Carpet pythons

[DennisM]

Still uncertain about the exact type but I think A Jungle (non-jag) is most likely.

Well, if it’s really a jungle you want, then it won’t be jag. All jungle jags are part coastal, all anything jag is part coastal.

Question about the Coastals (Caramel or normal)... Do they typically keep their baby colors in adulthood? I've seen some pics of young with a nice bone-whitish background but not as many adults like that and when I view family tree pics the parents are usually more yellowish in their background so I wonder if they just change as they age.

All carpet pythons undergo ontogenetic color changes early in life. No absolute certainties, but almost certainly these bone-white colors will turn tannish/light brown in a year or two. And speaking of color changes, don’t expect to see any black and yellow baby jungles, they will look a lot like coastals as youngsters. Pics of the parents will give a clue of what you can expect, again without any guarentees.

And finally, I realized I have an 18" display cube cage with undertank heat tape that should be well suited for a young Carpet
So do you guys think that should do well for a 2016 (or 2015) youngster as long as there are sufficient hides, or would I be better off with a tub for a more secure feeling? I get the impression that Carpets aren't as shy as some species so maybe the tub isn't necessary. I would probably partially cover it for the first few days until he settles in.

I keep baby carpets in tubs, but they’ll outgrow them quickly and are not appropriate for adults. With appropriate hides and cover a young carpet will do fine in the 18 inch cube. Definitely add some climbing apparatus if that’s the way you decide to go.

[ShaneSilva]

What he said ^^^

And I. Sorry for the not so great experience. The shows in this area are always over packed with ball pythons as well but there is always a good number of other species especially carpets, boas and retics. Don't rush and get the right one for you(:

[DennisM]

also, the original post says no balls because they are pet rocks. Then you say you're looking at bloods. LOL, bloods will make the balls look hyper-active.

[Gio]

Carpets are wonderful.

I have a female coastal mix (mutt). She goes 6.5 feet right now. Coastal carpets, and other species of carpet pythons where males engage in per-mating combat can be the same size or larger than the females. That is written in the book THE COMPLETE CARPET PYTHON

There are not huge differences for the most part. In captivity the females probably end up a touch larger in the end, but I'd say you are not going to be overwhelmed by either male or female.

Display caging is perfect for carpets. Semi to highly arboreal species are well worth setting up.

This is my female.



She is very light bodied right now, but seems to finally be getting some girth. She is a terrible eater and often takes 2 months to gear up for food.



I went with Pro-Line caging. 48" x 24" x 24"


I've not had any issues with handling other than a few bites when she was younger.






If I had another opening here for a snake, I'd get Brisbane Coastal from Nick or a Bredli.

But this girl is great.



Also, Dumerils "ground boa", blood pythons and royal pythons are classed as terrestrial and tend to be less active in my experience. Our royal is boring, but nice to handle.

I highly recommend boa constrictors. They are classed as terrestrial too, but they should be considered semi arboreal IMO. There is so much evidence and footage that they hunt, and rest in the canopy that they are certainly more than terrestrial.


So obviously I have one of those too.


Hope you get what you are after!!

[DennisM]

1. How would you rate the handing and personality of a Carpet vs. a Boa?

I haven’t kept boas, so am not entitled to an opinion.

2. Is it OK to house more than one Carpet together eventually?

No it is not.

3. How bad is the Jaguar neurological thing? Right now it sounds scary to me and makes me want to avoid Jaguars entirely. Is it a danger only if the animal actually exhibits the Jaguar gene or is there a risk even if it just has some Jaguar in its ancestry?

It varies. I currently have 8 jags in my collection and have had 4 others in the past. 11 of the 12 had only very mild symptoms. The other, a male DCI/coastal intergrade, had fairly strong symptoms as a hatchling that manifested itself at all times, not just times of excitement which is frequently reported. He was quite difficult to feed as he either couldn’t hit the prey or couldn’t locate it after he constricted it. For the first 2-3 years it would normally take 4-6 offerings before the meal would be consumed. The snake is now 10 years old and has become fairly efficient at feeding on offering #1. However, at about 4-5 years of age his equilibrium became increasingly poor. The snake is more likely to be spotted upside down than right side up these past several years. None of the other jags in my admittedly small sample have had any noticeable difference in the degree of their symptoms over the years. However, there is enough reported evidence in other collections to show that it may get worse. And sometimes get better. But I think mostly what you get wobble wise as a youngster is what you will get as an adult.

The wobble only occurs in jags. it is related to the gene

4. If the goal is to get a friendly animal, would it be better to get a baby (more chance to handle it as it grows up) or a yearling (more chance to see how its personality has developed)?

I don’t think it matters, they all calm down.

5. What time of year do Carpets hatch out? i.e. - when the breeders will have loads of selection to choose from.

Summertime is prime time, but autumn is popular too.

6. What are some good breeders to look at? I know inlandreptile is one.

Nick obviously very good. My go to guy for carpets is Will Bird at http://www.ectotherms.net/. I’ve been doing business with Will for over a decade. He produces top notch animals from excellent lines with reasonable pricing. He’s a great guy who will provide you all the help and advice you need. He’s in it for the animals, not the money.

[dboeren]

I keep baby carpets in tubs, but they’ll outgrow them quickly and are not appropriate for adults. With appropriate hides and cover a young carpet will do fine in the 18 inch cube. Definitely add some climbing apparatus if that’s the way you decide to go.

Yeah, I've got some good hides and climbing branches I'll be putting in there. Currently finishing up a thorough cleaning and then I'm taking it downstairs to plug it into my thermostat and verify that the heat tape is in good working order.

Sorry for the not so great experience. The shows in this area are always over packed with ball pythons as well but there is always a good number of other species especially carpets, boas and retics. Don't rush and get the right one for you(:

I did see a far number of Retics and Burmese too. Kind of glossed over them as I wasn't interested in something that big.


Been talking with Mike Cross at Mid Atlantic Reptile, he's getting some pics together for me to look at of some of his available Jungles.

[Gio]

I haven’t kept boas, so am not entitled to an opinion.



No it is not.



It varies. I currently have 8 jags in my collection and have had 4 others in the past. 11 of the 12 had only very mild symptoms. The other, a male DCI/coastal intergrade, had fairly strong symptoms as a hatchling that manifested itself at all times, not just times of excitement which is frequently reported. He was quite difficult to feed as he either couldn’t hit the prey or couldn’t locate it after he constricted it. For the first 2-3 years it would normally take 4-6 offerings before the meal would be consumed. The snake is now 10 years old and has become fairly efficient at feeding on offering #1. However, at about 4-5 years of age his equilibrium became increasingly poor. The snake is more likely to be spotted upside down than right side up these past several years. None of the other jags in my admittedly small sample have had any noticeable difference in the degree of their symptoms over the years. However, there is enough reported evidence in other collections to show that it may get worse. And sometimes get better. But I think mostly what you get wobble wise as a youngster is what you will get as an adult.

The wobble only occurs in jags. it is related to the gene



I don’t think it matters, they all calm down.



Summertime is prime time, but autumn is popular too.



Nick obviously very good. My go to guy for carpets is Will Bird at http://www.ectotherms.net/. I’ve been doing business with Will for over a decade. He produces top notch animals from excellent lines with reasonable pricing. He’s a great guy who will provide you all the help and advice you need. He’s in it for the animals, not the money.

I agree with every snippet here.

I forgot about Will. His webpage is saved in my bookmarks, and I agree with Dennis.

As for the BC VS. Carpet comparison? They are similar in many ways, however you have to approach boas with a very seasonal feeding schedule once they are mature. A lot of folks claim boas are boring and sit curled up in the corner of the cage. I completely disagree. If not overfed, like so very many are, they will move, hunt and seek ambush points inside of their caging. This however is only observable when you set them up to display those behaviors.

Boas are MUCH heavier bodied foot for foot. I believe my carpet that is a year younger than my boa, is longer but the mass of the boa makes the carpet seem like a smaller snake.

I would say, the carpet is slightly more active throughout the year. There are times when the boa is very busy, but my coastal mutt is out almost the same time every night climbing around.

She seems to have a personality, which is hard to explain. She seems to almost be friendly which is also hard to explain. Human emotions and snakes don't mix, but I feel the carpet is more curious/tolerant of handling. My boa is very good, but boas move in a very slow, deliberate, controlled manner. Carpets seem to go without thinking.

I'm only giving examples of my two so this isn't gospel by any means.

My SD x Dwarf retic is another situation altogether but fits the semi arboreal interest I have here.

I think for a change, and what the O/P was looking for, I'd say carpet. ALL snakes need to be understood, but I know a bit more about boas having done extensive research and study. If you raise a boa constrictor properly, you will be amazed and entertained, but its important to not overfeed them.

I think a carpet generally does what it does. Sure you can overfeed them however I think they seem to be more active year round.

I can't pick a favorite. My son has a royal python, I own the boa, the carpet and the retic.

All are special even the seemingly boring royal.

[dboeren]

Heating tests came out good - I set it up with my thermostat hooked up to the under-tank heater plus an independent digital thermometer w/ probe and they both agree that the hot spot is holding steady around 90 degrees.

My biggest & best hunk of grapevine to climb on is just slightly too big to fit in an 18" cage by about an inch), so I'm going to have to decide whether to trim it a little or just use something else. Actually, now that I think about it I need floor room for a water bowl and hides too so the big vine really IS going to be too big. Ah well, I'll save it for down the line when he's in a bigger cage.

Ordered a copy of the Complete Carpet Python, hopefully it will arrive soon.

So basically things are coming together... I've settled on a Jungle, loving the black & yellow look. A Coastal or Bredli isn't out of the question down the line but I'm starting here.

Now I need to start looking more closely at pics of available animals and making tough choices about who makes the cut.

[dboeren]

First batch of pics is here, I've already weeded out half of them and I think these are the four most interesting ones... These are all 2016's. I'm supposed to get pics of a few remaining 2015's later. What do you guys think?

#1 strikes me as an all arounder with clean yellows
#2 is a tipping beast
#3 has somewhat unique head & body patterns with a little lightning bolt on the side of the head
#4 is another all arounder with moderate tipping

[Gio]

Nice, all of them!

I think my personal preference points toward 2 and 3.