Morelia viridis

🔤 Taxonomy

Morelia viridis is the accepted name for the green tree python. Older hobby material may use Chondropython viridis, and locality names should be treated as provenance information.

English common names used in the hobby:

• Green tree python

📌 Description

The green tree python (Morelia viridis) is an arboreal display species, not a snake for frequent handling. It needs stable perches, careful humidity control, clean air, and low-stress maintenance to avoid feeding and shedding problems.

Handling should be calm and brief, especially for newly acquired or recently fed animals. Large constrictors require a realistic safety plan: do not handle powerful adults alone, and never let children manage them without direct adult control.

Green tree pythons are display snakes first. Many tolerate maintenance well, but repeated removal from perches, daytime handling, or grabbing from above can damage trust and cause defensive behaviour.

🌍 Distribution

New Guinea, nearby Indonesian islands, and Cape York Peninsula; humid forests and edge habitats with strong arboreal use.

For this arboreal python, perches and microclimate matter more than making the whole enclosure wet. Provide stable branches, visual cover, fresh air, controlled humidity, and choices between warm, shaded, and drier resting points.

🌡 Climate across the native range

Monthly climate normals from reviewed GBIF occurrence locations:

Weather data by WorldClim v2.1 · Monthly normals queried by Herpeton Academy from raster values; relative humidity is derived from vapor pressure and mean temperature.

Location references use GBIF.org occurrence data where available; original occurrence records retain their source dataset licenses.

⚖️ Legal status

As checked against current official sources in April 2026, Morelia viridis is covered by CITES Appendix II through the Pythonidae higher-taxon listing. Under EU wildlife-trade rules, Appendix II snakes are normally treated as Annex B unless a stricter listing applies. The species is not relevant to the Bern Convention because it is not native to Europe. Local rules on ownership, import, sale, transport, breeding, dangerous-animal registration, and proof of legal origin may still apply; keep purchase and breeding records.

🧭 Life stage differences

Babies and juveniles should start in smaller, secure enclosures where feeding, shedding, and waste can be monitored closely. They still need a warm hide, cool hide, water, and cover, but oversized bare spaces often make them defensive or reluctant to feed.

Adults need more floor area, stronger fixtures, and a layout that lets the snake thermoregulate without constant exposure. For very large species, enclosure planning must happen before purchase: the adult cage, safe cleaning routine, and long-term prey supply are part of basic care, not optional upgrades.

🤌 Husbandry

Use an escape-proof enclosure with front access where possible, secure ventilation, and all heat sources controlled by thermostats. Minimum adult housing: 90 x 60 x 90 cm for one adult; larger for active or large females. Bigger is recommended when it creates more usable movement, better thermal zones, and safer maintenance.

Provide at least two tight hides, visual barriers, and stable climbing or resting structure according to the species. Do not mix snakes. Quarantine new animals and track feeding, sheds, weight, and defecation.

Daily care should be predictable: check temperatures, water, locks, faeces, urates, shed condition, and behaviour before disturbing the snake. A simple written log makes feeding problems, weight loss, repeated bad sheds, or seasonal changes much easier to interpret.

💡 Lighting

Use a steady 10-12 hour cycle over the perch and plant side. Gentle UVB is acceptable above one perch if shaded routes and dark retreats are available; leave nights dark.

🌡 Heating and temperature

Practical target range: perch/basking 30-31 °C, ambient gradient 25-29 °C, night 23-25 °C. Measure warm surfaces with an infrared thermometer and ambient zones with digital probes. Every heat source must be controlled by a thermostat. Heat rocks and unguarded bulbs are unsafe; large pythons and boas can burn themselves or break weak fixtures.

💧 Humidity and water

Provide fresh water at all times. Target humidity: 60-80% with airflow and drying between misting cycles. Use substrate choice, water-bowl placement, partial ventilation control, and a humid hide to manage shedding. Chronic wet bedding causes scale and respiratory problems; chronic dryness causes retained shed and dehydration.

🌿 Enclosure and decoration

The enclosure should include a warm hide, cool hide, water bowl, rough but safe shedding surfaces, and enough cover for the animal to move without feeling exposed. Arboreal species need secure branches and elevated perches; heavy terrestrial species need floor space and furnishings that cannot collapse.

Juvenile enclosures should be simple enough to inspect but not bare. Adult enclosures must be built for strength: locks, cable ports, sliding doors, and ventilation panels are common escape points.

For arboreal snakes, perch diameter and placement matter as much as floor size. Offer several stable perches at different heights and temperatures, but keep the animal able to rest partly hidden. Perches should be removable for cleaning and strong enough not to rotate under the snake.

🪳 Feeding

Feed appropriately sized frozen-thawed prey whenever possible. Prey should generally match the snake’s widest body diameter, adjusted for species build and age. Babies usually feed every 5-7 days, juveniles every 7-10 days, and adults every 10-21 days depending on species, temperature, season, and body condition.

Avoid routine live feeding, oversized prey, and handling for at least 48 hours after meals. Refusal to feed is often caused by wrong temperatures, exposure, shedding, breeding season, stress, or prey presentation.

Adjust feeding by body condition, not by appetite alone. A snake that always eats can still become obese, while a seasonal refusal may be normal if weight is stable and the enclosure is correct.

🥚 Breeding

Breeding should use healthy, mature, well-established animals with known identity and origin. Many pythons and boas respond to seasonal changes in temperature, light, or humidity, but cooling must never be attempted with underweight, sick, or newly acquired animals.

This is an egg-laying python. Provide a suitable laying site for a gravid female, plan incubation space before pairing, and be ready for small arboreal hatchlings that need secure perches, drinking opportunities, and careful feeding records. Keep records for CITES/EU-listed species and avoid producing hybrids, unclear locality crosses, or more offspring than can be housed and placed responsibly.

🩺 Common problems

Common problems include retained shed, respiratory infection, mites, burns, mouth inflammation, obesity, dehydration, regurgitation, and injuries from escapes or unstable decor. Warning signs include wheezing, bubbles at the nostrils, open-mouth breathing, repeated soaking, patchy shed, refusal to feed with weight loss, swelling, twisting posture, or repeated regurgitation.

Consult a reptile- or exotic-animal veterinarian for severe weakness, injury, breathing signs, swelling, repeated regurgitation, or prolonged refusal to eat.

If a problem appears, first verify the basics with instruments: warm surface, cool end, night temperature, humidity, hide fit, and prey size. Guessing at treatment before correcting the environment often wastes the most important recovery window.

📌 Conclusion

Morelia viridis does best when the keeper plans for the adult animal, not only the attractive juvenile. Secure housing, measured heat, appropriate humidity, correct feeding, and honest legal records are the foundation of responsible snake keeping.

📚 Sources and further reading

Taxonomy and legal references identify names and listing frameworks; they do not establish care limits. General husbandry references support the precautions described. Unless tied to a specific study in the text, the numerical enclosure, climate and feeding recommendations are editorial planning guidance, not experimentally established species-specific limits.

• CITES Appendices, checked 2026-05-04
• GBIF: Morelia viridis — taxonomy and recorded distribution; not a husbandry study
• European Commission: wildlife-trade framework and annex resources
• Merck Veterinary Manual: thermal gradients, ventilation, quarantine and recordkeeping; general reptile guidance