NEW!!! Click
HERE to visit
the 2008 Carpet Python Breeding Season page.
Carpet Pythons Main |
Breeding |
Coastals |
Irian Jayas |
Diamond x Jungles |
Jungles |
Jaguars |
Irian Jaya Jaguars
| Tigers |
Motleys
|
Part I - Overview |
About This "Care Sheet"
I don't really like the term "care
sheet" because there is no recipe or owner's manual for keeping any reptile in
captivity. This page just outlines the way I keep or have kept carpet
pythons and what I've learned along the way. It's not meant to be the
“final word” and it's definitely not meant to sound as if there's only one way.
To be honest, carpets are pretty easy snakes to keep, so there are different
methods that will also work quite well. This page just outlines what I’ve
found to be most convenient for me, while keeping the animals' best interests in
mind. Everything you read here is based on my personal experience.
If you read something elsewhere that is different or even contradictory, that
doesn't necessarily mean that anyone is wrong.
 Let's talk about
carpet pythons...
In my opinion, carpet pythons are one of
the easiest and most undemanding species of snakes to care for. They offer the
keeper a lot of choices in terms of size, color and pattern, so they're becoming
more and more popular all the time.
Quality carpets used to be fairly hard to find, but
they've become more readily available in the past five years or so, due
selective breeding efforts of hobbyists. Now that Carpets are being produced in
fairly decent numbers, they can actually be quite inexpensive, while the higher
end specimens are bringing more money than ever. Thanks to selective
breeding efforts and the recent surge of interest in pattern and color morphs, I
expect that carpets will start to be seen more and more often in collections.
Carpet python morphs are fairly new on the scene and
can command thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. In addition to
Jaguars and Tigers, the most common morphs right now, we can also look forward to
several new pattern and color morphs becoming readily available in the near
future.
Back to Top -
Back to Carpet Pythons
|
|
Part II - Common Myths |
Although I will touch on some of these things throughout this page, there are a
few that I’d like to clear up before you read on.
Myth 1
Carpet pythons are
typically aggressive.
Whenever I see someone
selling a nippy yearling (or older) carpet python and they play off the snake’s
bad temperament by saying that it has a “typical carpet python attitude,” it
makes me wonder how many carpet pythons they’ve really worked with.
In fact,
most carpets are just as laid back as a
ball python. However, carpets aren't ball pythons, so they aren't wired to curl
up in a ball when they get nervous...they will typically try to flee, but the
occasional specimen will attempt to bite.
Hatchlings are typically pretty mellow, but some can be
nippy. Luckily, they're so tiny that their bites are harmless. At a year
or two of age, even the most aggressive babies will usually calm down and become
trustworthy snakes. Some hatchlings may be docile after the first couple of days
that you handle them, while others may take as long as a couple years to fully
calm down. Nippy hatchlings and juveniles don't necessarily have to
be handled in order to eventually calm down. Day to day maintenance and a
growing snake's increased confidence usually are enough.
If you are concerned about having a docile
snake, ask the breeder/dealer if the snake is nippy before you buy it. Of
course, it helps if you trust them. If they tell you that it is nippy, keep
looking because you will eventually find a docile one if you look hard enough.
Myth 2
Carpet pythons need high humidity.
There's no subtle
way to put it...this one's just BS. :) I nearly cringe when I see keepers
telling people to keep their carpets at 70% humidity. If this were
necessary, I would have killed a lot of carpet pythons by now. Over the past few
years, I've basically stopped misting my carpets, except when trying to
instigate breeding activity. I live in Kansas City, Missouri, where the
humidity dips below 30% in the winter and I rarely see a carpet have a bad shed.
In fact, I believe that internal hydration plays a more critical role in
facilitating proper shedding. It should be noted that I see far fewer
shedding problems with carpets than I do with ball pythons.
Conversely, too much humidity will promote bacterial and fungal
growth, which can cause a myriad of health problems. With that being
the case, I'd rather keep them a little too dry than a little too wet.
Myth 3
Carpet
pythons are arboreal.
I guess this one could be a bit
subjective. Compared to a ball python, I guess you could say that carpet
pythons are arboreal. Then again, house cats are arboreal too when you're
comparing them to a ball python. On the other hand, if you compare them to
a true arboreal like a green tree python, there is no comparison.
Carpets can climb quite well, and
will usually make use of any branches in their enclosure, but it's not really a
necessity. Mine do just fine with nothing more than a hide box or two and
a water bowl. Most carpets will choose to sit on top of the hide box, rather
than inside of it. When they're digesting a meal, they will go inside the
hide box for a couple of days and then return to sitting on top of it. For
that reason, I prefer a hide box over a perch. For breeding adults,
I like to use a shelf or something more open, so that breeding pairs are more
apt to come into contact with one another. All in all, carpets make great
display snakes when given something to drape themselves across, but they can be
housed very efficiently if needed.
Back to Top -
Back to Carpet Pythons
|
|
Part III -
Care and Maintenance |
Temperatures
I generally
provide an ambient temperature of 76-80F and a temperature of around 88-92F
under the basking lamp or over heat source. A few degrees either way isn't
going to hurt anything. A night drop is completely unnecessary unless
you're cycling your carpets for breeding. Please understand that
this is far from an exact science and I try not to make anything
too routine, so feel free to try different temperatures and see what works for
you.
 Cooling
In the winter, I give my breeding adults nearly normal basking temperatures during the day...usually
about 88-90F. At night, I turn the heat completely off and let them get as
cool as 65F on occasion. Take a look at my breeding page for more detailed
information.
Humidity
It's been said that
humidity should be kept at around 70-80%, but as explained earlier, I've found
that to be unnecessary.
If you live in an unusually dry area and feel that you should be misting the
cage, be sure that the cage gets a chance to dry out every day, before you spray
again. The idea is to create a humidity cycle...not constant humidity.
Constantly high humidity actually promotes bacterial and fungal
growth, which can lead to respiratory infection, as well as numerous other
health problems.
 I’ve kept jungle
carpets in screen-top ten gallon fish tanks, with a heat pad underneath or a
15-watt dome lamp on top, which would be a terrible set up for maintaining
humidity. I never misted those cages until the animals' eyes turned blue
for shedding and they always had perfect sheds. Those particular jungle carpets
reached four feet in their first year. Not bad in my book.
Diet
If you want your carpet to
grow quickly, I highly recommend starting them on rat pinkies. Switching
from mice to rats can be a problem with some carpets, usually Jungles and Irian
Jayas. Coastals seem to not care what they eat.
I start my hatchlings on pinky rats and quickly move them up from there.
Contrary to what most people recommend, I generally feed prey items that are
about twice the girth of the snake itself. The frequency of meals will
vary, but I generally always feed them what most people consider to be large
meals.
Corn Snakes They Are Not.
Carpet pythons can take relatively huge meals, so don't be reluctant to try
something that is two times their diameter. If they have sufficient heat
and are left undisturbed for a few days, they will digest the meal without
incident. Conversely, I have seen carpet pythons begin to swallow a meal
of questionable size and then, half-way through the process, decide not to take
it. With that in mind, I'm comfortable letting them be the judge of what
they can and cannot eat. If a carpet is healthy, stress free and being
kept at proper temperatures, you should never have to worry about this.
Feeding
Carpet pythons generally
speaking, are voracious eaters, however hatchlings can sometimes be tricky to
get started. In almost all cases, a picky youngster will not be picky
forever. I’ve had carpets that were terribly difficult to feed at first, but
once they got going, there was no stopping them. I have an adult female
who was a nightmare to feed as a hatchling and still grew to 4.5 feet by her
first birthday.
If you don't have access to rats and need to feed mice, don't bother with pinky
mice. Hatchling carpets typically prefer something the size of a hopper
mouse. This might look like a relatively large meal, but don’t worry…we
aren’t talking about Corn Snakes. Again, these are pythons, and they can handle
larger meals. Have I said that enough yet? :-)
If you've hatched some babies and are having trouble getting some of them to
eat, usually an assist feeding is all that’s needed. Just poke the fuzzy mouse’s
head into the snake’s mouth, hold for a few seconds and then set the snake back
down in it’s cage. A lot of times, they will instinctively constrict the prey
and eat it.
Brand new hatchlings can be picky about the method in which they are
fed. Some of mine prefer live prey or for prey to be dangled overhead on
forceps, while others will take pre-killed. Some nervous hatchlings may
have to be placed in a paper sack or cardboard box with the food item
(pre-killed or non-weaned only), which I then place in the cage overnight.
I don't sell baby snakes before they're past this difficult stage, but not every
breeder takes the time to get them started...That's why it's important to ask
questions before you buy!!!
Back to Top -
Back to Carpet Pythons
|
|
Part IV - Carpet Python Housing |
Cage Sizes
Young Hatchlings
Hatchlings are only usually 10-14 inches long and about the girth of a pencil.
To start them off, it’s best to keep them in a small plastic “shoe box” sized
enclosure, which are approximately 4-8” wide by 10-14” long and maybe 4" high. I
would recommend nothing bigger than that, at least until they have started to
accept food on a regular basis.
Hatchlings
to Juveniles
After they have started to feed on a regular basis, you may move them to
something a bit larger, such as a 12 quart sweater box, a 10 gallon aquarium
with a secure screen to, or even a large plastic "Critter Keeper" type cage.
In rack systems, I’ve housed carpets up to 4 feet long in Rubbermaid 12 quart
containers (approximately 12” x 16”) with great results. For carpet pythons up
to 5 feet in length, I’d say a 28-32 quart box (approx. 24" x 16”) would be
sufficient.
Just a
thought…The good old 10 gallon tank
You can afford the snake, but not a cage? A ten gallon aquarium with a screen
top will work great and only cost you about $20…and you can pick one up at
Wal-Mart on the way home from the reptile show. For an established hatchling
(one that’s feeding regularly) to 3.5 foot carpet python, a good old ten gallon
fish tank with a screen top is really all you need for a cage. Aquariums can be
a pain to keep looking good due to all the glass, but before I started using
rack systems they really worked well in a pinch. If you don’t have a small cage
laying around, a good old ten gallon tank ($10) and a screen top ($10) is a
great, affordable way to house a new carpet python until you can afford a
different cage…or until it outgrows the tank. Once they outgrow the ten
gallon tank, you may as well start looking at reptile cages instead of fish
tanks. Larger aquaria are expensive and heavy, not to mention still a pain
to keep looking clean. That said, aquaria larger than 10 gallons are not all
that practical…especially when you can buy a cage that’s light weight, easier to
clean (not to mention built for reptiles) at a comparable price.
 Adults
Adult Jungle carpets and Irian Jaya carpets should be kept in a cage with a
minimum of 4-6 square feet of floor space, such as a 2'x2' or a 3' x 2' cage.
Cages should be 15"-24" high. Any taller and the cage will become
difficult to maintain a proper heat gradient. As a rule of thumb for pythons in
general, some keepers say that one square foot of floor space per foot in length
is optimal, but I think slightly less than one square foot is fine for carpets,
due to their slim build.
Large Adults
Adult coastals will require a cage that’s at least 3-4 feet long by 24” deep and
15-24” tall.
Carpet pythons are semi-arboreal as hatchlings and juveniles, and even adults
will make use of any perch or branches available. This really is not a
necessity, but it does seem to help with the general happiness of the snake.
With that in mind, if you aren’t housing a dozen of them, you might consider a
cage with sufficient height to facilitate climbing. The cage does not have to be
extremely tall to accommodate a sufficient perch. A ten gallon aquarium is more
than tall enough to make a hatchling feel like it's far enough off of the
ground. With that in mind, some of the smaller plastic sweater boxes are only
3.5 to 4 inches tall, which makes it kind of difficult to provide any kind of
perch. In this case, you'll find that a lot of carpets are just as happy
to "perch" on top of their hide box.
Substrates
The substrate you choose is
really just a matter of personal preference. I will outline some of the
pros and cons below.
Paper Substrates
I personally recommend
paper substrates. Here are the most common options...
-
Newspaper
Although it doesn't make for a pretty display,
newspaper is economical and sanitary. I personally hate having to vacuum
the floor every time I clean a cage or change water bowls, so I have switched to
newspaper for all of my carpets.
-
Indented Craft Paper (Disposable Cage
Liners)
Indented Craft Paper is a great looking alternative to newspaper, and is
actually even easier to work with because you only need one or two layers.
I have used it in the past and the reason I've gotten away from it is the cost.
Loose Substrates
For a display cage,
loose substrates are the way to
go. However, they do make it more difficult to do a complete cage
cleaning. There's also the slim chance that the snake can swallow it and
eventually cause an impaction in the intestines.
Another problem is that they are messy and tend to end up in the water bowl and
ultimately on your floor.
-
Shredded Coconut Fiber
This is my favorite commercially available loose substrate, due to the fact
that it's very fine (reducing the chance of impaction) and it holds humidity
very well. The only downside is that it can get expensive when filling a big
cage.
-
Anthony's Mixture
(Recommended)
One way to get around the high cost of shredded coconut is to
make a mixture that I've stumbled onto by playing around with different ideas
over the last few years. This mixture roughly 50% coconut fiber, 40%
sphagnum peat and 10% play sand. The sphagnum peat and play sand are
extremely cheap and can be found at any local home & garden store. The
sand probably isn't a necessity, but it costs about $2.50 for a 50 lb bag and it
really helps the mixture pack and drain a lot better. This is the mix I
use for everything from my gecko nest boxes to the cages for all of my arboreal
snakes.
-
Cypress Mulch
Cypress is popular and I used it for a long time, but I personally don't
like it and will probably never use it again. The big pieces are a
swallowing hazard and are difficult to vacuum up off the floor. Although
it holds humidity well when fresh, it becomes "heat treated" after a while and
becomes horrible at absorbing moisture.
Without
going into too much detail, it should also be noted that cypress
mulch is not environmentally friendly.
-
Shredded Aspen
Aspen is OK, but it doesn't hold humidity well and tends to mold quite
easily. I like it better than cypress, but that's not saying much. :-)
Back to Top -
Back to Carpet Pythons
|
|
Part V - Caging
Accessories |
In addition to the cage itself, here’s what you will need…
Water Bowl
Choose a water bowl that is
heavy, so that it doesn’t tip over when your snake is cruising around at night.
With carpets, where you place the bowl within the cage isn’t much of a concern,
in my opinion.
Note: Some keepers prefer to place the bowl on the warm end of the cage,
in order to increase evaporation and increase humidity. This practice is
not recommended, as it leads to rapid bacterial/fungal growth in the water that
your snakes are drinking. If the humidity needs to be increased, mist the
cage, but don't make your snakes drink dirty water.
Heat Source
I fully recommend using an
under tank heater (or UTH). Make sure that it takes up no more than 1/3rd of the
floor space. I try to keep the UTH at one extreme end of the cage, not in the
middle. This will allow the other end of the cage to be cooler, allowing the
snake to better control it’s body temperature (thermo regulate) by creating a
better thermal gradient. Most commercial UTHs will not require the use of a
thermostat or rheostat, however it is still wise to make sure that the
temperature on the “hot spot” (the area directly above the UTH) does not exceed
100 degrees.
In larger collections, it’s more economical to use “flex watt” heat tape
controlled by a thermostat or rheostat. Although heat tape functions in the same
manner as a UTH, it is not regulated. This means that, it can get extremely hot.
This can cause serious problems, including electrical fire, burns to the animal,
overheating, and even death. If using heat tape, be sure to consult with a
professional.
In my collection, I use heat tape on a thermostat, and prefer to keep the “hot
spot” at about 90-94 degrees, which will effectively cause the ambient
temperatures (in my particular cages) to fall into the proper range.
Use of a heat lamp is completely optional in my opinion, provided the UTH (or
heat tape) is providing sufficient heat. If using one, put it over the same end
as the UTH, so that the snake can still find a cool spot in the cage, should it
wish to do so. Using a heat lamp as the only means of heat will usually cause
the air in the cage to become very dry, especially in an enclosure with a lot of
ventilation, such as an aquarium with a screen top.
By the way, if you do use a heat lamp or any light at all, make it easy on
yourself and get a timer (Under $5 at Wal-Mart), and set it to be on for 12
hours per day and off for 12 hours.
Hide Boxes
These are one of the most
important aspects in successfully starting a hatchling, in my opinion. A young
snake must have somewhere to hide and feel secure. Some keepers only use one
hide box, and that’s usually on the warm end of the cage. This makes the animal
choose between hiding or being at the correct temperature, since it now has to
hide on the hot end. Because of this, I prefer to use a long slab of cork bark
or piece of egg carton that runs all the way from the hottest end of the cage to
the coolest end of the cage. You can also place a hide box on each end of the
cage, in order to give the snake a cool place to hide and a warm place to hide.
When choosing a hide box, it's best to choose one that sits low to the ground.
Snakes actually feel more secure in tight, close quarters. The comparatively
tall and roomy commercial hide boxes are not usually the best choice for a hide
box.
With older carpets, hide boxes aren't so
important. I find that a lot of older carpets prefer to sit on top of the hide
box or they don't even bother using it unless they're digesting a meal or
getting ready to shed. For adults, I'll usually just place one on the hot
end of the cage, so they can go inside to digest a meal. If you're not
providing a hide box, I would recommend a perch or shelf of some sort, so that
the snake can climb and exercise.
Thermometer or
Temp Gun
Obviously, you need
a thermometer to measure the temperature. Measure the temperature where
the snake spends its time....not the wall of the cage. I use a temperature
gun, but if you don't have one, you should actually keep thermometer in the hide
area so that you can read the temperatures that the snake is actually exposed
to. If you have a fairly sizeable collection, it's impractical to buy a
thermometer for each cage, so a temperature gun is a great tool to have.
Back to Top -
Back to Carpet Pythons
|
|
Part VI - General Information
|
 Carpet Python Sizes
Average Size: There are several different subspecies of carpet pythons, so I
will just touch on the main three, which are by far, the most common in
captivity.
Remember, length isn't the only factor when considering
size. A lot of new keepers tend to stay away from carpets because they hear the
lengths they can attain and automatically think that they get too large. Keep in
mind, carpets are long and slender. For example, a seven foot carpet python may
weigh less than a healthy five foot ball python. That said, it really bothers me
when people choose something like a ball python over a carpet python as a first
python, solely due to the fact that they get longer.
Jungle Carpets (M. s. cheynei)
These guys reach 5 to 7 feet on average, though the largest females may grow to
even 8.5+ feet in length.
Coastal or Queensland Carpets (M. s. mcdowelli)
These grow the largest. Although some females have been known to grow to 10 or
11 feet in length (and maybe even more), most adults stay in the range of 7-9
feet.
Irian Jaya Carpets (M. s. variegata)
The smallest of the carpet pythons. Males typically top out at around 4.5-5
feet, and females at about 5.5 to 6 feet, although I own a single specimen that
is at least seven feet in length.
Buying a Carpet Python
How do I choose a good looking
hatchling?
I am extremely particular in choosing my animals, so to me, this is the most
difficult part of the process of buying and keeping a carpet python. My advice
is to never buy a carpet python without at least seeing a picture of it.
Carpet pythons are extremely variable in both color and pattern and everyone has
good looking snakes if you go by what they tell you! :-) They change
dramatically in appearance from the time they hatch until they are several years
old, so I like to see pictures of the hatchling’s parents whenever possible.
When purchasing a hatchling carpet python, I always request to pictures of the
parents. This will help give you an idea of what to expect as the snake gets
older, as it will not be apparent in hatchlings or even yearlings. I just
can’t say it enough. Picking a hatchling carpet python can be a crap shoot even
when the parents are nice, so it’s always wise to at least know what the parents
look like.
How do I choose one that
will be a tame adult?
Again, if you are genuinely concerned about having a nippy snake, ask the
breeder/dealer if the snake is nippy before you buy it…and make sure that you
can trust them. If they tell you that ALL young carpet pythons are nippy,
they’re either lying to you or they don’t know any better. Either way, it really
is possible to find a docile hatchling carpet python. I’d say 90% of carpet
pythons will calm down within a year or so, but not always.
Back to Top -
Back to Carpet Pythons
|
|
