Reptiles
Carpet Python
Morelia spilota · also called carpet python, diamond python
A carpet python is Australia’s everyday big snake — the one that turns up draped along a fence, coiled in a chicken shed, or living quietly in a suburban roof, keeping the rats down. It has no venom, it kills by constriction, and across the continent it comes in forms so different, from the black-and-cream diamond python to the glowing gold jungle carpet, that they were once thought to be separate species.
Overview
The carpet python, Morelia spilota, is a non-venomous constrictor of 2–3 metres found across most of Australia and into southern New Guinea. It hunts rats, possums, birds, and bats by ambush, often from a coil on a branch or a beam, and it stays a capable climber all its life, using a prehensile tail.
Many snakes in one
The species is split into several very different-looking subspecies — the diamond python of the southeast, the bright jungle carpet of northern Queensland, the large coastal carpet, the inland and Darwin carpets — all interbreeding where their ranges overlap.
Living alongside people
Carpet pythons adapt well to farms and towns, commonly denning in barn lofts and roof cavities where they control rodents. A large one will also take poultry, cats, and small dogs, so pets in snake country are kept securely housed. Females coil around the eggs and shiver to warm them through the two-month incubation.
In captivity
After the ball python and corn snake, the carpet python is one of the most kept pet snakes worldwide, valued for its manageable size, bold pattern, and calm adult nature, and a well-kept one lives 20 to 30 years.
Status
Least Concern — common and widespread, and more tolerant of farmland and suburbs than most large snakes, though many die on roads and some regional forms have declined with habitat clearing.
Carpet Python: common questions
Are carpet pythons dangerous to people or pets?
Not to people in any life-threatening sense. Carpet pythons have no venom and are not large enough to constrict an adult human, and although a big one biting in defence can deliver a painful, bloody wound with its long teeth, and there is a small infection risk, that is the extent of the danger, and bites nearly always come from handling or cornering the snake. Pets are a different matter. A large carpet python can and does take cats, small dogs, chickens, ducks, guinea pigs, and pet birds, so in areas where the snakes are common, owners keep small animals in secure enclosures with a solid roof and no gaps, especially at night.
What is the difference between a carpet python and a diamond python?
The diamond python is a carpet python. It is the subspecies Morelia spilota spilota, found in coastal southeastern Australia around and south of Sydney, and it has a distinctive look, glossy black or very dark olive scales each with a cream or yellow centre, forming a fine spotted pattern with rosette-like clusters, rather than the broad gold and brown bands of the more familiar coastal and jungle carpet pythons. Diamond pythons also live in a cooler climate, stay somewhat smaller, grow more slowly, and brumate for a longer, cooler winter, which keepers have to reproduce in captivity. Where the diamond python's range meets that of the coastal carpet python to the north, the two intergrade.
How big do carpet pythons get?
It depends on the subspecies. Most carpet pythons are medium-sized snakes of about 2 to 3 metres and a few kilograms. The jungle carpet python of northern Queensland is on the smaller side, often under 2 metres, which is part of its appeal as a pet, while coastal carpet pythons from Queensland are the largest and can exceed 3.5 metres and occasionally reach around 4, making them heavy-bodied snakes. Diamond pythons are usually 2 to 2.5 metres. Females grow noticeably larger than males in all forms. Growth is fast in the first few years given plenty of food and then slows, and a snake continues to gain length slowly for much of its life.
Are carpet pythons good pet snakes for beginners?
They are a common second snake and are suitable for a beginner who has done the research and can house them properly. The pros are a striking appearance, an interesting semi-arboreal lifestyle, wide availability of captive-bred animals, and a generally calm adult temperament. The cautions are that hatchlings and juveniles are often nippy and need consistent gentle handling to settle, that adults need a large, tall, secure enclosure with climbing branches and a warm basking spot, and that this is a decades-long commitment to an animal that will end up 2 to 3 metres long and strong. A jungle or a smaller coastal carpet from a breeder who handles the babies is the usual recommendation.