Doubled up today.

[Gio]

Jewel has been a great captive and its always interesting when she eats. I've hand fed her early on when she was a wee little one. She seemed to feel more comfortable perched on my hand and just opening her mouth to take the food. She's eaten fuzzy rats up to large (F/T and live) rats. chicks, quail and 1 + pound rabbits. Everything is F/T unless it is a live refusal from the royal.

She will strike live prey very hard, but she actually wraps the F/T tight and then bites. When she eats, it is usually at least one month between feedings, sometimes it is two months. She pretty much runs the show, however when she does eat, she prefers larger prey or, like today a double shot.

Today was a double large rat bonanza.

And,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I actually took some newer photos of the "Jewel". She's a coastal mutt of some kind, but today I thought she looked like there was a little diamond in her.

I usually think the camera takes away, but with her, it often enhances some yellows that are not really that prominent in here coloring. It makes her look rather jungle in some shots like this one with a flash. Jungle is a possibility since she is a mix. Of all the photos today, this is my least favorite and the one that looks least like her. But I kept it to show the variation she displays.


This is where I thought she had some fading resemblance to a diamond mix. I think it is the face and some of the lower side patterning. Everything is speculation. I actually somewhat enjoy the mixing going on.


2 large rats in the belly. She just takes larger items like they are nothing.


The rest of these are very similar, but they are a more true representation of what she really looks like.



This is also one of the rare times she's eaten from a hide on the ground. I'm assuming because I fed her during the day.


Nothing like getting carried away. Here is another near identical photo. The carpet/diamond/bredli snakes are just sensational animals to own.

I hope you enjoyed the photos. She's about 7 feet long now, 3.5 years old, and seems to be having a later life growth spurt.

[Reinz]

I really enjoyed those photos Gio.

Regardless of her mix, I think you have a special Carpet there. She is so beautiful.

That is cool that you can hand feed her. You could not pay me enough money to even consider trying to hand feed any of my Carpets.

It is is amazing how large of a prey item Carpets can slide down. My big girl, Lizzy can easily take Jumbos and Colossals. I usually stick with a Jumbo per month unless I need her to take someone's refusal, which is rare.

[Gio]

I really enjoyed those photos Gio.

Regardless of her mix, I think you have a special Carpet there. She is so beautiful.

That is cool that you can hand feed her. You could not pay me enough money to even consider trying to hand feed any of my Carpets.

It is is amazing how large of a prey item Carpets can slide down. My big girl, Lizzy can easily take Jumbos and Colossals. I usually stick with a Jumbo per month unless I need her to take someone's refusal, which is rare.

I'll try a jumbo at some point. I kind of like rabbits just because they have better bone and less fat.

I don't hand feed any longer. It was when she was very small. She has peculiar feeding habits unless it is a live item. Then she is brutal like all the rest of them.

I really need to get my good camera out, but I thought those pictures were OK.

Thanks for the nice comments. I haven't seen a carpet that I don't like, and I'm happy with my mutt.

[Reinz]

Sorry I misunderstood about the hand feeding.

There is a guy not far me that advertised a Jungle on CL that looks like a mutt to me. But it is good looking and has been eating at me for a month now.

I'm trying to stay strong.

[Gio]

Sorry I misunderstood about the hand feeding.

There is a guy not far me that advertised a Jungle on CL that looks like a mutt to me. But it is good looking and has been eating at me for a month now.

I'm trying to stay strong.

OH BOY,,,

Well my advice won't help you then LOL!


Unless you stay strong for a SD/Dwarf from Vital.

[EL-Ziggy]

Jewel is a beauty Gio! Those 2 large rats should hold her for a while aye?

[GoingPostal]

She's got some great contrast and pattern, I know zip about carpets but she looks like a fun keeper in your photos.

[Sauzo]

SD/D RETIC REINZ!!!! They are awesome. Caesar is like a puppy already after 5 days. He doesn't mind me picking up his hide and picking him up and everything. Even when he is still full on a rat, woops didn't notice the bulge lol. He was still cool and just went back into his warm hide all calmly. Although my advice, don't try and pick them up with a thin pvc pipe. Caesar got mad as hell and hissed at it lol. Was fine when I just used my hand though.

And now back on track, nice looking carpet Gio. I did manage to pick up Ally today but she was still pissy. She has to be going into shed. I just don't see how she could go from being relatively tame to a terror again with no changes. And she looks huge! My JCP is tiny lol. She's only about 3' and a little thicker than my retic. No way she could eat a small rat even. She is on large mice. I did give the retic a small rat and I honestly think that is a bit much. I am going to drop him back down to weaned rats.

And to Reinz-Hold out for a sd/d retic man! Caesar is up on their on my list as he is so mellow yet so active lol. And he actually looks at me, he will turn his head to look at me when I come over lol.

[Gio]

She's got some great contrast and pattern, I know zip about carpets but she looks like a fun keeper in your photos.

Yes!!

The personality so far is unmatched. That is a bit hard to explain and could change a bit with the new retic, but if I had to coin a snake "nice", it would be this carpet. Her eating habits are somewhat of a mystery. She is so reserved if I feed her F/T and she ALWAYS recognizes the feeding tongs. She seems to go into an overly gentle mode when she is being handled and nothing seems to rattle her cage.

I was VERY close to repeating the carpet python gig with a Brisbane locality from Nick, but just had to give the SD/Dwarf tic a try.

That one (tic) is a bit jumpy, but handles just fine. I had a few moments like Sauzo did. Snake hook took a few false bites, and I handled a little too soon after feeding and got a nice, stinky shower last night. He was great today.

My boa is my "Steady Eddy". He is very laid back, but my boa seems much less expressional than the other 3 pythons. The royal is cute but very shy. It is her nature and l like and understand that now. Small snakes have to mind their surroundings.

The boa is by far the most calculated and stealthy of my group. I'd say he's fairly aloof. He is great to handle, but I can tell he could easily give or take it. He appears to have an Alfa male attitude if snakes could be described that way. I think he is searching for a female which the poor guy won't find, or waiting for dinner when it comes.

I can't really pick a favorite, but when I was limited and was told I'd have to place one of them in order to get another species or any other snake, I can tell you the one that was never considered on the placement list was the boa. And for that matter, I'd probably not be able to bring myself to place any of them. They've all been at our house since they were young. All before a year old.

I rant here often LOL!

Back to the carpet. She is simply wonderful and I hear that in general about carpets. The crappy eating habits of this girl get overlooked because she still grows. I'll bet she hits another shed after this feed of for sure the next. She is predominately coastal which explains her size, but there is a groovy mixture of 1 or more other things in there.

As far as a display snake,,,,,, the carpet group has to be at the top!

[Sauzo]

And to steal this thread one more time!! Looks like Vital Exotics is having a blowout on the SD/D. Kris is selling male or female SD/D white albino tigers like mine for $500 shipped now. That's almost as cheap as I got mine from him for. It's in the stars Reinz lol. Sure he has other ones for sale too. Check out the Dwarf and Super Dwarf Retic Classifieds on FB. He posts lots of "sales" there as well as tons of other people.