First time Carpet owner, just have a few questions!

okay, that sounds good. I was trying to do a bioactive enclosure for him, but if he is going to be more arboreal then i will strip the cage down too and just put a 2-3in layer of substrate and then make him some sort of jungle gym. but for now i will transfer him to the 10 gallon with some heat lamps. i can get the temps higher in his larger enclosure. I just read some guides on ACreptiles that JCP's like it in that range. I really appreciate all the help. i will keep you updated on how he does.

Tomorrow i will go get all the stuff he needs.

Is there a specific UTH you would recommend or do you think the ZooMed one is fine.

I personally use Fluker UTHs. Also Ultratherm. I don't like the Zoo Med one as they cover them in that thick puffy plastic and put that sticky pad on them. The ones I mentioned are like flexwatt so you can reuse them. Just need to buy a roll of aluminum foil tape at any hardware store. Then just tape it to the bottom of the tank. Don't need to tape the whole thing, just the sides.

Be sure you use a t-stat with any UTH also. A lot of people put the t-stat probe between the UTh and the tank bottom on the outside. I prefer to just tape the t-stat probe to the bottom on the UTH on the outside. Just make sure you don't tape the actually probe end, just the wire. And try and get the probe as close to touching the UTH as you can. Then use a IR gun aka temp gun on the inside of the tank on the take floor to dial in the t-stat. Don't take the reading from the top of the substrate as the snake will push substrate aside to get to the heat. Also you only want about 1/4-1/2" deep substrate over the UTH, otherwise it will be pretty useless. Then just put a hide over the top of it and it will create a nice warm little house the snake can curl up in to warm up. Give him the same hide on the cool side also so he can cool off. Make sure they are the same kind of hide.

okay, yeah i was going to buy like a 4 pack of those gerber toddler bowls to make sure i have the same one one both sides, and make him a mini jungle gym out of pvc pipes like a 1/4" or 1/2" pipe. the tank is a 10gal tall.

Any substrate you recommend? i have cypress mulch, cypress bedding, peat moss/play sand mix.

I would use the cypress mulch personally as that will help with humidity.

FWIW, of my Morelia (a JCP and a Bredli) preferred their food to be presented from below at first (which only works when they're perched on something, of course). Definitely get him something to perch on, mine don't get down to the floor often (when I upgraded enclosures I didn't bother with UTH, just RHPs).

I was told by my JCP's breeder to keep him on rats, because switching could cause problems. News to the snake, he and the Bredli are my garbage disposals. [emoji3]. Once you get things to his liking he'll probably be a good feeder, most carpets seem to be.


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Congrats on the beautiful new carpet. They're probably my favorite species of snakes to keep. I agree with Sauzo. I'd bump those temps up a bit. I keep my carpets with a hot spot of about 90F and an ambient temp of about 80F. I'd let your guy settle in a bit more and offer him a mouse hopper. After a few successful feeds you can try a rat pink or fuzzy. As far as UTHs I prefer the Ultratherm brands. They don't get as hot as most of the others even without a thermostat (which you'll definitely need). Keep us posted on your progress and keep the pics coming!! :)

Thanks guys, i got his enclosure on the hot side up to 89-91 Degrees, and a gradient to 82 degrees, he came out of the hide and started roaming around.
Today thought i got his 10 Gallon set up and its heating up right now and bought some PVC to make him a perch for the large enclosure and small one.
I am thinking of tearing down the bio-active enclosure and doing something a bit more simple with more perches.
I will post some more pics soon, and give you an update when i get him to feed.

Well him being out and checking stuff out is a plus. Let him get used to the cage and stuff and in 5-7 days, offer him some food. Like El-Ziggy said, I would try a hopper mouse. Worry about getting him to eat consistently first, then worry about switching him over. Plus like I have preached many times, I feel anything under a weaned rat is a milkbag with undeveloped muscles, bones and organs and filled with milk so really don't offer that much compared to a fully formed mouse.

And you can even make a little pvc gym for him in a 10 gallon. He's pretty small so you can use smaller pvc. And like I said, don't cement the pieces together so when he does graduate to the larger cage, you can just tear the gym down to pieces again and build a new with the old pieces plus new pieces.

I'm going to ask the obvious question, have you contacted the guy you bought him from? He can answer questions like what temps he's at, what kinda caging he's used to etc.
carpets are great snakes, easily my favorite species. They don't really have the overwhelming issues you see in other snakes, once they are established in your house. That's the key establishing them first, at first set them up as close to the same as the breeder had them as you can. Leave them be for a week or 2, feed what the breeder was feeding, should work like a charm!


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