So, I somehow ended up with this lovely girl

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Originally Posted by Gio

... I would not call her a "hybrid" at least in the sense most folks think about the term.

Carpets are crossed so often you'll never know exactly what you have unless you have data from the breeder.

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it's not a hybrid (crossing two distinct species), it's an intergrade (crossing sub-species of the same species, in this case Morelia Spilota). As noted, m.s. intergrades are quite common. Hard to tell what they are sometimes, like in this case. However at 5-6 feet I would suspect there is some jungle in there, my expectation for a diamond/coastal intergrade would be a larger snake. but, who knows.

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Originally Posted by DennisM

.................However at 5-6 feet I would suspect there is some jungle in there, my expectation for a diamond/coastal intergrade would be a larger snake. but, who knows.

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Those were my thoughts as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DennisM

it's not a hybrid (crossing two distinct species), it's an intergrade (crossing sub-species of the same species, in this case Morelia Spilota). As noted, m.s. intergrades are quite common. Hard to tell what they are sometimes, like in this case. However at 5-6 feet I would suspect there is some jungle in there, my expectation for a diamond/coastal intergrade would be a larger snake. but, who knows.

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My point exactly on the hybrid tag. Not a hybrid!

Actually, the Aussie folks would not even call it an intergrade, as they have zones where true intergrades naturally occur, which is why we normally call them crosses or mixes.

A naturally occurring intergrade, or an example of one would be in the areas of overlap in habitat. Diamond and coastal carpets often share the same terrain in those areas and NATURALLY intergrade/mate.

In most US collections, we are crossing various forms of carpet python to each other.

The Aussie carpet folks seem to view "intergrade" differently. When I refer to my snake on their forums, I call her a mix or a mutt which is fine by me.

In any case the snake here is really special!

I salute anybody with long lived well cared for animals!

Diamond/ jungle sounds right then; Beatrice's original owner couldn't remember which one, but he said he thought maybe jungle... perhaps his brain was pulling something out from 20 years past.

Intergrade. So many terms -- thank you all. I have to admit that the Australian snakes just weren't much on my radar until this point; I figured I was good with our existing 6, along with maybe adding a hognose and cornsnake eventually. There's definitely still a learning curve, even 3 years in.

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Originally Posted by Gio

I salute anybody with long lived well cared for animals!

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We cross-posted -- thank you for the more detailed explanation!

And yes, Beatrice's former owner did a stellar job with her. I'm tickled to take over her care.

Beatrice continues to do well. Here's her picture from this morning:
http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/...s2e7yl630.jpeg

She continues to feed and has proven she also can eliminate (I have never been so excited to see feces and urates in my life). We managed to remove all her stuck shed except a small patch on her neck which is a wee bit close to her still very impressive teeth for my comfort :) I checked with our herp vet and she said it should be okay to keep our eyes on it and watch for it to come off with her next shed.

That brings me to a question: how often do mature snakes shed? Our other snakes only cover a 2-3 year agespan, and shed as often as monthly (the Dumeril's, when he's on a grow) to every 4-ish months (the sand sausag... erm, boas). I'm sure it varies from snake to snake, and my knowledge of morelia just doesn't extend that far.

Beatrice looks great!

Lizzy, my oldest Coastal is 5 years old. Her last shed was 67 days old. She had been in the blue for the past week, her eyes just cleared up today, so she should shed any day now. Her current skin is 90 days old.

I know that she is not an old lady like Beatrice, but I believe the MAJORITY of her growing is done.


http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12...8b38dfa9e6.jpg

Thanks!

And okay, cool :) According to her former keeper she shed just a couple of weeks before we got her, so that was within the first couple of weeks of October -- maybe she'll shed toward the beginning of January or February or thereabouts? I'm just curious because I'd love to have all her stuck shed gone, plus I'm eager to see how she'll shed now that we've got her. It's the last "check" on my "signs I'm keeping this snake properly" list. With an old lady like Beatrice (any snake really, but especially due to her age), I want to be sure her husbandry is on point and her needs are being properly attended to.

Slow getting this up, but better late than never I suppose :)

At any rate, on February 18th Beatrice finally shed for me. Hooray! Now not only is the stuck shed from her last shed with her prior owner gone (just a little patch on the neck), but she's also hit the trifecta of eat/eliminate/shed that I need to see to verify her conditions are good.

It was a perfect shed -- one long piece. And goodness the mess she made! But here she is, simply gorgeous:

http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/...psxd9c7gjc.jpg

I just discovered this post... Oh what a pleasure to see a long lived, beautiful, healthy animal. So glad the trifecta has been reached!!!

Awesome 👍