. The temperature gradient should run from about 88 degrees on the warm side down to 78 on the cool side. Basking spot hits 92 to 94. Anything above 96 and you are cooking the snake.
Humidity sits between 60 and 70 percent during the day and can climb to 80 at night. A simple digital hygrometer costs about eight dollars and you should have one on the enclosure and one hanging in the room. The room one tells you when the HVAC is fighting your humidifier. I learned that the hard way. In winter, my forced air system drops the room humidity to around 25 percent, which makes the enclosure struggle no matter what I do. The workaround was buying a small ultrasonic humidifier and running it inside the enclosure with a misting schedule built into a cheap digital timer. That alone kept the shed cycles normal. Branching is critical. Use thick cork rounds and grapevine arranged at multiple levels. Jade pythons are not climbers in the same way a green tree python is — they are more cautious and prefer wide, stable surfaces to move across. Thin branches make them anxious and they will sit at the bottom of the enclosure rather than climb, which then leads to poor appetite because they feel exposed. I had a snake that would not eat for three months until I rearranged the branches to create more covered pathways. It started feeding within ten days of the change.
Feeding and the Common Pitfall Nobody Warns About
Jade pythons eat mice. Pinkies and fuzzies when they are juveniles, adult pinkies or small fuzzies for a full-grown adult. The feeding frequency is every 7 to 10 days for adults and every 5 to 7 days for juveniles. Most people overfeed because the snake looks thin after a shed and they assume it is starving. It is not. Jade pythons naturally drop a few points on their humidity-dependent weight scale right after shedding and look skinnier than they actually are. I lost count of how many messages I got from people whose snakes were obese because they fed daily after a shed. The bigger issue is the thawed prey problem. If you are buying frozen mice from a farm supply store or an online reptile supplier, make sure the mice are thawed slowly in the refrigerator overnight, not in hot water or a microwave. Quick-thawed mice can rupture internally and cause impaction or internal bleeding in a small snake like a jade. This is not theoretical. I watched a breeder in Opelousas try to speed up the thaw process once and the mouse exploded. Not dramatically, but the internal organs ruptured and the snake that ate it got an impacted gut that required a veterinary procedure. Slow thaw in the fridge takes twelve hours but it is the only way to do it right.
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Handling and Temperament Reality
Jade pythons are not handlers' snakes in the same way a ball python is. They are curious and calm when they trust you, but they do not enjoy being grabbed. I handle mine maybe twice a week and only when it is in a feeding cycle window — never within 48 hours of a meal. The bite they can give is small but surprisingly firm for something that weighs less than four ounces. Their teeth are rear-facing and designed for holding onto tree branches, so a bite that breaks skin is common if the snake feels like it is falling. Always support the body fully when lifting and never grab from above. Let the snake walk onto your hand. They are also more active at night. If you are setting up a camera or just watching them during the day, they will usually be tucked into a leaf curl or hidden under a branch. This is normal behavior, not a sign of illness. I made the mistake once of thinking my snake was sick because it was buried in substrate for three days straight. It was just sleeping. The telltale signs of actual illness in a jade are persistent mouth residue, labored breathing, or constant gaping at the bottom of the enclosure. Those are the red flags.
Local Considerations Specific to Lafayette Parish
The local reptile community here is small but active. There is a Facebook group called Louisiana Exotic Reptile Keepers that has people from Lafayette, Acadiana, and the prairie region posting about local breeders and rescues. If you are getting into jades, joining that group will save you money and help you avoid scam sellers. I have seen too many people on Craigslist buy what they thought was a captive-bred jade and end up with a wild-caught green tree python that had mites and a fungal infection. Another Lafayette-specific thing: your tap water. The city water here has moderate mineral content and a pH around 7.4 to 7.8. That is fine for drinking but if you are doing water changes in the enclosure, let the water sit out for 24 hours before using it so the chlorine off-gasses. Unused in the enclosure, it can irritate the snake's respiratory tract over time. I switched to filtered water for the drink bowl and the misting routine and noticed the shedding improved noticeably within a month. If you want to track down a breeder locally, the best bet is still going through the Louisiana herp community networks. Pet shops in the area sometimes have jades but the lineage and health history is almost never documented. A proper breeder will tell you the parent stock, the hatch date, and the feeding history. If they cannot answer those three questions, walk away. There are not that many good sources and you do not want to waste money on a snake that is going to be a health liability.
