By Eric Burke
When it comes to carpet pythons, it is hard to beat the beauty of the neon yellow and jet black of a jungle carpet python, but some of the other subspecies can be just as striking. Take the Darwin carpet python; most people look at the Darwin carpet for the albino gene. As beautiful as the albino Darwin is, they offer so much more than just the albino gene.
Darwin carpets are born red and go through an ontogenetic color change into adulthood. They typically are banded with tan and black bands interspersed with orange and yellow. There is a massive potential for selective breeding. Don’t believe me? Look at what some of the breeders in Australia are doing. They have brought out reds in one line, oranges with striking contrasts in another. There are also melanistic and wide striped ones. The point is that many of these projects are just selectively bred from breeders with a vision of their perfect Darwin Carpet python. I mean, that is the beauty of carpet pythons in general. They are highly variable, which lends perfectly to selective breeding projects and if you needed further proof, look at jungle carpets.
The Darwin carpet python (Morelia spilota variegata) is a medium-sized python that ranges about 6-7 ft. in length. They can be found in Darwin and range throughout the Northern Territory’s top end to the northern corner of Western Australia. The eastern part of their range extends into North-western Queensland. They seem to be harder to find outside of the Darwin area. They, like other carpet pythons, seem to do very well in areas of human habitation.
These snakes spend a great deal of time in the trees. On my trip to the Northern Territory, we were able to meet up with Gavin Bedford, and he took us out to his study site and was able to see a Darwin carpet in the wild.
Gavin Bedford told us that he had a male who mated with a couple of females, and they never touched the ground during his studies. The one we found in the Botanical Gardens was resting on some branches high up in the canopy. Gavin also told us that the arboreal but much lower to the ground.
The Darwin carpet python has a varied diet in the wild. They primarily feed on mammals as adults, and it has been observed that they feed on birds when younger. Larger individuals have been known to feed on flying foxes and Northern Brushtail Possums.
The breeding season in the wild typically takes place in late June and July. Males will combat each other over females. They usually lay their eggs between September and November, and the hatchlings emerge from their eggs in January and February.
The Darwin carpet python is a fantastic carpet python and is more than just an albino. They make fantastic display animals and have untapped potential for a breeding project.
