Carpet Localities and Morphs

[blackcrystal22]

Hey there,
I've been really confused about what the different morphs and localities for carpet pythons are.

What are the different phases and colors that are associated with each locality or morph?

Thanks!
-Jess

[blackcrystal22]

No one?

[Colin Vestrand]

there are several morphs (like most popular snakes these days)... i won't go into those.

the localities you are likely referring to are not localities at all. they are subspecies and species. in the US, the following are going to be your most common species and subspecies:
jungle carpet - morelia spilota cheynei
coastal carpet - morelia spilota mcdowelli
bredli (centralian) carpet - morelia bredli (notice it's a different species)
irian jaya carpet - morelia spilota harrisoni
diamond python - morelia spilota
and, of course, good ol mutt carpets morelia spilota ssp

does that clear it up?

here are some morphs............

granite
albino
jaguar
tiger (striped)
zebra
caramel

there are more, proven and unproven.........

[blackcrystal22]

Thank you very much!

Do all of the different species and subspecies have their own set of morphs to them??

[BrucenBruce]

Not all do, Blackcrystal - though the existing morphs have been crossed into other subspecies, resulting in some very beautiful mutt carpets.

The "granite" carpet is a recessive morph of the Irian Jaya subspecies.

The "zebra" is a codominant morph of the Jungle carpet - super is a patternless yellow snake.

The albino is a recessive morph of, IIRC, the Darwin carpet.

The "jaguar", which exhibits many of the same characteristics of the "spider" ball python, is a codominant morph of the Coastal carpet. Super is a leucistic carpet, but to date none have survived that I'm aware of. It's probably been crossed into more of the other subspecies than all the others combined. (Then again, there aren't that many albinos around for folks to cross - just wait'll they get a chance!)

"Tiger", I _think_ is a Coastal morph - but I could be wrong.

"Caramel" - I think I've seen a photo of one . . .

HTH

~Bruce

[olstyn]

Edit: wow, apparently I took a long time writing this post - got beaten to the punch by BrucenBruce...

Yes, and people have mixed the morphs by mixing subspecies.

Granite is Irian Jaya (recessive)
Albino is Darwin (recessive)
Jaguar is Coastal (codominant, fatal super [leucistic] - no one has hatched a live super jag)
Tiger is Coastal (I don't recall whether it's dom, co-dom, or recessive)
Zebra is Jungle (co-dom, super is a yellow snake)
Caramel is Coastal (IIRC)

Granite Jags are an IJ/coastal cross, for example. Some of the single-morph subspecies crosses are stunning too. 75% IJ jags, for example, are very pretty IMO, as are diamond jungle jags. That said, if you look into getting a jag, be aware that they have similar wobble/spin issues to spider ball pythons. It doesn't seem to prevent them from living otherwise healthy lives, but it's something you should know before getting into them.

[sheffernan13]

I did read somewhere that one of the super Jags that hatched was paradox'd and it did survive for around three months then after that it passed.....

It appears to be a fatal gene similar to the super woma ball.

[Tim Mead]

There was/is a video floating around that showed the super/leucistic/with paradox markings and one could see it was not in good shape upon hatching..
Had poor motion to it,be surpised if it lasted very long..Previous posters did a fine job covering all the bases...