The Irian Jayan carpet python is found in woodland areas in New Guniea. The Jungle carpet python is found in rainforests in the northeastern corner; Atherton tableton, Cairns and Mission Beach portions of Australia for example. The coastal carpet python is found along the entire eastern coast of Australia.

All of these pythons are slender, semi-arboreal species that tend to be nippy when they are young. Once they outgrow this nippy stage they have wonderful curious dispositions. Jungles and coastals are only available as captive born specimens as Australia does not allow exportation. With regards to the Irian Jayans. captive born specimens are preferred as imported individuals have shown to make poor captives.

There are no known pattern mutations in the Irian Jayan and Jungle carpets, aside from specimens that have dorsal striping. With regards to the Coastal carpet the only known variation is the Jaguar (regular, hypomelanistic, red hypomelanistic, and banana) all of which derivate from a single pairing of animals. These mutations are quite rare and not commonly found in the marketplace.

Feed your carpet an appropriately sized rodent weekly. By “appropriately sized” we mean prey items that are no bigger around than the python at its largest point. Young animals typically prefer a rodent that is little larger you would think they could eat. Most hatchling carpets will easily consume a “hopper” mouse, a “hopper” is a mouse that has a full coat of hair and has begun to move around quite readily. Most baby carpets are not inclined to eat prey that has no hair. Once your carpet has grown to the size of being able to consume “peach fuzzy” rats attempt to convert them over. Carpets, for the most part, have a general adversion to rats, so this portion may be somewhat tricky. If you are able to convert them while they are still young you have better chances than down the road. Feeding mice to a full grown carpet can get quite costly! There are numerous methods which seem to work in the conversion process,
1. First wash the rat thoroughly then rub a mouse (or dirty mouse bedding) all over the rat. If this works continue with this technique until the carpet will eat a rat that has not been scented.
2. Don’t feed for a few weeks (~3), the hunger will sometimes trigger the carpet to eat any prey you present.
3. Feed a mouse then offer a rat immediately afterwards, once the animal's feeding response is in full force occasionally they will take the next meal that comes along; remember you are dealing with an opportunistic feeder here, in the wild they don’t know when the next meal will wander past.
4. Dip the rat (after washing) in warmed chicken broth, fowl seems to be well-liked and will sometimes trigger a feeding response.
5. Tap the rat against the side of the snake, sometimes this alone gets them so excited that they attack and constrict.
Please allow at least a week between feeding attempts (if one method proves ineffective try another but do not give up due to frustration. Occasionally a specimen will constrict a rat but decide it doesn’t want to eat it, keep trying. Once you have converted the animal to rats, feed a proper sized meal every 7-10 days. Do not handle your snake for at least a day after feeding, as this can lead to regurgitation. Carpets will readily take frozen thawed rodents, since frozen thawed animals are easier to keep on hand and typically less expensive there is no reason to offer live prey (see Snake Feeding caresheet). Should you feed live rodents, NEVER leave the rodent unattended with ANY snake.

Carpet pythons reach sexual maturity anywhere from 18 months to 4 years of age. Breeding size occurs at lengths of 4'+, depending on subspecies. Irian Jayans will breed as young as 18 months of age and a length of 4’, Jungles in the 4’- 6’ range and coastals in the 6’- 8’ range. Breeding season in captivity typically ranges from November to March. Stop all feeding at this time. Animals should be well established and in excellent condition before any breeding is attempted. Breeding may be induced by reducing daytime photoperiod to 8 - 10 hours and dropping nighttime temperatures into the mid 70's. Introduce the female into the male’s cage. Misting the animals with water may induce breeding activity. Clutch sizes range from 10 to 40 + eggs depending on the size/age of the female. Remember obese snakes don’t make good breeders. The eggs should be incubated at a temperature of 88 - 90F (optimal) and take roughly 60 days to hatch. All subspecies are being bred in captivity quite readily.