New addition: Calcifer, Morelia bredli

He's stunning! Ziggy (which I just realised is the name of your JCP too!) also wakes up around that time, but he seems to enjoy his hides during the day at least. Once evening hits, he tends to go sleep until the lights go out on his branches instead. Granted, his hot hide is elevated by about 6" compared to his cool one, so perhaps that's why he prefers to spend his time in it?

Ziggy is quite active at night, and he does seem very interested in exiting his enclosure, but only when the lights are out. As soon as I turn them on, he hides or sleeps. I would also say that he does not seem to be as calm as Calcifer, but he has also not yet been here for a full week. I hope he will become less nervous with time.

I'm excited to see these two boys progress together! Calcifer is gorgeous. He also has that frontal side stripe I noticed on my own Bredli as well- It's fascinating to discover more and more about these snakes as I keep one myself.

You're right - a week isn't long at all for a young snake whose whole world has just changed!

If you aren't doing this already, you might spend time just sitting near your Ziggy's enclosure and talking to him. They don't hear the same ranges as we do but they can definitely hear within the range of human voices. Sitting nearby and just reading or whatever will let him grow more accustomed to your presence in general without having to deal with activity in his enclosure or with handling.

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Originally Posted by Caitlin

Haha, that's a lot of rat snake.

I do hope that between the sizes of most of the Bredli I know, and because he's a male he'll be in the 5-6' range, but there's always that genetic wild card. I'm the same way about my Dumeril's Boas - hoping that they will stay well within the 'average' size for their species. I am not in a position to want to deal with larger snakes!

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Excellent choice and a good looking animal.

There is a misconception in general about the carpet group and the Bredli regarding size.

In the wild, males of the combative species, which includes the Bredli, tend to be larger. In captivity, a lot of keepers restrict their male snakes diets to "maintenance" feeding and feed the females more to get them ready to breed.

In reality, males and females can really wind up the same size.

Prey size will have an impact on growth. Oftentimes more-so than feeding frequency.

If you own a carpet python, THIS is a must!
https://i.imgur.com/0WugM3U.jpg

The "average" 5'-8' is pretty accurate for both sexes. A male raised as strictly a pet and not a breeder may end up a bit larger than a male used for breeding.

My male is around 6' and he's a 2017. One thing I have noted from previous experience with my female mix (RIP) is a late life growth spurt. The female I used to have, was a terrible eater and would skip 2 months and then eat. She tended to like larger prey.

She hit 8+ feet. She did that with an almost Royal python like feeding schedule. She didn't eat frequently and I would give her, and all my adults the winter off.

It's hard to say what they'll end up at as adults over 7-8 years old.

I will say, the 2 snakes I've had here that ate the least, other than the Royal grew the largest.

All of that said, you will probably end up with something in the 5'-8' range.

The species is arguably one of the easiest to keep. They usually eat without issue and can handle fairly dramatic temp changes. If for some reason you get an 8 footer, I don't think you'll be too challenged.

This is one of the largest Bredli I've seen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWvuttq4MVU

There was a video of a male that was bigger than this, but the channel apparently no longer exists.


I look forward to watching this one progress of your new animal.