pros and cons.

What are some of the pros and cons to owning a carpet. Are they particularly difficult to care for or especially aggressive. ANy info is welcome I prefer advice based on experience not just general caresheets. thanks.

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Originally Posted by sg1trogdor

What are some of the pros and cons to owning a carpet. Are they particularly difficult to care for or especially aggressive. ANy info is welcome I prefer advice based on experience not just general caresheets. thanks.

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What kind of Carpet we talking?
BT

umm didnt think of that lol. Well what would be the best to get then I guess would be another question

Well if you like them small then the Irian Jayas would be the way to go...Like them big - Coastals...Jungle Carpets are int he middle...Depends on if you want a morph too? Pure Diamonds are nice...Darwins are cool...Just really depends on what you like...I only keep JCP's...

Cons - Nippy as babies (with handling they grow out of it)...They can easily get hooked on mice - which sucks...Can't really tell what they will look like as adults until they hit around a year old...Some brown out pretty ugly...

Pros - Easy to care for...Easy to breed...Make great display animals...Usually babies from good stock turn out to be smoking hot yellow and black...JCP's don't get to big but aren't to small either...

BT

whats the differences in size a foot or a few feet

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Originally Posted by sg1trogdor

whats the differences in size a foot or a few feet

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Irian Jayas around 4-5 foot...JCP's around 6 foot...I've heard big Coastal girls can get 8 to 10 foot...
BT

i love carpets, i honestly can't think of any cons... i guess the mice thing can be pretty bad but every carpet i've ever had (12 of them) would take an old shoe if you dangled it in front of their nose on some forcepts.
the pros are that they're medium sized, smart-ish, friendly, curious, like to bask (good display snake), hardy, generally great eaters, etc.
a possible con: if you compare them to balls, one could argue that they don't really have many 'morphs', but the variability and ontegenic color changes they go through more than make up for that in my estimation.
as far as the size thing that BT mentioned... i have two female coastals that are over 8', but the thing you have to keep in mind is that an 8' carpet is only going to be as big around as a ball python (if that).
hope that helps. :)

i agree with everyone on here, my jungle/coastal cross is awesome. He is 6 years old and 7 feet. loves to bask and looks incredible when he does. The other night these girls were over at my house, they supposedly hated snakes, i brought pete out and they changed their minds, and he looks kinda scary, so that just goes to show how impressive they can be.

I have JCPs and some coastal intergrades. They are amazing animals. I have roughly 10 and I can handle them all. They arent too aggressive but become very curious around feeding time. Like friendsnotwar said my male jungle can sway anyones mind who isnt a fan of them. They have a better personality then my balls and the rest of the collection. They are aboreal creatures and look awesome on there perches. I switched all of mine over to rats pretty easily. Hope this helps. Good luck!

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Originally Posted by BT41042

Irian Jayas around 4-5 foot...JCP's around 6 foot...I've heard big Coastal girls can get 8 to 10 foot...
BT

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I dunno about the size range listed on Irian Jaya's anymore.... I've seen the parents of my female. Her mother is 8 feet and over 10 years old...I forget the exact age. I would not be surprised if she hits that length as she gets older. My breeding pair is around 6 feet now and they are four years old, I think.

However, since carpet pythons are much more slender than boas, it's doesn't feel like holding a huge snake...

I've never seen a problem with the mice thing..but we'll see how it goes. I'm hoping to produce babies this year.

Here's an older picture of my female. the light inside the cage makes her look a bit more yellow than she really is.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y21...meBoaphile.jpg

Pros-They are gorgeous snakes, great display animals (on par with GTPs as far as I'm concerned) awesome personalities, incrediable feeders...can you tell I'm a bit biased, lol? They are hands down my favorite snakes. I have a Jungle/Diamond cross and 2 Irian Jayas and they are such fun snakes to work with.

Cons-Hard to think of any really, but maybe the fact that you can't be sure what they will look like as adults if you buy babies...you can get an idea from the parents but it is really a roll of the dice. Some turn out amazing, some not so much. My Jungle/Diamond didn't have a speck of yellow on him when he was a baby, but look at him now!


http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...ighyellow2.jpg


They can also be nippy as babies...but in my experience they tame down quite easily. Many snakes are like that when young however, so I can't really say that it is a Carpet specific downside.