The feeding log is the headline record
No record earns its keep like a snake's feeding diary. For every feed, note the date, the prey item and its size, and the outcome: taken, refused, or taken and later regurgitated. Children's pythons are famous for going off food for weeks in the cooler months and around the breeding season, and that is usually normal — but 'usually' is only comforting when your log shows the same pattern last year. A written history is also what separates a seasonal fast from a worrying one, because it shows exactly how long this refusal has actually run.
Shed records: dates and completeness
Log every shed with its date and, more importantly, whether it came away complete — one piece, eye caps included — or in stuck patches. A run of clean sheds tells you humidity is right; a shift to ragged sheds points at dryness, dehydration or a snake going off condition before anything else shows it. Note the dulling and clearing of the eyes as pre-shed stages too: a keeper expecting a shed does not mistake a quiet, blue-eyed snake for an ill one, and does not offer feeds the snake was never going to take.
Weight, length and condition
Weigh him a few times a year on kitchen scales in a pillowcase, and measure a clean shed skin for an approximate length — remembering a stretched shed reads longer than the snake. Children's pythons are a small species, topping out around a metre, and they grow slowly as adults, so the record you are really keeping is condition: a spine that feels sharply ridged suggests he is thinning, while heavy fat folds at the tail base say the feeds have been generous. Dated weights settle arguments that memory always loses.
Enclosure readings and equipment changes
Keep brief notes on the warm-end and cool-end temperatures, humidity, and every equipment change — new heat source, new thermostat, new enclosure. Snakes hide problems well, and when one finally surfaces, the first question is always 'what changed?'; a dated note answering it is worth more than a shelf of guesses. Check probe positions when you record readings, because a thermostat probe knocked loose by a climbing python quietly ruins the gradient your log says is perfect.
Paperwork, parasites and vet history
Keep his origin paperwork safe: breeder or seller details, purchase date, and any permit or licence documentation your area requires for keeping this species. Note any mite sightings and what was done and when — dates matter, because a repeat outbreak a month later tells a different story from a first one — plus every vet visit and its findings. Photograph his pattern once a year as part of the record; Children's pythons' markings fade and shift subtly with age, and a photo line catches changes the eye adapts to. Keep the set together in a KinsLe Pet Passport and the snake's whole life — feeds, sheds, weights, readings and paperwork — is in one packet, ready for a vet, a holiday carer, or a future owner.