Moon's Graden

Hi, I own a Jungle Carpet Python and would like to know other people's
experiences with these specific pythons.  My carpet is only two months
old.  I did have a very hard time, getting him on a feeding schedual.  If
anyone can give me tips about their enclouser ect.  Any information will
help.  Thankyou .
--From a herp. lover
---Chiaki Hinohara
---University of San Francisco

I got mine to start feeding (usually the hardest part) by
waiting until after a shed, then offering a pinkie rat or
mouse.  When this didn't work, I used tongs to *gently* tap
(i.e. annoy) the snake with the prey animal.  This works best
with light taps on the snake's nose (hence the need for tongs).
The snake made a defensive strike at the prey animals, and
then seemed to say "Mmm...not half bad!"  Has been feeding
voraciously since then.  Key:  don't stress the snake by
bugging it too much if it's not hungry.  Other key:  if the
animal appears to lose weight or become lethargic, get it to a
good herp vet fast.

These animals are very arboreal (tree climbing) as youngsters;
less so as ***s.  I have my juvenile in a 10 g. Critter Cage
which is turned so as to be vertically oriented
(make sure lid is VERY tight to avoid escapes).  It has an
undertank heater on one side, a water bath on the other, a hide
box, and a branch.  He spends most of his time perched on the
branch, or digesting new meals in the hidebox over the heater.

My *** never climbs, but has basically the same apparatus in
a 45 g. aquarium.

Good luck!
--
David M. Sibell, MD    University of ***ia  Dept. of Anesthesiology
                           (804) 971-1467

Jungle Carpet Pythons (i.e. Atherton Tableland Carpets - although they
may actually occur more in the rainforests closer to the Coast...) are known
to be tough to get started. If you have yours feeding fairly regularly on
unscented mice you are doing good. Two of the Jungle's that I picked up this
year did not start eating for well over two months, and then only accepted
fuzzy mice scented with Bob-white Quail. One would only eat live, while the
other would only eat dead. It took 4 more months before they really started
to eat regularly. I keep them in 12 quart ***maid keepers with one end
over a heat tape. I add some spaghnum moss to help maintain the humidity,
a water bowl at the cool end, a hide box at the warm end, and plastic dowels
across the box for branches (which they frequently use). They like stalking
their prey from above. I feed them late evening, with just a little bit of
light in the room. About 15 minutes before feeding I lightly mist the warm
end of their cage.  For snakes which only accept live food, it may be
helpful to confine the prey (ie. fuzzy mouse) to an empty water bowl placed
under a branch. That allows the snake to discover the prey, and not have
the prey discover (and spook) the snake. These carpets can get stressed
by over ambitious live prey, as well as manual feeding (ie. tap/slap
feeding) if they are not ready to feed. If feeding is unsuccessful, it
is a good idea to wait 4 or 5 days. The first feeding is probably the
most important, but I assume that was taken care of by the breeder. If
one attempts to feed them too early, they can get stessed to the point
where they never start to feed on their own.

In contrast to the Jungle Carpets, most other carpet pythons are larger
at birth, and generally start feeding without any trouble once they have
absorbed their yolk sack and are not in shed.

In the long run the Jungle Carpets are definately worth it (IMHO).

BTW, I think the Jungle Carpet has recently been identified as a
unique subspecies. Barker now refers to the Jungle Carpet Python
as Morelia spilota cheynei.

|> --From a herp. lover
|> ---Chiaki Hinohara

Regards,