# Other Pythons > Morelia >  new pic up. help with ID?

## Sariel

Not new to snakes, but this is the first CP I've owned, she was an awesome deal at the pet store I buy my feeders at. She'd been there for awhile, the employee said shes not the nicest to him, but she was just alittle hissy with me. Hopefully she doesnt prove him right  :Very Happy: . 

 I could use alittle help with ID since Im not seeing any pics that really match her. being totally inexperienced Im saying jungle/coastal.. I was going to say potentially diamond to, but they I read those extra flecks on the sides can come with age in muddier specimens.

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## Boanerges

Sadly I can't help you with an id but I did want to say congrats on the beautiful new addition  :Good Job:

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## Colin Vestrand

looks like a pretty classic jungle.  no way of knowing if it's pure, but that definitely looks jungle all the way. a lot of the older US lines have that look about them.  if anything i think  you're being thrown off by the fact that it's not bright yellow... but it probably was back in the day.

cool pickup, looks like she could go on a diet though.   :Smile:

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## Brandon Osborne

Looks like a jungle to me.

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## Sariel

> looks like a pretty classic jungle.  no way of knowing if it's pure, but that definitely looks jungle all the way. a lot of the older US lines have that look about them.  if anything i think  you're being thrown off by the fact that it's not bright yellow... but it probably was back in the day.
> 
> cool pickup, looks like she could go on a diet though.


AGreed, shes a total fatty. I actually had to call the store back to make sure she hasnt had any other snakes with her in her enclosure and theres no chance of her being gravid. lol. 
 Apparently they've been feeding her large rats every week. Gonna cut her down to mediums every ten days I think and make sure she gets some exercise. 

 Thanks for the replies, I think I agree shes pretty much all jungle, no idea of her age what so ever. Dull she might be, but I do like her patterning. well worth $90.00 IMO  :Very Happy:

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## vangarret2000

She deffinalty looks like an obese jungle. When snake are really obese they start to get blobs building up on their side which it looks like yours is developing that. 

WHen jungles get older they loose a lot of their color. Most people don't know that when they get a nice bright hatchling. SOme can reatin it but most do get duller. I have one that isn't amazingly colored but very nicely colored for it's age. 

$90 is a smoking deal, as long as it doesn't die early because of health issues from being overweight. Because of her weight even cutting her feeding down more then a med every ten days would be good. A med every 2 weeks and mabey skipping to 3 weeks every once and a while could help till she gets to a better weight.

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_Sariel_ (06-20-2010)

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## Sariel

> She deffinalty looks like an obese jungle. When snake are really obese they start to get blobs building up on their side which it looks like yours is developing that. 
> 
> WHen jungles get older they loose a lot of their color. Most people don't know that when they get a nice bright hatchling. SOme can reatin it but most do get duller. I have one that isn't amazingly colored but very nicely colored for it's age. 
> 
> $90 is a smoking deal, as long as it doesn't die early because of health issues from being overweight. Because of her weight even cutting her feeding down more then a med every ten days would be good. A med every 2 weeks and mabey skipping to 3 weeks every once and a while could help till she gets to a better weight.




Awesome, thanks so much for the advice. Once we get over the mite infestation < thank God for quarantine> I'll probably take her out more to make sure she gets some exercise. To my knowledge its been a week since she ate so gave her a small rat yesterday. I think I will move her to a ten day feeding schedule, atleast untill she thins out some. 
 Going to try to get her into a vet soon to check for internal parasites as well.

Good to know about the color fading, Is there any way to make a guestimet on her age given size/color? Id like to breed her once shes healthy, but I worry about her being to old. 


 she def has those globbys on her sides too. Poor girl. fortunately shes pretty active all things considered. I have high hopes she will do well.

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## Colin Vestrand

i'd do a large rat every 3 weeks normally.... for her, i'd give her a medium once a month for a bit and maybe fast her for a couple months.

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## 5snakes

nice snake. as far as the "hissy "part, handleing is a good cure. be gentle and spend as much time as possable. hopefully your snake will become less hissy. the reason why is probabaly because it grew up in a pet store. over time and a little tlc, you`ll be fine.

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## Sariel

[QUOTE=5snakes;1363734]nice snake. as far as the "hissy "part, handling is a good cure. be gentle and spend as much time as possible. hopefully your snake will become less hissy. the reason why is probably because it grew up in a pet store. over time and a little tlc, you`ll be fine.[/QUOTE

She didnt grow up there, but she was there for some time. The hissing really doesnt bother me much, I think its just a learned pattern for her. she hisses and people leave her alone cause they think shes gonna bite. Shes actually a total sweety, especially considering how uncomfortably she must be. 


 All the advice is appreciated. 
 Im alittle concerned putting her on so strict a diet since shes fighting off mites and God knows what else. Ive got her on a small rat a  week/ten days untill shes done with the parasites then Ill reduce her feeding and concentrate more on getting that weight down.

Ill keep everyone  updated  :Smile:

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## marvelfreak

It's a jungle. How long is it? I have a 10 year old 9lbs 8 feet 3 inch  Female jungle. She eats 1 med or large rat every 14 days.  The colors the same as mine. Fades big time with age. By the lack of yellow i guess a male. It's looks to be at least 5 years or older. I could give you a better guess if i knew the size.

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## Sariel

She was probed as a female, so Im praying thats accurate. 
  Spose Ill find out when I take her to a vet unless I can get someone else local to probe her. 

 Shes around  4.5 ft, Once shes doing better Ill get some better pics with some size comparison. 
 Are they like Bps where feeding/care can affect growth?

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## vangarret2000

[QUOTE=Sariel;1363738]


> nice snake. as far as the "hissy "part, handling is a good cure. be gentle and spend as much time as possible. hopefully your snake will become less hissy. the reason why is probably because it grew up in a pet store. over time and a little tlc, you`ll be fine.[/QUOTE
> 
> She didnt grow up there, but she was there for some time. The hissing really doesnt bother me much, I think its just a learned pattern for her. she hisses and people leave her alone cause they think shes gonna bite. Shes actually a total sweety, especially considering how uncomfortably she must be. 
> 
> 
>  All the advice is appreciated. 
>  Im alittle concerned putting her on so strict a diet since shes fighting off mites and God knows what else. Ive got her on a small rat a  week/ten days untill shes done with the parasites then Ill reduce her feeding and concentrate more on getting that weight down.
> 
> Ill keep everyone  updated



WHen snakes are growing up you can sorta guesstimate their age from their size (even then it's not always accurate), but once they are full grown you can't really tell how old a snake could be. 

When you say the snake is hissing what exactly is happening? Is it very prominant and loud or is it more suttle and constant? As this is a carpet it could just be Huffing not hissing. It is very common for carpets to just breath heavily while being held or exerting themselves. This sound is reffered to as huffing. It can easily be mistaken for small hissing and also sometimes mistaken for a sign of a respiratory infection. The fact that your jungle is over weight it could have a tendancy to huff even more or louder. Now it could really be hissing but because carpets huff I would guess it might jsut be that unless I heard the hissing myself. 

As for the feeding, snakes can easily go months without eatting and still be healthy. It is actually common for a lot of snakes to stop eatting for months during breeding season. The fact that yours is so "bulky", taking it off food for a while would not be an issue for it at all. When people have obesse snake one method used to make it loose weight would be starving it for a while. But feeding it smaller amounts less frequently is a way better and healtier opion then starvation. 

If this was my snake I would be feeding it a small rat every second week until it was a healty weight. not every ten days. But it's up to you really. A medium every three weeks is another opion. Also if it was mine I jsut wouldn't feed it at all until i fixed the mite problem. How is it going with mites? I haven't replyed in a while so if it is being taken care of right you should have seen some good results by now. IF you are still having problems let me know and I can tell you how I deal with mites.

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## vangarret2000

> It's a jungle. How long is it? I have a 10 year old 9lbs 8 feet 3 inch  Female jungle. .


Although an 8 foot jungle is impressive and can happen, it's not the norm. Jungles usually range from 4-7 feet. Mine is 5 and 3/4 feet. He probably could have been bigger but his last owner didn't care for or feed it properly. 

The fact that yours is so fat I would have to guess even though it is on the smaller length, it's probably full grown.

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## vangarret2000

> She was probed as a female, so Im praying thats accurate. 
>   Spose Ill find out when I take her to a vet unless I can get someone else local to probe her. 
> 
>  Shes around  4.5 ft, Once shes doing better Ill get some better pics with some size comparison. 
>  Are they like Bps where feeding/care can affect growth?


Do you know who actually probed her? As long as it is someone realiable then she is probably a she. 

Feeding and care will affect growth. If it is properly fed it will grow properly. If it's under fed it can stunt it's growth. Where under feeding stunts growth over feeding won't  necessarily make a sanke grow longer, it can generally just makes it fatter.

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## Sariel

> Do you know who actually probed her? As long as it is someone realiable then she is probably a she. 
> 
> Feeding and care will affect growth. If it is properly fed it will grow properly. If it's under fed it can stunt it's growth. Where under feeding stunts growth over feeding won't  necessarily make a sanke grow longer, it can generally just makes it fatter.


I know who probed her, but not how reliable that source is. I'm due to move her shortly and once I locate a new herp vet Ill have her re-probed <as well as checked for parasites and whatnot> 
 Unfortunately I have zero idea on her past, she's a pet store drop off, they had her for a couple months and were feeding her a large rat once a week. Shes actually lost alot of that fluff already. shes looking pretty good. 
 The mites are worlds better. I still find a couple dead ones here and there, but no live ones and considering the level of infestation they might be falling out her scales for a minute. I do plan on doing atleast one more treatment <probably with NIX> just to be absolutely sure.

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## Colin Vestrand

once she sheds, she'll rid herself of the mites... just keep treating the cage... you probably know all that anyway.

i agree with van garret.... basically you can't tell sex or age by looking at a carpet... color, head shape, etc... doesn't matter, they are not sexually dimorphic.  size of the head is somewhat of an indicator for age, but not reliable at all.  

as for the sex, the sure-fire way to tell sex of carpet is to put it in with a male... if it's a female, they will get along, if it's male, they will not.   :Wink:

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