Reptile & Amphibian Forums

After keeping several corn and rat smakes over the years I am ready to get into pythons. I am looking at the Irian Jaya and the diamond JCP crosses. I would would like to know a realistic length of each and their general tempermants. I would prefer a smaller and gentler samke as that is what I am use to. I really appreciate any input.

Thanks

Simialar in size but IJs tend to be on the shorter end of 5-7'.Both tend to be pretty mello though some stay fiesty. Savu pythons (not Morelia family)are an overlooked smaller pyhton. 4-5.5'. Extremely trustworthy and active.You should definately check them out also...I have a Ball, a Savu,JCPs and an IJ...hard to pick just one!! Good luck!!
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JOHN H in NH

I have a JCP and he is great. Real docile. I can handle him most any time. I have corns and a milk too but wanted a larger snake. JCP are much longer then the corns but not as thick as some of the boas. Mine is a male and close to 7 foot now. Probably 4-5 inches around give or take, not sure, but a most handable size for one person. They do require a much bigger enclosure then corns. I house mine in an 80 gallon size aquarium. He has a couple big branches since he likes to climb some.
One thing to concider with the carpets is that some won't take to rats so trying to feed a 6-7 foot snake can be a chore, esp if they will only eat mice.
This is my experience only.......

In general, IJs are smaller than jungles, but that's just a generalization, and there are some really big IJs and some really small jungles. They're really calm and easy to work with, and I haven't had any trouble swithing all of mine to rats.

If you're looking for something smaller but bigger than a corn, you might also look at spotted pythons or chindrens pythons. Again, there are big ones, but in general they stay under 5 feet.

All of them are very easy to keep and generally very handlable. Keep in mind that carpets are long and thin, so a 7 foot carpet is really less work to handle than even a 5 foot ball, since a good foot or so of that is tail.

Buy a CBB animal from a reputable breeder for the best odds of getting a nice-looking, calm, rat-eating carpet.

ryanm