Carpet Python

NAME:

Carpet Python

ZOO NAME:

Berber (hatch date 1995)

CLASS:

Reptilia

GENUS:

Morelia

SPECIES:

Spilotes variegata

LENGTH:

7-12 feet

LIFESPAN:

20 yrs. (captive), 10yrs. (wild)

DIET:

Mice, rats, other snakes, eggs, birds, marsupials

PREDATORS:

Man, monkeys, snakes, raptors

RANGE

Australia & New Guinea.

HABITAT

Coastal Rainforests to central deserts.

CHARACTERISTICS

Pythons are related to Boa Constrictors from the New World. They get quite long and have large bodies as adults.

BEHAVIOR

Carpet Pythons do not make good pets. The young snakes are very “nippy” and may strike unprovoked. Pythons feed on nuisance animals such as mice and rats and are also prey (young snakes especially) for other predators. They are arboreal, which means that they spend most of their time in the trees.

REPRODUCTION

Carpet Pythons are egg-laying reptiles. Females lay up to 18 eggs per clutch. The hatchlings emerge in 40 days. Females incubate the eggs by coiling around them & twitching their muscles to warm the eggs.

THREATS

Over-collection of carpet pythons for the pet trade is contributing to their population decline.