Jessie was our second snake. With only a western hognose under our belt, we hardly thought ourselves prepared for a green tree python. However, Jessie came to our local pet store as a surrender, we were told, from a breeder who kept “him” as a pet. He was, we were told, the gentlest, most mild green tree python we would ever meet. We loved him. We took him home and named him Jake in January 2017 at an estimated 5 years of age.
In June of 2017, “Jake” turned blue. It was a phenomenon we’d never heard of in a male green tree python. We reached out to numerous breeders and keepers, and they could not find any precedent for us. In December of 2017, being no closer to any answers, we put “him” together with our other “female,” Jasper—at the time, Jasmine (still keeping up?).
The pair mated…but “Jake” was not playing the role of male. Our pixel-colored “Jasmine,” long thought a female, immediately attempted to woo “him”. There was some redesignation of names and genders, and we renamed our green trees Jessie and Jasper, as we know them today. And, in May of 2018, our Jessie, our first green tree python, laid a clutch of eggs.
The shopkeeper was right about one thing—Jessie was one of the gentlest, most wonderful green tree pythons we’ve ever met. Her previous owner took good care of her. However, she hasn’t been the only one. She started us on our green tree python adventure and opened our eyes to how wonderful and friendly green trees can be. With proper care, husbandry, feeding practices and handling, we have found that green tree pythons are, at their heart, gentle creatures. With Jessie, we have started on the journey to help other people see it too.
