My fiance surprised me with an awesome birthday gift...

[Craiga 01453]

Apologies, I really thought I had already responded to this! Since you'll be getting Ziggy's sister (or is it brother?) soon, I definitely don't want to ignore 'family'

In answer to your question, Ziggy has been taking a small mouse every 7 days for about the last 6 weeks. I know carpets can take a pretty large meal, but as you can see in the recent photo, I think he is looking good. So I'm not seeing any reason to rush to bump up his meal size.

The gentle temperament Riley mentioned noticing in this clutch continues to hold true for Ziggy. That doesn't mean he hasn't had his moments. He's bluff-struck at me maybe 2-3 times altogether, which is just nothing for a baby carpet python. And every once in awhile I still catch him giving me one of those intense 'GOD I wonder how I can manage to KILL you' stares. You know what I mean, lol. I have several species of snake, and none of them except Ziggy have ever produced quite that same sort of look.

He's still a little nervous when handled, though settling down more quickly every time and relaxing into just exploring. He's even started sitting loosely coiled on my hand and calmly looking around for several minutes at a time, which is fantastic. When he was a wee baby he was in his hide a lot, but now as often as not he's sprawled across one of his perches. Given the long lead time on AP enclosures, I think I am going to go ahead and order a 4x2x2 for him this week. By the time I get it I think he'll adjust fine to being moved into it.

I hope Spring weather comes soon for you - I know you are really looking forward to the new addition, and I'm looking forward to hearing about how things go.

Hahaha, no worries at all. Always good to hear from family . Once ****** (his name is still a secret and not 100% decided) arrives we'll be sure to let you know.

Thanks, I was thinking Ziggy looked bigger than my Bredli based on your pics. She's about 3 months younger, so still on fuzzy rats. It'll be cool comparing them as they age though since they're so close.

Only a few bluff strikes? Wow! Riley wasn't kidding about the mellow!! Fernie must have tagged me a dozen times or more the first few handling sessions, but she hasn't struck again since. She's so easy, not head shy at all.
I know that look you're talking about, my Borneo STP has that look perfected!

I'm still on the fence between AP and building my own, but I've got a few 3 footers so I've got time to decide (although not a ton of time if I go AP. I'm just so impatient and lead times seem to be getting worse...

Now that we're into March I'm getting excited. He could be here any week now