IJ Carpet Temperments

[brooksy]

From your experiences, what are Irian Jaya Carpet Pythons temperments usually like? I have read that they can be anywhere some super docile to wanting to eat your face off. It seems strange to have this much of a range.
I am considering a young IJ that the dealer says is docile. But more than one person has told me that young & docile do not go together, yet some caresheets say they young carpets can vary and to ask for a more docile one.
Also if anyone has any awesome 'then & now' type pictures to show the changes in their IJs, I would love to have you share them.

[reptileexperts]

Don't judge a book by its cover, nor a carpet by how it acts as a child. IJ hatchlings can be the devils if they want to be and most will be usually in the cage, this is going to be the 99% . . . however, once they are out of the cage they typically can be fine. That being said, the carpet pythons that I have received the most bites from have been IJ babies. Baby jungles, baby coastals, none of those ever actually bit, but my IJ granite when he was a baby nailed the mess out of me constantly even when I had him out. NOW, he got over that within a couple weeks of handling and taking a bite or two a week. But he still has some attitude to him, but with carpets it is all about size. When they grow, they become more comfortable and confident and therefor less prone to be defensive. This has been true again for 99%. If the breeder says they are not nippy - most people will tell you they are lying. I won't say that. . . but I will say that they probably do not handle them frequently enough to know its true nature :-).

That being said - Don't let it scare you. Get a baby for its colors. I promise that in the end colors vs temperment, you'll be happy to have taken a bright beautiful baby vs one that just didn't care to be touched young.

[Terranaut]

Yup. What he said!!!
My experience exactly!

[shaunyboy]

its all down to the individual carpet,some are calm others biters

hatchlings usually calm with handling and figure out your not going to eat them,some also calm down once they get a bit of size about them...

that said some just don't calm down and remain biters their entire life

even the calmest snake's have their off days and will have a strike at you

cheers shaun

[brooksy]

Another IJ question; what size feeders will an adult Irian Jaya eat at full grown size?

[Terranaut]

Thats a bit of a tough question. They can eat up to 4 times their girth which is huge. It depends on how often you feed them. I go big meals long wait in between with my jungles. After a 2 lb bunny my female will go 4-5 weeks without eating but if she has just a large rat she starts looking after 2. If your worried about cost the bigger prey cost more per rat but they eat less of them. 1 snake should not break the bank so to speak.

[reptileexperts]

Likewise - a jumbo every 10-18 days depending on time of year, during the non-breeding seasons its about every 18 days, during the breeding season its about every 10 days. Not too horrid.

[brooksy]

Cost is not the concern.
I currently feed various sizes of mice and rats to my current collection and am fine with that but I want to avoid needing to feed rabbits. I still keep pet rabbits and I dont think I could handle it at this point. So that's my "silly" concern with feeder size.

[Terranaut]

You will never need rabbits for an IJ.

[brooksy]

Thanks for everyone's help.