Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was very worried this morning that my new Carpet Python "Bear" was going to have a terrible shed, and I would be unable to take him to my reptile club's annual show tomorrow. I was so looking forward to spending the day with him. This morning he had some patches that had started to shed. I couldn't take him with such a patchy shed like that, plus I felt it was a husbandry issue that was causing such a thing to happen. Luckily he did do a full shed this afternoon. I was so relieved! It's perfect except for the couple of patches that had shed off earlier. I layed it out on the carpet to dry, it measures 9 and 1/4 feet (I know sheds are longer than the actual snake, Bear is just over 7 feet long). At one point the shed got stuck around one of those patchy areas and started to tear. I so wanted the shed to be in one piece I took a chance and leaned into the enclosure, over his head to gently unstick the shed that was tearing. If he was ever going to bite me, this would have been the time, and he would have gotten me on the face to boot, but he never made a defensive or agressive move. Here are some photos I took that came out kinda neat. I took over 30 which are on my website.

getting started...

disadvantage of taking pics with the door open...

closeup

I thought this one was neat...

Almost done...

All finished!

I think he'll be a hit at the show tomorrow. I chose Bear for his wonderful temperament so I could do public demos with him to help educate people on how wonderful snakes really are. Of course with this being a reptile show it shouldn't be a tuff crowd!

Thanks for looking at the pics. I know Bear isn't as colorful as many of the snakes on this board, and that people don't agree with Coastal being crossed with Jungles. I admit if I were to breed Carpets (which I'm not) that it isn't a cross I would bother with, but I'm thrilled with Bear and hope he (and I) can be accepted here.
Lyns Lair

...with owning a junglex coastal without plans of breeding it. If hes a pet snake, then fine. I have some semi ugly "pure" coastal carpets and I love them the same as my green tree python. I cant see why balls are more popular than carpets...
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"People change and your changing"
Seals and Crofts 1976

It's amazing how the temperment can make the snake. If it wasn't for my plain, comely sweetie I'd have never gotten into carpets or any snakes for that matter...

Darci

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Takes all kinds to make a World...

I agree, temperament is very important to me too. Your snake is beautiful in my eyes, nice photography too

Bear was a hit at the reptile show, lots of people came up to ask about him and touch him. He tolerated a lot. Several times I caught kids knocking on his enclosure trying to, well, I'm not really sure what kids are trying to do when they knock on snake cages? Get them to strike maybe? Or maybe just make contact? Anyways, he didn't like that (who would?) but he never did strike out. He didn't seem to have a problem letting people touch him all day while I was holding him. He had a checkup at the vets today and other than some hissing he was very brave. I felt bad cuz the waiting room was very cold and I was trying to keep him warm on my lap as best as I could. Here is a pic of us at the show.

I'm glad the hear the show went well. I've thought about doing demos myself. But in LA you have to have locking cages,ect...All in all its more of a pain that I'd like to deal with. Maybe someday though...

> He had a checkup at the vets today and other than some hissing he was very brave. I felt bad cuz the waiting room was very cold and I was trying to keep him warm on my lap as best as I could.

GOD I HATE THAT TOO! I'm mean why the heck do they have to keep the vet office at like 55-60 degrees. And then you're lucky if your vet trip is 2hours or less getting in and out! I mean if your taking a healthy animal fine, but it just about tramatizes me when I have to take my sick reps. Especially when they have a respitory!

Darci

>Here is a pic of us at the show.
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Takes all kinds to make a World...