New coastal carpet

[dbank999]

Just got my new Coastal from LLL on friday. Little guy is wayyy smaller than I was expecting, but none the less happy with him/her. Very alert and not afraid to strike lol (almost tagged my roommate's iphone for his/her first picture). I do think I need to downsize the enclosure, as of right now I have a 20 gallon long tank, with about 8 hides, water dish, a branch and a vine for lots of cover. He/she (I need to figure out the sex or provide a name soon lol) stayed coiled in the corner on the hot end for the first couple of days, I think it's from the overwhelming size of the tank compared to the little guy so I covered the around 90% of the glass with some computer paper until I can go get a small rubbermaid to setup.

[chaosrider]

Nice snake

[Terranaut]

In the first photo the head patern looks like Brain from Pinky and the Brain. Nice looking little carpet!!
http://www.fanpop.com/images/polls/10715_2_full.jpg

[Donnie]

Nice looking carpet

[Lankyrob]

Nice looking carpet, in general they dont tend to be shy snakes so the large enclosure shouldnt be an issue. My hatchling Jungle went straight into an adult sized viv and was fine. Just give him some time to acclimate :)

[UwabamiReptiles]

Very nice coastal!

[shaunyboy]

nice looking wee coastal you have there mate

what are your hot end temperatures ?

sometimes carpets will sit up the hot end a lot,just before or during their shedding cycle

as long as your coastal is not a nervous feeder,he will do just fine in a big tank

i have put hatchlings that were feeding regular,straight into 4x2x2ft tanks with no issues,as long as like you have done,they have lots of hides,branches and fake plants

just don't handle him until you have him feeding regular,as handling can stress a young snake out

i look forward to updates of this wee guy

cheers shaun

[dbank999]

Thanks everyone! Really pleased and excited to see how this little guy turns out.


In the first photo the head patern looks like Brain from Pinky and the Brain. Nice looking little carpet!!


I see exactly what you are talking about, the resemblance is striking.. maybe a name idea..

Rob,
This morning before work he had moved from the corner on the floor up to perching at the top of the vine, I think he's starting to adjust :D.

Shaun,
The hot end is right at 90F, cool side low 80's, with a small drop at night from lowering the heat in the apartment before going to bed. I haven't tried feeding yet, as it's only been 3 days since I got him, but plan on trying tomorrow night to see if I get a response. Hoping he goes for it like he did with my roommate's phone ;)

Any more tips or suggestions would be great, this guy is my first carpet python and he's tiny right now! I want to make sure he grow up to be a nice big coastal like he should :D

[shaunyboy]

imo your temperatures look ok

just watch the snake and he will let you know if his temps are fine for him....

re temps (my way of doing things)
if he sits up his cool end all day every day,try lowering his hot end by a couple of degrees at a time,every 3 to 5 days

if he sits up his hot end all day every day,the try raising his temps a couple of degrees at a time,every 3 to 5 days

do the above until you see him use both ends of his tank to thermoregulate

re feeding
if he's like ALL the coastals ive had,he will hammer anything you put in front of him (all mine were like dustbins)

please let us know how it goes on feeding day mate

cheers shaun

[dbank999]

Hey everyone,

Just thought I'd give an update on the little guy. I fed him last night and he took it with no problem :D. I actaully laughed while feeding him, because when I put the mouse in front of his nose, he pressed his nose right up against it and then after about 5 seconds of contemplating he just slowly opened his mouth, bit on, and downed it. The pet store only had pinkies when I went, and they seemed a little small for him, so I fed him another right after and this time, he slowly opened his mouth again.. but waited for me to place the pinky in his mouth LOL.

When I got up this morning for work though, he was soaking in his water dish.. Is this normal for some carpets after feeding? or was it just a coincidence that he decided to soak after I fed him? Humidity is consistently 45-55%. He also could be going into shed, as I have no idea when the last time he shed was since I've only had him a week. I'll check for mites when I get home just in case.

[shaunyboy]

i have heard of some carpet hatchlings,that will go sit in their water bowl after feeding,i have not experienced this myself,but have read a few accounts of it on forums

re mice
i would try and get him onto rats right away mate,sometimes the older they get the harder it is,to cross them over from mice to rat

it would take an awefull lot of mice to feed an adult coastal mate

i'm happy to hear he ate for you,all my coastals were greedy dustbins of snakes

cheers shaun

[dbank999]

Unfortunately, the only place around me that sells frozen feeders is petsmart. They seem to only cover the size of food item, not type. I've never seen them carry any rats smaller than "small rat", atleast around here. I've thought about maybe small scale rat breeding, as my ball python is onto rats and that's what he'll eat for the rest of his life. But for now, I may have to just order some from online.

Also, I plan on building both of my guys custom vivs. As I don't know the sex of the carpet, and some females can get pretty large.. would a 4x2x4 (LxWxH) be fine for an exceptionally large female, if that's what turns out?

[Terranaut]

Some soak some do not. Always check a soaking snakes for mites.
You can go straight to rat pinks right out of the egg it looks big but they can do it no problem. I have never fed mice to any of my carpets ever.

[dbank999]

Thanks for the info Terranaut!

His head is so tiny, but last night he opened it up for that pinkie like he was expecting a jumbo rat lol so I have no doubts he could handle a rat pink. I just have to find some, looks like I'll probably be ordering some frozen snake treats in the mail.

[Lankyrob]

My carpet regularly eats rats that are easily three times bigger in girth than he is, sometimes four times :)

He never ate mice either, straight onto rats from a hatchling :)

[shaunyboy]

Thanks for the info Terranaut!

His head is so tiny, but last night he opened it up for that pinkie like he was expecting a jumbo rat lol so I have no doubts he could handle a rat pink. I just have to find some, looks like I'll probably be ordering some frozen snake treats in the mail.

as you said mate,he will take rat pinkies/pups no problem

they don't poop much back out when they are on them,also their poo tends to be runny,that will sort itself out,as soon as he starts taking rats with fur on them

imo you will be surprized how fast he grows,once he's eating prey with fur

also as Rob said,a carpet will take 2,3,4,times their girth in prey imo

cheers shaun

[Damian745]

Nice looking coastal.

As for food, I've always fed my jungle (14 months old) rat pinkies with no problem moving him onto rat fluffs a month ago. It may look a little big but they can take them fine.

I actually got my first coastal today as well, year old and apparently the shop have fed him nothing but mice so I'm going to have to switch him over to rats. He's fairly big so I'm probably going to start giving him with rat pups

[shaunyboy]

Nice looking coastal.

As for food, I've always fed my jungle (14 months old) rat pinkies with no problem moving him onto rat fluffs a month ago. It may look a little big but they can take them fine.

I actually got my first coastal today as well, year old and apparently the shop have fed him nothing but mice so I'm going to have to switch him over to rats. He's fairly big so I'm probably going to start giving him with rat pups

i'm not being cheeky mate.....

but your 14 month old jungle will take larger prey than rat fluffs/fuzzys

he will take small weaners,maybe even large weaners

if you post pictures with a sky remote etc,it will give us an idea of his size

a year old coastal will take weaners as well mate

carpets will take prey 3,4,times larger than their girth,with no issues

cheers shaun

[Damian745]

So that's completely safe for them then?
Like the person in the shop said keep it around twice the size of their girth and I've seen so much discussion of other forums that I don't know where to start.

Thanks for the info though, I only joined this forum a few days ago just to get this sort of info =]

[Lankyrob]

A lot of snakes two times girth would be considered ok to large for feeding - Carpets 2 times girth would be considered small :)

[shaunyboy]

So that's completely safe for them then?
Like the person in the shop said keep it around twice the size of their girth and I've seen so much discussion of other forums that I don't know where to start.

Thanks for the info though, I only joined this forum a few days ago just to get this sort of info =]

yes mate thats ok

personally i would try him with a small rat weaner,see what size of feeding bulge it leaves,also how long the bulge takes to dissapear,then you will have an idea if that prey size is ok,or if he needs larger prey

i'm still amazed at the size of prey my carpets take

cheers shaun

[shaunyboy]

sorry i could not find any Carpet Python pictures,heres a Black Headed Python giving you an idea of how large a prey item,Australian Pythons can take....

http://www.rawfish.com.au/images/black-headed-python-kills-huge-goanna.jpg
http://www.rawfish.com.au/images/black-headed-python-swallows-huge-goanna.jpg
http://www.rawfish.com.au/images/australian-native-reptiles-snakes-pythons-goanna.jpg

as said,you would be amazed at what these snakews can put away with ease mate

cheers shaun

p.s.these are not my pictures

[EmbraceCalamity]

What is that it's eating? o_O

~Maggot

[shaunyboy]

What is that it's eating? o_O

~Maggot

it said its a Giant Goanna Lizard

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ28epPysFId-JnytQbLt1PZofXlODGtF4NqwoLqoCE2u0xiiM3Gw

cheers shaun

[shaunyboy]

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTvtItjFHYEm7ZWLLnCJl7JnSRlHcIV7 SBLl9JWbj6M3pXLEgoq
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQovCAu2-CSEZPA-twEEuEc80SP9dCYq8MAq5s0GbjuvLFDP8vQ8Q
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTg0y2_mncJFeKP9EakhiMAdShODzu92 IXufzB0Plf-PZqqKBlX
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRA3tq2rkkf4YwQzZGwMjakxY0JHiRO_ ZVKyWxbIThcrAyVUV4v
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSX2H9nN_aNXuZxjQfg5Jr4NLANKMybL yLZiwOVMJxtJhOwmvxcYA

Maggot,above is some better pictures of Goanna Lizards (thats what google said)

sorry but i did'nt notice the picture in my last post was a drawing of one

cheers shaun