Thinking of getting a Carpet Python...

I've read over the caresheet, numerous times, and looked around at some of the threads here :) I have a couple questions after reading the sheet, and seeing your tank setups. Is it really hard to get them to feed on rats? If the snake doesn't take to rats, what do you feed it instead? Also, is it okay for an adult to be in a bigger enclosure? I would probably start with a tub system as it's growing, then when it's old enough I would like to make some sort of display enclosure.

Sorry if these are overasked questions...I've had my first ball python for a couple of months now (with success, even though humidity in my area SUCKS), and the snake bug has bitten me! I'm not planning on getting another one yet, but I am researching what type is right for my next step. I wanted to try out something a little larger, with interesting colors or patterns. I was also considering some sort of Red Tail Boa, but the Carpet Pythons have the most awesome patterns :gj: Heehee, I dream to one day own some sort of Tree Boa, they are freaking beautiful!

Thanks in advance for reading my long post :banana:

yes i agree. i myself do not own any ball python i have 06 male and female coastal carpet pythons, 1 08 male coastal carpet (2 months old) and a HCQ orange tiger carpet python. so need less to say i like carpets lol. i have had a ball python and there wasnt much difference in housing and keeping carpets. also if your humidity sucks there u could add a larger water bowl to bring it up or perhaps put cyprus mulch in your cage and dampen it some and it will make the humidity in your cage rise.

sorry forgot to add one more thing lol. if you have the snake on mice and you cant get it to switch over to rats then try to dip the rats head into chicken broth and that usually works for me but if it isnt eating at all u could still do that and maybe it will entice him more to eat if not and you dont have your heat and humidity elevated right he could be having issues or stressed out from alot of different reasons.

Let me see if I can help you with your questions. depending on what kind of carpet python you were interested in. typically Jungle carpets tend to be a little more picky about what they eat. That said there are a number of really great breeders I can turn you on to and they can sell you a rat feeder if that is a concern of yours. Mice chicks, quail, hamsters are all options but really you should be fine if you consult a breeder. Adult carpets again depending on size need any were between a 36x24x24 up to 48x24x24 or even larger if you desire I don't think anything over a 4 foot cage is needed unless you have a big coastal. I think you would be looking a Jungle or Irian Jaya Carpet Python, so you should have no problem with a 36x24x24. I hope this helps and feel free to ask away with any more questions. Baby carpets are a bit nippy but if you can get past that they are IMO one of the most rewarding fun snakes to keep.

Chuck

everything chuck said!

plus, humidity is much less an issue with carpets than with balls... carpets in general are much easier to keep.

Do male and females have differenent tempraments? I read that the females are usually larger. What are their personalities like compared to Ball Pythons and Red Tail Boas? As for the nippy-ness, do you think it's better to buy a baby, or something that's older?


I was searching for breeders - I saw your FS post on another forum, Colin (don't remember which one). I could have sworn I read about someone named Will Bird here, but I can't find the post now or a website. Does that person have a website/exist?

http://www.ectotherms.net/ecto-cms/ is Will Bird's website.

:O WOW!! Those are stunning!! I want one...

about all of will birds snakes are stunning lol i just recently got 2 from him and posted them in the in transit post. he has great quality snakes.

That's where I saw his name!! Your transit post!! I may have to call him when the time comes, and I'm hoping it's sooner then later :P All this looking at these beauties is really getting me impatient.

What sucks is that he sells Brazilian Rainbows as well, which is one of the Boa's I really wanted. But, it seems like they're husbandry is a little advanced, so I haven't looked into them yet.

yes, brb are a little more difficult to house then some of the others. i had a pair a while back but decided to get rid of them and go with carpets because they are a easier to keep and maintain in my opinion. also here is a pic i just took 5 mins ago after the hcq finished its shed and ate. i think you would enjoy one of these, this one is about 2 to 3 months old and is already docile. doesnt even try to attemp at striking me. its not highly priced as some of the other carpets but i think they have beautiful colorings and markings.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...d/DSC01003.jpg

oh sorry for the bad pic for some reason it keeps coming out a little darker and fuzzy. the pictures does him no justice.

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Originally Posted by reaxion07

That's where I saw his name!! Your transit post!! I may have to call him when the time comes, and I'm hoping it's sooner then later :P All this looking at these beauties is really getting me impatient.

What sucks is that he sells Brazilian Rainbows as well, which is one of the Boa's I really wanted. But, it seems like they're husbandry is a little advanced, so I haven't looked into them yet.

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The only part of the brazilian's husbandry that I would consider advanced would be keeping the humidity up. If you can do that, they aren't any tougher to keep than a ball python or a boa. ;) Another breeder you can check out is Anthony Caponetto. A little pricey, but he's got some of the brightest jaguars I've seen yet.

yes anthony has some nice ones also but the ones he has bred with the 75% jungles are from will bird.

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Originally Posted by xanaxez

yes, brb are a little more difficult to house then some of the others. i had a pair a while back but decided to get rid of them and go with carpets because they are a easier to keep and maintain in my opinion. also here is a pic i just took 5 mins ago after the hcq finished its shed and ate. i think you would enjoy one of these, this one is about 2 to 3 months old and is already docile. doesnt even try to attemp at striking me. its not highly priced as some of the other carpets but i think they have beautiful colorings and markings.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...d/DSC01003.jpg

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That resembles the one's I was considering. I don't think I'l ever breed, so I just want something pleasing to my eye.

Thanks Mookfu, I was just going by the caresheet here. It seemed like the BRB were also more sensitive to changes in temp/humidty.

yea, they are nice carpets. this one was also posted on wills site but his site hasnt been updated yet. its still on his site for sale lol

I don't have a lot of experience keeping carpets since this is my first year with them.


I have 0.6 Irian Jayas and it was easy to switch them to ASFs from mice. I think one of them held out for two weeks before eating an ASF. These guys have the best temperament. None of the IJ's have ever tried to bite me.

I picked up three coastals. Two of the coastals eat anything (mice, rats, ASFs) and both of these are nippy, although young. The third coastal has never tried to bite me but only eats rat pinkies.

I also have a jungle who will eat anything. She doesn't bite (anymore) but will occassionaly butt my hand or arm with her nose.

In my opinion every snake will have their own personality (temperament) and feeding response. I feel the key to get any snake to eat what you prefer it to is by starting them on this prey item at an early age. I alternate a variety of prey with my snakes at an early age. I feel by doing this the snake will get use to a variety of scents as potential prey.

David

i agree with you. the male coastal i have in other post is nippy lol or should i say suicidal he lunges and bites at any and everything that gets near him and he will eat live or f/t now the tiger posted above i cannot get to eat a f/t yet. so i went today to get him a live fuzzy, well they didnt have any so they are like we have hoppers im like that looks a little big lol but he ate it with no hesitation.

Here Check with Ben and Justin they are both really great guys who post here from time to time.

http://www.australianaddiction.com

yea they have a few nice ones also, but just in my opinion some of them like the jag x coastals are overly priced.

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Originally Posted by xanaxez

yea they have a few nice ones also, but just in my opinion some of them like the jag x coastals are overly priced.

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I am interested what you think they are worth. AAR has very quality stock at market prices, I am surprised you would say that.

haha, seriously... i wasn't sure if that was sarcasm or serious. they're much more reasonably priced than just about anyone i can think of. \

carpets are not balls, you can't just put a blanket price on them.

well... it was being serious, but like i said in my opinion and it differes from alot of others. i am sure they have great quality snakes and i do not disagree but in my opinion even though i love carpets a normal junglexjag @ 700.00 is kind of high when you can get deals on stripped or tigers for just a couple of hundred dollars more. i'm not putting down anyones prices of animals or quality by no means here im just voicing an opinion. an animal is worth as much as someone will pay for it. i know quality has alot to do with it but as i have seen from alot of dealers and so forth, they have a clutch and get a few that are a little different in colors or stripes...etc and those are priced higher then the others? they both came from the same parents with the same blood line so what makes one better then the other? quality doesnt change just the appearance so it seems to me that its more about the eye candy to some then it is about the quality or the animal.

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Originally Posted by xanaxez

they have a clutch and get a few that are a little different in colors or stripes...etc and those are priced higher then the others? they both came from the same parents with the same blood line so what makes one better then the other? quality doesnt change just the appearance so it seems to me that its more about the eye candy to some then it is about the quality or the animal.

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well, i gotta say i disagree completely... if this were true then there would be no point to selective breeding!
you hold back, or sell for higher prices, the ones that are a step above the rest because they either A)make a better display snake, or B)will potentially have better offspring than their siblings. if you throw that out the window then how can we improve the lines to breed for color or pattern?

Isn't the eye candy what you WANT when you buy a carpet? I don't know about you, but I would much rather pay a little more for one that looks spectacular than one that just looks average.

both of you are correct and i do not disagree i guess i just do not look at them as a display object. i look at them as something i can enjoy to have and play around with as a pet. i have a couple of very nice looking ones i guess and i have a couple that wasnt as fortunate in looks but they all are equal to me no matter how nice or ugly they may be they are still part of my family and care for them all like they are spectacular because to me they all are.

^That's how I feel about my Normal BP. He may not be fancy, but he's still awesome. After our first shed with him, he actually got quite a bit of yellow on the sides, almost like a pastel! I think the Australian site's photo's aren't the same quality as Will Bird's, maybe that's why the snakes look different? You guy's have given me a ton of good info, this forum is amazing. Thanks!

One more - are they like BP's in that it's stressful for them to be in an enclosure that's too large? Is it okay to put a juvenile in an adult sized enclosure...

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Originally Posted by xanaxez

well... it was being serious, but like i said in my opinion and it differes from alot of others. i am sure they have great quality snakes and i do not disagree but in my opinion even though i love carpets a normal junglexjag @ 700.00 is kind of high when you can get deals on stripped or tigers for just a couple of hundred dollars more. i'm not putting down anyones prices of animals or quality by no means here im just voicing an opinion. an animal is worth as much as someone will pay for it. i know quality has alot to do with it but as i have seen from alot of dealers and so forth, they have a clutch and get a few that are a little different in colors or stripes...etc and those are priced higher then the others? they both came from the same parents with the same blood line so what makes one better then the other? quality doesnt change just the appearance so it seems to me that its more about the eye candy to some then it is about the quality or the animal.

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I am not sure how you think line breeding works but selective breeding is how quality animals are produced in the first place. Differance in color and patten may not mean that much to you but when breed for there traits they inhance furtue offspring for the same trait thus making them more valuable to the individual trying to line breed for a trait. Now when you say a normal jungle Jag for $700 what do you mean normal jungle jag they are a morp not some natural sub-species varient of the carpet pythons. You can't make a price comparison and say a Jag is over price or not worth it when you compare it to a tiger or a striped coastal. All three are totally diffrent and it is like comparing apples and oranges. look I am not trying to poop in your wheaties I just don't think you fully understand what you are talking about.

Any snake in to big of an enclosure will get strressed out and may go off feeding, so yes.

I've got a pair of Diamond x Jungle's. I got both full grown. They both have a super sweet disposition, the female more so than the male. They both LOVE to eat. The male will eat cold rats and in the care of his last owner once ate a glove with a faux fur trim.

To give you an idea of how sweet these snakes can be and why I love my pair so much. My husband found her at a reptile rescue. The rescuer told us that she likes baths and that as a "bonding" experience we should give her a quick bathe when we got her home. She started to push her shed up off her nose. I didn't have her enclosure fully set up so there was nothing rough for her to rub her shed off on. So she allowed me to peel the whole shed off of her. from heat pits to the tip of her tail. She didn't so much as nose butt me to get me to stop.

I would however like to point out that the wet skin of a 7ft + snake reminded me of a used elephant condom. Kind of unpleasant lol.

Hahahaha, nice description. That's awesome - my girlfriend got tagged when we were soaking our BP for getting to close to his head. He is really intolerant of movement towards/too close to his head. I really want one now - time to research tub prices!

Oh I almost forgot, if you're researching breeders, Inland Reptile does stunning Coastals and Spitfire Reptiles does gorgeous crosses. They're both breeders I greatly admire.

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Originally Posted by kessers

Oh I almost forgot, if you're researching breeders, Inland Reptile does stunning Coastals and Spitfire Reptiles does gorgeous crosses. They're both breeders I greatly admire.

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Ha that is funny you put them two togeather, they tend to argue over the purity debate, both are great breeders I would also See what Mpenn at python in a pear tree has got he has hands down some of the nicest coastals and some really nice IJ's he post on this board so maybe he will chime in here.

Hehehe, they're both breeders I greatly admire, for totally different reasons.

Speaking of those two, how do you all feel about crosses, and even hybrids.

not trying to spark any arguments, just opinions.

I like them both. I don't own anything but crosses. I'd very much like some pure Coastals and Bredli. I'd kill for some pure Diamonds.

For me there are two requirements for bringing home a snake. One, I have to be able to handle it. Two, I have to like how it looks.

My perception that the snake is friendly is the most important thing for me.

:banana: I just picked up a baby female Iran Jaya last weekend at the reptile show. She is still a bit nippy, but took her first frozen thawed fuzzy off the tongs the second night I had her. I think she has nice colors and I will post pics of her soon. I have read that the IJ's will change colors from night to day. Anyone actually seen this in theirs?