Green Tree Python

Morelia viridis

Here we have a species that was immediately on my want list from the first time I read ‘’Pythons of the World- Volume 1’’ back when it was first published in (coughs) 1994.

They are truly incredible pythons however no matter what is written elsewhere they are not a species for the beginner, they require a lot of your time, patience and resources to thrive.

Well you will see that I refer to Green Tree Pythons as Chondro’s and this is a result of their previous scientific name which was Chondropython  viridis. 

This is derived from the Greek words ’’kohndros“ meaning  ‘’with a rough surface“ and’’puthon“, which means ’’snake-like dragon“ in Greek mythology. ‘’viridis“ means simply ’’green“  for obvious reasons.  So a very fitting description but they were subsequently reclassified as Morelia viridis but the name Chondro stuck with me and many others so you will hear them referred to as Chondro’s often.

Their natural distribution is Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia (Northern tip of Cape York)

They are CITES classified Appendix II (04/02/77) species.

A long slender arboreal python with adults reaching no more 200 cm with males attaning smaller adult sizes than females.

It is not my intention to provide a care sheet here as this is a species that requires a lot of research and preparation prior to you embarking upon the captive husbandry of a Chondro

If you are not well researched, prepared and experienced then you are highly likely to fail with this species.

Get yourself a copy of Greg Maxwell’s - The Complete Chondro or The more Complete Chondro. 

It doesn’t detail everything that you need but its close and it’s an exceptional and comprehensive basis for your future as a Chondro keeper.

Jayapura - adult male

Next join one of the Chondro forums.

I would recommend http://moreliaviridis.yuku.com/directory

You will find the Chondro community eager to help and welcome you as a new ‘Chondrohead’

Finally and if at all possible - make friends with a Chondro keeper/breeder and spend as much time with them as they will allow !  Sure books and the internet are a fantastic resource but it will be invaluable to gain experiences direct from someone with firsthand knowledge and there will be someone to help you through the many challenges you will encounter over time.

Chondro’s are beautiful and addictive and their keepers are some of the most innovative, opinionated, passionate and obsessed keepers you will find in the snake world.  

Chondro keepers love to photograph and show off their animals and the enlosures that they have designed for them.

One thing’s for sure - discussions on Chondro husbandry techniques are sure to illicit a decent amount of debate between Chondro keepers, sometimes very heated debate but almost always useful.

   Merakue (Super Stripe) partially

    through her ontogenic change

Everyone has an opinion and there are varying techniques that you will find detailed with a quick search of the forums. - read them all.

If you wish to contact me I will happily talk about how I keep my Chondro’s and impart help if I can direct from my own experience which has been developed over a number of years.

So if you are thinking about keeping a Chondro the above should hopefully raise a few questions that will help you decide if they are suitable for you and you are suitable for them.

If you have any Juveniles or adult GTP’s that you wish to sell drop me a line and see if I can be tempted - I’m only interested in quality animals of known provenance

I’m happy to hear from any other ‘’Chondroheads’’ out there as this is a species that benefits immensely from individuals discovering and improving and evolving husbandry so feel free to drop me an email.

The Chondro pages will be continued to be updated with more photographs and information of Races and localities that are in my collection - I have some very nice specimens and as I capture photographs that do them justice I'll update.

All the best

Rod