Reptile & Amphibian Forums

These aren't life-or-death questions or anything, just general curiosity on things I've had trouble finding the answers to. I got a baby coastal carpet a few months ago (weaning myself off a blood python addiction) and was just wondering what I can expect in terms of growth rate? Like how big might it be a year from now? Also, do carpets go through an ontogenetic change like GTPs (to a lesser extent of course)? I've seen lots of pictures of adult coastals and they all seem to show a lot less black and more tan than mine does right now. Either way, it's not going to disappoint me at all; it's a beautiful snake with a great personality

thanks!
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Owen, who loves his snakes a lot.

Yes, they do undergo a lengthy ontogenetic color shift.

Growth wise, if you are aggresive with the feeding schedule they can hit 1000 grams by 18 months.
The animal pictured in the back is close to 1900 grams and she is an 05.

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Ben Team
Mark Davis
New Paradigm Herpetoculture
Captive Bred Morelia
404-438-2135
chondro776@yahoo.com

wow. Those are beautiful.

How would 1000grams translate lengthwise?
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Owen, who loves his snakes a lot.

4-5 feetish....depends on the subspecies...gender...etc....
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Ben Team
Mark Davis
New Paradigm Herpetoculture
Captive Bred Morelia
404-438-2135
chondro776@yahoo.com

Oh Man, the female in the back, oh Man. Jaw broke when hitting the floor. Thanks!

Again, Ben. What a WOWZERS she is!

Pertaining to the original post's question. Do you know or think that the color change is more directly related to growth and size or age? I am sure it is some combination but.... which more if either plays more of a role?

Thanks!

Thanks for the nice words about the animal!

Regarding the size/age question...they both play a part. I think younger smaller adults are going to look better than they will when they are older and bigger.
How's that for vague?
lol

Cooling and/or Breeding seems to play a very big part. It is rare for my animals to emerge from a cycled year unscathed. They usually develop more dark pattern or black tipping.

(I select for smaller animals w/ some of my Jungle lines because I *think* that smaller ones will have a better color retention potential, all other things being equal)

Putting *think* inside stars is my general disclaimer that I could very well be 180 degrees wrong...lol....
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Ben Team
Mark Davis
New Paradigm Herpetoculture
Captive Bred Morelia
404-438-2135
chondro776@yahoo.com

I just re-read the original post...forgot we were talking about coastals...

My comments mainly regarded Jungles. I have mostly kept Jungles. But Coastals have changed in similar fashion in my limited exp with them.
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Ben Team
Mark Davis
New Paradigm Herpetoculture
Captive Bred Morelia
404-438-2135
chondro776@yahoo.com

Ben,

Try and answer it from this prospective. I have a nice young carpet. She was sold as a Jungle, but I would say she has a bit of something else in her genes (as do a lot of said "Jungles" these days NOTE** I am not saying that any of you guys are mislableing any of your carpets) Anyway, she is only a few months old but feeding very strong and I have been giving her a nice hopper about 2 -3 times a week. She is very clean and I am sure she is going to come out looking quite nice at some point. I am wondering if I keep feeding her on a fairly heavy diet, will she color up sooner than a simialr animal of the same age that is either feeding poorly or only being offered a fuzzy or so every 7 -10 days? I am not looking for a "sure thing" response from you but, would you think, from your experience, that her color "change" will come on a bit faster considering all I have mentioned? I will try and post a pic of her. I have one from a few weeks back but she is in shed in it and I would bet I will have to resize the image in order to post it. I will give it a go none the less as I am interested to see what type of carpet you guys think she may be.

Disclaimer: I am not power feeding this animal. She is just on a elevated diet and is growing fast for me. Also, please forgive any miss spelled words. I really wish kingsnake would make a spell check function available here on the forums. Moderators, is this a possibility?

Thanks all!

Sometimes Jungles look like complete doo-doo for quite a while....I think in general terms, YES if you feed it more aggresively, it will grow/shed/color up quicker...and just because it isn't fantastically bright colored doesn't mean it is neccesarily a 'cross'.

As far as feeding goes, a lot of people (just in my opinion) feed carpets meals which are too small....My jungles start life on rat pups or mice that are one notch below small adult (big hoppers).

Some of mine eat meals approaching 50% of their mass. Big meals (for me) accelerate growth.

As far as young animals, I have never seen a fat one so feed, feed, feed........adults are a different story.
Have fun!!!

And let's see some pics.
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Ben Team
Mark Davis
New Paradigm Herpetoculture
Captive Bred Morelia
404-438-2135
chondro776@yahoo.com

Ben,

We see eye to eye in many ways. I am a firm beliver that you simply can not over feed juvinile Pythons. They just grow. I feel that feeding must be watched once they reach adult age and slow down growing. Then they can become "fat" but again, feed feed feed and they will just turn it into more snake. I was very pleased to read this as I have felt this way for years but there are many who do not see it the way we do. They are wrong. LOL. I know for a fact that this works this way with Ball Pythons. The more food they consume while growing the faster they will grow and not in a bad way.

As far as the possible cross I brought up goes, he is in no way any ugly duckling. His white or yellow is VERY clean and light (almost white) and I know that this is a good sign that he will be a stunning sub adult here soon. I will post pics asap.

Kevin

This pic is a month or two old and was taken by David of Executive Reptiles and David is who I got this guy from. David said to me at the time that he purchased this guy he was sold as a Jungle but was not 100% sure on his backgroud. For the record, David was great to work with and I would buy from him again, for sure. Back to the snake in question, I need to take fresh pics as the light areas are starting to turn yellow now. It does not seem like he will be an Ivory looking carpet buy more on the yellow side. Hopefully the Bright Yellow side!!

Let me know what you guys think!

Thanks

Kevin

lol....before I even read your post, I recognized who snapped the pic...( I think that is a good thing Dave...lol).

Beautiful critter, looks kinda like one from HH, with the head pattern. Awesome critter no matter what, I don't see anything that makes me beleive it isn't a Jungle type. But ofcourse, you never know, and it doesn't matter.
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Ben Team
Mark Davis
New Paradigm Herpetoculture
Captive Bred Morelia
404-438-2135
chondro776@yahoo.com

Can't wait to see new pics Kevin...

That ones was produced by Keith @ SnakeMakers in Washington State....

It was a pleasure doing business with you too...
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Executive Reptiles
Amanda Kingsbury & David Kendrick
www.executivereptiles.com

Not sure if I mentioned it to you Kevin, but I picked that one out of about 12 that he had available, and that one was the most extreme of all of them, it had the most reduced pattern and best contrast, the others had more of a classic banded jungle pattern...

Glad you are enjoying him...
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Executive Reptiles
Amanda Kingsbury & David Kendrick
www.executivereptiles.com

KEEEPER!

I checked on the little guy today and he is in shed as usuall. Eat shed eat shed ect...

For the mean time enjoy this pic I took a few years ago of my Arabian Horned Viper (Cerates c. gasparetti). A very cool looking but dangerous Old Word Viper. I use this pic but a little modified on another (non herp related)site. I wsould like to have some computer wiz add a digital animated tounge flick to it. Do any of you guys know if this could be done?

Sorry the pic did not show in my last post. I checked it on the preview and forgot I had to add the pic again. Here is the pic. I will post the Avatar version next.

Enjoy!

Here is the my avatar version of the original cropped down and a bit of touch up work to help bring out some detail. Looks pretty good IMHO but an occasional tongue flick, done just right, would be even better. What do you guys think?

Very prehistoric-looking!