Carpet python - Morielia spilota mcdowlli information page

Information and breeding techniques for the Coastal Carpet Python -

Morielia spilota mcdowlli

Description:

This is the largest of the carpet pythons, reaching an average adult length of 6 to 9 feet. There are records of them obtaining a length of 14 feet. Like other carpet pythons, the head of this subspecies is noticeably wider than the neck. The color pattern for the coastal carpet python is quite varied, According to Barker (1994) "The pattern is comprised of dark and pale elements, darkest dorsally, becoming more pale on the lower side. The dark pattern elements are comprised of black scales with broadly expanded pigmented centers or occasionally uniformly pigmented scales; the dark pattern elements are colored greenish olive, brownish olive, brown, bronze, reddish brown, or brownish terra cotta. The pale pattern elements are typically colored tan, yellowish-tan, various shades of putty, or brown." The shape of the patterns can also vary widely even with species from the same area. Some of these variations include lateral or diagonal dumbbell shaped blotches that run longitudinally down the snake. Another variation to their pattern is oval blotches running longitudinally that vary in size and may fuse together with other blotches. It is also common to see more than one pattern on a single snake.

Habitat:

Coastal carpet pythons inhabit the eastern coast of Australia, according to Barker (1994) from Coffs Harbour, NSW, north to the tip of the Cape York Peninsula. They mainly live in heavily forested areas.

Food:

In the wild coastal carpet pythons have a wide variety of prey animals. For adults this includes brushtail possums, brown bandicoots, rats, and bats. Neonates and juveniles feed on mice and small lizards.

Captive Husbandry

Caging:

All carpet pythons are semi-arboreal I would recommend housing them in taller cages than you would for ground dwelling pythons of the same size. Adults can be housed in cages 3'W x 3'D x 3'H very easily. Some people house them in cages 2'W x 2'D x 3'H. This method seems to work but I prefer something a bit bigger. You should also put a few branches in the cage so the snake can climb, and get to a basking spot at the top of the cage. Make sure (as with all snakes) the branches are larger enough to support the weight of the carpet python.

Heating:

Having a heat gradient between 75 and 85 degrees F. during the day with a basking site of about 90 to 100 degrees F. will work very well for most specimens. Make sure that you maintain the temperature gradient so that your snake can find a cool spot if necessary. At night you can turn off the basking light and let the temp. drop to 70 degree with a hot spot of around 80 degrees F.. This temperature cycling can be maintained year long unless you are planing on breeding you carpet pythons. If this is your intent I will discuss dropping the temperature during the winter months a little later on.

Feeding:

Coastal carpet pythons do very well on a diet of appropriately sized mice or rats. You can start feeding neonates pinky mice after their first shed. From my experience these pythons will take readily to pre-killed or frozen thawed rodents.

Breeding:

Multiple males have been seen to play an important role in breeding carpet pythons. Although this is not essential it does seem to help. Caution should be taken if multiple males are introduced to a female. Strong combat has been witnessed between males during the breeding season when a female is present. In some cases serious injury have been inflicted by the dominant male on the subordinate male. If multiple males are used keep a close eye on them so they do not injury each other. After the two males have gone through a period of interaction you can remove one of the males from the cage. Copulation should take place shortly after the extra male is removed. Another trick to elicit breeding is to put a newly shed skin from another male in with the male female pair you are trying to breed. This can be a very effective method and you do not have to worry about injuries from male / male combat.

Besides the use of multiple males, dropping the ambient temperature for 2 to 3 months during the winter also seems to be important. I would suggest starting this in late October. What you want to do is slowly drop the temperature over a week. At the end of this week you want the daytime high to be down from 85 degrees F. to 81 degrees F. At this same time your night time low should be down from 80 degrees F. to 72 degrees F.. The temperatures I gave are for the hot side of the enclosure the cool side really doesn't need to be changed. Always make sure you keep an eye on the snakes during this periods just in case the temperature effects them adversely. If you do run into any problem you can get the heat raised back up and then start the process over again. This time, instead of dropping the temperature over a weeks time try it over two weeks. This will give the snake that is having a problem more time to adjust to the dropping temperature. Once you get the temperature down to the winter lows you will want to leave them there for 8 to 12 weeks.

You want to introduce your carpets the last couple weeks of the cool period. If you are using multiple males, remove the extra male after a short period of interaction between him and the male you are planing to breed. Once the extra male is removed you want to leave the breeding pair together until early spring. At this time you separate the the two snakes for a few days every week. During which time you can feed both of them. According to Barker (1994) sexually active males typically refuse food at this time. Keep this cycle going until you notice the female stop eating or ovulate. At this time remove the male for remainder of the season.

By this time you should have already had the temperature back to normal. The only other thing you want to do at this time is raise the temperature of the basking site to between 90 degrees F. and 104 degrees F.. You want to make sure you still keep a thermal gradient in the snakes enclosure, so your gravid python doesn't over heat.

After witnessing ovulation (or swelling) it should be 19-20 days until pre-lay shed. After the pre-lay shed it should be another 16-28 days (average 25) before egg deposition. Once you have the eggs you want to incubate them in damp vermiculite at a constant temperature of 86 degrees F.. You should have neonates in 49 to 64 days, According to Barker (1994) 53.2 days.

Morielia spilota mcdowlli