breeding coastal jungle/coastal diamond carpet pythons.

Slitherinsnake6 · 02-09-12, 05:04 AM

Hello, im new to the forum, but i really could use some help. i have a very good feeling my female coastal jungle carpet python is gravid, but not sure what to do as i have never bred snakes before. now i have a male coastal diamond python that bred with my female, and the two are nearly inseperable.. i only have the one tank and i heard of something called a cooling off period. i have no seperate tank for the male and i am wondering if it is safe to leave the 2 together. the male is going into a shed and i am waiting for the female to have her pre-lay shed and she has not eaten in over a month and a half. is there anyone that can give me any advice?

infernalis · 02-09-12, 05:25 AM

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red ink · 02-09-12, 05:29 AM

G'day and welcome

CDN_Blood · 02-09-12, 05:57 AM

The first thing to nail down would be the actual types of Carpets you have. There are Coastals and Jungles as well as Diamonds (among several others) but those don't get tagged together, so this is a little confusing.

The 'cooling' period has passed - it usually takes place before introducing the two snakes together. If you think the female is gravid, don't cool her now because it'll be detrimental to the development of the eggs.

If you don't have separate enclosures for the snakes, I suppose the question of separating them now is mute, so it sounds like they'll be staying together regardless, but I'd strongly recommend getting something in place to house the male so you can remove him. She's not going to be happy if she lays eggs and he's pestering her by being around.

Some gravid females will eat, some will not. You can always try her on smaller food if you suspect she is gravid, but of course you'll have to find somewhere for the male to go while you do that.

Pics would help us determine exactly what kinds of Carpets you actually have. If you don't have pics, follow the link in my signature and look for the 'Carpets' section. There is a Jungle Carpet and a Diamond Jungle Jaguar Carpet listed there you can compare to.

Baby Carpet Pythons aren't easy to place up here, so I hope you've given some consideration to how you're going to house a bunch of babies 'cause you may have them for quite some time

Swany · 02-09-12, 06:52 AM

Hi and welcome to the madhouse ;-)

Slitherinsnake6 · 02-09-12, 07:22 AM

thank you for the information. i do have pictures of my pythons, but according to the pet store, the female is a coastal jungle and the male is a coastal diamond. i will have a new atazuki tank for them soon and will likely use the current tank for the babies.. i have attached pics of my pythons. the one with the milky eyes is the male and the bright colored one is the female. both are labeled according to what the pet store told me they were. Another question i have, is do i need to incubate the eggs or wil the female do that herself? if i need to incubate, what are the temperatures i need to keep them at and how do i get them away from her without getting a nasty bite from her.. she is about 7 1/2 feet long roughly and i really would like to avoid a bite. she is quite docile, but i still dont want to chance getting tagged by a snake her size. thanks again for any info you can help with.

Slitherinsnake6 · 02-09-12, 07:46 AM

and i would like to know exactly what the term 'cooling' means. i am very new to this and dont know all the terminology.. i know im a noob, but i am trying to do the best i can to research as much info as i can.

CDN_Blood · 02-09-12, 08:24 AM

Pet Shop, hunh. Well, don't put too much faith in what you hear from there, lol.

The female looks like a Jungle Carpet Python to me, and the male does look like a Coastal x Diamond, but I can't imagine why anyone would have done that. Either way, someone may be able to give you more definitive answers, just give it a bit of time.

*If* she's gravid and the conditions are right for her to produce a viable clutch of eggs (might find some details in the Morelia section on temps/humidity/other needs and such), it can be a fun time taking the eggs away and incubating them. Even the most docile of snakes won't want to give-up her clutch, but it can be done without incident if you know what you're doing and have an incubator to put them in. If not, you can try letting her incubate the eggs herself, but again you'll need to consult with someone who breeds (I don't' allow mine to breed) them to get the info on what she'll need to successfully do that.

The cooling period is a time in late fall when snakes that are intended to breed are allowed to drop a few degrees in temperature. This simulates their natural cycle and encourages sperm production in the male. Once they've been cooled for a few weeks, people generally start slowly raising the temperatures back to normal and introduce the male to the female.

I personally wouldn't let these two mate again - there are so many deeply intergraded Carpets out there that I like to see separate subspecies mated to matching subspecies where ever possible to avoid even deeper dissolution of the gene pools, but that's just me

shaunyboy · 02-09-12, 09:42 AM

hello and welcome

buy a copy of.....

keeping and breeding australian pythons,edited by Mike Swan

or

the complete carpet python,by Nick Mutton and Justin Julander

you would be better incubating the eggs yourself,imo this will give you a more successfull hatch rate

you really need to get the male out the females tank mate

cheers shaun

Trent · 02-09-12, 09:46 AM

HI and welcome!

shaunyboy · 02-09-12, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slitherinsnake6

and i would like to know exactly what the term 'cooling' means. i am very new to this and dont know all the terminology.. i know im a noob, but i am trying to do the best i can to research as much info as i can.

cooling = brumation

when planning on breeding snakes you brumate (cool) them for 3 to 4 months (winter time)

the cooling period improoves sperm development in males

it also helps the development of follicles in the female

the cooling period also puts your carpets into breeding mode and off their feeding

cheers shaun

Slitherinsnake6 · 02-09-12, 02:04 PM

thanks to everyone for all the information. i appreciate the help. i will do my best to have a successful clutch

**millertime89** · 02-09-12, 02:31 PM

A bin/tub from your local department store of the correct dimensions will be an adequate home for the male until you can find something that you like better. Just make sure he's got water, a place to climb, a place to hide, a heat source, and a way to control said heat source. Put some newspaper/paper towels on the bottom to make it easy to clean too.

Slitherinsnake6 · 02-09-12, 03:38 PM

so my next question would be : Why do my pair seem to get crabby when i separate them? seems when me and my girlfriend each have one they both struggle to get back to one another and when i take one or the other out of the tank they get all huffy and crabby. basically they seem inseparable.

CDN_Blood · 02-09-12, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slitherinsnake6

so my next question would be : Why do my pair seem to get crabby when i separate them? seems when me and my girlfriend each have one they both struggle to get back to one another and when i take one or the other out of the tank they get all huffy and crabby. basically they seem inseparable.

Now that they've been together, they're quite likely to always be like that, which is all the more reason to keep them separate until breeding time (should you opt to let that happen again).

Allowing a snake to mate can really alter it's behaviour. I allowed my male to mate once and he's been single-minded ever since, which is one of the dozen or so reasons I don't let them breed anymore. He's no longer the happy-go-lucky guy he used to be. All he wants now is to track her down and since there are already *so* many unwanted Carpet Pythons out there trading hands ever day, he's just going to have to suck it-up and get over it 'cause I'll never let it happen again. I hope that after a couple of years of not being able to breed that he returns to his aloof self rather then being so one-track-minded.

My female got over wanting him in a very short time, but he hasn't let it go for over a year at this point.