# South West Carpet Python Colour Variations



## Nero Egernia (Nov 4, 2015)

Does anyone on here know anything about South West Carpet Python (_Morelia spilota imbricata_) colour variations? I just saw one adult the other day that was really dark, even so dark that from her tail her belly scales were black and as they got closer to the head they were white/grey but with lots of black patterning. Her back was very dark too, making the pattern appear to be almost faded. I was just flipping out at how dark she was, never seen such a dark one before. The ones I see in the wild are usually much lighter with brighter patterns.






The python was similar to this, except that the belly scales were either black or with rich black patterning. 





This is what I usually see in the wild. 

I don't own any of these photos, just trying to show the colours.


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## pythoninfinite (Nov 4, 2015)

The very dark ones are fairly common along the south coast. I've seen a few in the coastal scrub east of Albany and around Bremer Bay which were similar to the one in the top photo, two or three almost totally black. I think you'll find that belly patterning is pretty much always more pronounced towards the tail, this is consistent with Carpet patterning generally.

Jamie


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## Nero Egernia (Nov 4, 2015)

Thank you for the information Jamie. Do the carpet pythons get darker with age or are they born that dark? Just love that dark colouring, but everyone else seems to be into the brighter patterns and colours as far as I can tell.


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## pythoninfinite (Nov 4, 2015)

Carpets in general tend to become duller with age. I've not seen any juvies of the darker ones, but I expect their patterns may be a bit more pronounced than they are as they mature, but would always be quite a bit darker. Definitely very attractive snakes.

Jamie


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## Nero Egernia (Nov 4, 2015)

Do you know of anyone who's keeping and breeding the dark coloured pythons in WA? Very interested and would like to know more about them.


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## lithopian (Dec 10, 2015)

There's a few people that keep the darker carpets in WA. Wingnut is on here and i believe was looking at breeding a dark line - otherwise you can put a post up on the SWCP groups on facebook - there are 2.


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## ronhalling (Dec 11, 2015)

[MENTION=41840]Oshkii[/MENTION], that first pic is the most spectacular SWCP i have ever seen, it gave me goose bumps and a huge desire to own it, great pic, great snake.  .................Ron


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## winny111 (Dec 12, 2015)

I have a very dark male but due to genetics when I pair him up with a female I end up with light coloured carpets with a striped pattern.


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## Nero Egernia (Dec 13, 2015)

ronhalling said:


> @Oshkii, that first pic is the most spectacular SWCP i have ever seen, it gave me goose bumps and a huge desire to own it, great pic, great snake.  .................Ron



I agree. Just love the dark ones. I generally prefer lizards over snakes because I find them more active. I love snakes too, I love to hold them, but I am already struggling to keep my numbers down when there are so many reptiles I just want to keep and admire! When I saw that dark one I was so ready to jump into pythons as I've been stewing over it, but haven't found one I really like. But it wasn't meant to be, unfortunately. 

Winny, I haven't seen a Southwest Carpet Python like that before! Lovely animal! Is that a one off thing or do you have more?


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## winny111 (Dec 13, 2015)

Oshkii, The hatchie in the pic is the only one to survive from a clutch of 28 eggs, all died when they did not pip the eggs this is the only one I managed to manually pip in time. however I opened all eggs and the markings were all similar some better in my opinion. I have had great success when breeding previous and most hatchies came out similar, have quite a few interested buyers on the waiting list.


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## Nero Egernia (Feb 5, 2016)

Completely forgot about this thread. Sorry about that. Winny, that's very unfortunate that the majority of them died. It will be interesting to see how this mutation progresses. Hopefully the one that survived thrives. I have to say though I am still rather taken with the extremely dark individuals.


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## imalizardbro (Feb 8, 2016)

winny111 how many days was the incubation?


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## winny111 (Apr 15, 2016)

Sorry for late reply completely missed the post.
Incubation was about 57 days from memory.


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## Wing_Nut (Apr 16, 2016)

I just found this older thread. For those interested I've attached a few images. The original dark founder male and a clutch. As [MENTION=41820]pythoninfinite[/MENTION] eluded to, the young still have some lighter patterns but it does fade reasonably quickly. The black on the bellies seem to be able to be increased with breeding but this is a long way off. Still a many number of years to invest into these, but so far things are going alright.


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## Nero Egernia (Apr 16, 2016)

Wing_Nut said:


> I just found this older thread. For those interested I've attached a few images. The original dark founder male and a clutch. As @pythoninfinite eluded to, the young still have some lighter patterns but it does fade reasonably quickly. The black on the bellies seem to be able to be increased with breeding but this is a long way off. Still a many number of years to invest into these, but so far things are going alright.



That's just pure awesome.


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## pythonlover1984 (Apr 16, 2016)

winny111 said:


> I have a very dark male but due to genetics when I pair him up with a female I end up with light coloured carpets with a striped pattern.



aww the baby is so cute and small, damm they do not stay that small... lol


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