Gio hit the nail pretty well with his post. Focused hot spot with warmer temps, for shorter periods of the day, preferably with a bulb of sorts over an RHP. Very very very high amounts of ventilation to prevent excessive heat build up, large temperature gradient, and especially in the winter much much colder ambient and evening temps than other Morelia Read: low 50s and I’ve even heard of upper 40s in cases with no ill effect, in fact much the opposite.
Excessive heat is the cause of what was called Diamond Python Syndrome. Too much warmth speeds up their metabolic rate and they, for lack of a better description, age faster physically and die prematurely as a result. Their coloration is designed to soak up heat quickly because it’s scarce in their habitat for large portions of the year. Southern most ranging python species in the world and they’ve adapted well to handle very cool/cold temps to the point of not being able to handle constant warmer conditions.
I’d love to have diamonds but don’t think I could do them right in my north MS climate and current home ambient temps. Check out the newest More Complete Carpet Python for a more articulate explanation of their captive husbandry than I’m able to put into words.
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