Carpet pythons

[dboeren]

My Diamond/Jungle girl will be arriving tomorrow morning by 10:30am!

Just about everything is ready to go. I put down the aspen shavings, filled the water bowl, added more hides and cork bark, hung black cloth covering two sides of the cage for a more secure feeling, set up some lights, and have been testing temperatures.

Belly heat is about 88F which seems good (it's on a thermostat), but I need to find a smaller watt bulb for a basking spot. The 40W is giving me around 96F so I'm going to pick up a 25W and maybe a 15W or whatever they have to try out. There's also an LED bulb that I can use to give white light without heat (it's a 2-bulb fixture). I could also raise the light higher as a temp fix but that won't look as good.

I also found two timers I can use to program a day/night cycle, they're just ON/OFF but better than nothing.

Frozen mice will be here on Wednesday, I wanted to give her some time to settle in before attempting a feeding anyway.

Also - gotta work on a name. So far I've been looking at some star themed options (to call out the diamond look) or female characters from mythology, Tolkien, etc...

[ringorock]

Carpets were formerly my thing. I love carpets. They can be easy if you give them what they want. But they can grow to be snappy. I just learned to ignore their snap, and all of my past carpets grew out of it. I did learn that if I handled them everyday, they would not snap. If I gave them days off, there was no telling. They're beautiful snakes and great for home display because of the arboreal nature of them. As for an almost guaranteed scaley friend, they're no ball.

[Reinz]

My Diamond/Jungle girl will be arriving tomorrow morning by 10:30am!

Just about everything is ready to go. I put down the aspen shavings, filled the water bowl, added more hides and cork bark, hung black cloth covering two sides of the cage for a more secure feeling, set up some lights, and have been testing temperatures.

Belly heat is about 88F which seems good (it's on a thermostat), but I need to find a smaller watt bulb for a basking spot. The 40W is giving me around 96F so I'm going to pick up a 25W and maybe a 15W or whatever they have to try out. There's also an LED bulb that I can use to give white light without heat (it's a 2-bulb fixture). I could also raise the light higher as a temp fix but that won't look as good.

I also found two timers I can use to program a day/night cycle, they're just ON/OFF but better than nothing.

Frozen mice will be here on Wednesday, I wanted to give her some time to settle in before attempting a feeding anyway.

Also - gotta work on a name. So far I've been looking at some star themed options (to call out the diamond look) or female characters from mythology, Tolkien, etc...

Great planning and prep there DB.

[dboeren]

25W bulb seems to do about right, giving me a 90F basking spot. The store didn't have any 15W to try out. Without any bulb the same spot is around 81F.

[dboeren]

Just got word that it's going to be a little longer as she is entering shed so he's going to wait and ship after that is completed. So... could be an extra week or so, hard to tell

[Reinz]

Just got word that it's going to be a little longer as she is entering shed so he's going to wait and ship after that is completed. So... could be an extra week or so, hard to tell

Dude, that's just too harsh for your excitement.

[EL-Ziggy]

That slurps DB . Why delay shipping because the animal is in shed though?

[Gio]

Carpets were formerly my thing. I love carpets. They can be easy if you give them what they want. But they can grow to be snappy. I just learned to ignore their snap, and all of my past carpets grew out of it. I did learn that if I handled them everyday, they would not snap. If I gave them days off, there was no telling. They're beautiful snakes and great for home display because of the arboreal nature of them. As for an almost guaranteed scaley friend, they're no ball.

OH,

I don't know about the last part here.

There are plenty of testy royals out there, and plenty of wonderfully, pleasant, inquisitive, active carpets.

We have a royal here. Boring is a great description, but that's how they live in the wild. Secretive, and out of sight until its time to eat. As far as a "friend" I have a motionless rock in my lap that usually wants to be away from me and more like back into a hide.

The carpet of ALL snakes here, which includes a boa constrictor, and a young retic, is the most "social/friendly" and predictable snake in the house. They are all solid, but the carpet seems to enjoy company. She doesn't technically enjoy anything, but WOW what a snake to display and handle without worry.

You are correct that there is often a need for some handling work on the front end, but the reward later on in most cases is beyond well worth it.

IMO carpet pythons and boa constrictors are wonderful first snakes for the right keeper. Royals are great, but the feeding issues they present are often misunderstood by most keepers and it lead to questions and stress. The snake itself is fine but then you step back and just look at all the worried royal keepers that post feeding questions you get a picture of something other than ideal IMO.

Of the 4 snakes here, and they are all completely different species from completely different continents, I find the carpet to be the most entertaining and "friendly". The retic is becoming a special part of the crew, and the boa constrictor is perfect, in every way sans a "personality".

I'm not knocking your post, but I will say the chance for a keeper to obtain a "scaly friend" can be very, very high with almost any carpet species.

As a matter of fact, some wild carpets are very handleable and non-defensive.

The O/P is going to love this experience!

What was it that made you go from carpets to royals? Usually things progress the other way

[dboeren]

OK, I actually just misinterpreted the message. She's going into shed but shipping will proceed as expected. Sorry for the false alarm.

Baby carpets are known for often being a bit nippy, but most people seem to agree that it's something they grow out of and mostly due to being very low on the food chain at that small size.

[Gio]

OK, I actually just misinterpreted the message. She's going into shed but shipping will proceed as expected. Sorry for the false alarm.

Baby carpets are known for often being a bit nippy, but most people seem to agree that it's something they grow out of and mostly due to being very low on the food chain at that small size.

Yes,

You will have nothing to fear.

Mine bit me 3 times and I laughed at the antics because she was trying to be so bloody tough LOL!

I suggest using a perch or branch to introduce them to handling at first.

I call this "The Acclimation Branch". The snake will eventually crawl right over your hands. I used it on my carpet AFTER she bit me a few times. Problem solved!


The retic never bit me durning handling. He only tagged me defensively while pulling out of the cage. My fault not his.