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bluesea

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My son has been called out of town for an extended period and dropped in what he described as “a cute little coastal carpet python” for me to look after. He has a built in enclosure in his lounge room so I now have a 7 + foot snake living in my bathroom that I am not too sure how to look after.

It was dropped in Wednesday and fed him/her yesterday with a sub-adult rat. It knocked that over in about 5 minutes and stood about a foot and a half off the ground and looked at me so defrosted another and gave it that about an hour later. It ate that one in about 3 minutes.

I put newspaper and towels on the floor and an upside down box in the corner as a hide, not interested! He upended a ceramic bowl of water so I put about 1.5 inches of water in the bathtub and the snake spends most of his/her time in it.

Is this normal?

He is definitely not stressed, loves company and even tried to joined me in the shower last night, which was a bit frightening. Had a good hold on the family jewels just in case it was still hungry!

A few questions for the knowledgeable.

Is he/she still hungry?

Should I feed him/her more?

Is there anything other than rats I should be feeding it? (Chicken necks?)

Anything else I should be doing?

Thanks to anyone who can offer a bit of assistance.
 
um if you have keys to his place that might be a better option lol u wouldnt want a 7ft snake lose in your house what do you call an extended period?? you might have to build an enclosure for it outside or even inside if you have the room.

my 1m jungle eats weener rats with ease so i would expect a 7ft carpet could tackle a full grown rat easy enough do some resurce on the site.

general rule is nothing bigger then 120% of the thickest part of the python, you can feed rats, quail, day old chicks ect however all must be killed before feeding so try and buy pre packaged foods.....

im sure others could help you a bit more tho i strongly suggest an enclosure and some resurch
 
Well after cacking myself laughing a couple of things

is the snake warm enough.....they need a warm space to go to and the bathroom floor even with a blanket and newspapers might be a bit cold. So you might do well to get some sort of heat mat you can set up to at least give the snake a warm spot. While the snake may seem fine now if it is too cold it will get sick and snakes are very good at hiding that they are not well.......until it is too late.
Id be looking at setting up a heat mat at about 30 degrees as in the bathroom the heat will dissipate really fast.

if the snake has a nice bulge in its middle for a few days then you have fed enough. Sounds like the snake is lovely and social so dont be too worried....it it was going to try and eat you you would know by now.

Not sure why it would keep wanting to be in the water all the time other than it might be coming up to a shed or have mites....they shouldnt be in the water all the time.

You havent given a lot of information....how long is the snake going to be housed in your bathroom....whilst it might be a good short term solution long term...it doesnt sound like ti would be secure enough or warm enough

Elizabeth
 
well thats a funny situation haha, um well the two rats you fed him/her should be enough for a week or so if the snake is that big. It will need a heat souce to digest the rats, if you havent got anything, your best bet would be to take it out into the sun for a few hours to bask. Maybe try heating a towle up, not too hot, and leave it on the floor in the corner and the snake might hide in it. can he or she escape the bathroom ? Feeding it rats will be fine until your son gets back.
 
hey mate i have a female coastal similer size and she is eating large to xl rats and she is eating them every 4 days, some people would say that is to often but she eats and she is not fat bit skiny actualy. but the way you tell how big a meal it should have is have a look at the biggest part of the snakes body and go a little bigger meal the that size, hope this helps mate
 
Thanks

Thank you all for your help. I'v been reading this and running around finding things for it. Have a heat pad that will be in there shortly. Also just took these pics. Its so friendly! Just took these in the last hour.
 

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I wont have contact with my son for about another week. How do I find out in it has mites? I handle it dailly and havn't actually seen anything on it. I dont think the 2 sub-adult rats were enough. They were cryvaced scientific ones. As for a house for it, I was going to find out how long my son will be away before worrying about that. I do have a great wardrobe I could use though. I like it in the bathroom though. Went and had my coffee with the snake this morning. We had a good chat.
 
look in the bottom of the water, and see if you can see little black dots. (mites)
 
Just checked, nothing in the water. Changed it while i was in there as well. Have put a heat pad in there for it and will get him a bigger rat tomorrow. The sub-adults i fed him together wouldn't be close to his width.
 
he is huge !!! omg he's mad. i think your on the right track, just make sure he has heat cause after eating those rats he is going to need it. Good luck and great snake
 
It has some sort of white spots on its head. Havn't really noticed them till tonight. Is this something got do with shedding?
 
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there is no use feeding it unless it has a hot spot of 31-35 degrees to digest its food...
 
Awesome snake I wonder what my mum would do if she found it in my bathroom hehe. She is more of a lizard person but still likes snake enough to let me get one in the next 6 months hopefully it will b a BHP.
 
I never understood my son wanting one even though I bought him his first one about 6 years ago. He's going to be lucky to get thisone back off me now!

I checked the heat pad, sitting on 32. I want to leave it a while to make sure it doesn't get too much hotter. The bathroom itself in just on 24.

Anything else i should do straight away?
 
think thats probably the main things covered for now however as myself and some others have said if it is going to be a long time u really might wanna look into makeing an enclosure there are alot of links and are pretty easy to chuck a bisic one together cheaply to get you by or go all out and buy yourself a python once your son takes it back haha
 
Thanks for all your help Loonytoon and others. My son has gone to look after his mother after an accident so I'm not sure how long he will be away. Will have to wait till he can call me again. No cell access where he is! This was why he left so suddenly without leaving me instructions. I don't even know its name or what sex it is. As long as I keep it happy and healthy I'll be happy too!
 
haha np qouls have been easier to drop a key off to his house n ask you to check on it :p

but as said above aslong as the main thinfs are covered your all good for now heat hot and cold areas and some food weekly and your set
 
Bluesea where are you living ? you quoted CELL we call them MOBILE so are you even in AUSTRALIA>? INSTEAD of having it FREE roam where it can get into all SORTS of dramas ...why dont you set up a big plastic lockable tub ..you can get big tubs ...sit part of the tub on a heat mat and provide a hide that is strong and durable so that he/she can sit on top as well as get underneath ...with the water leave in bath and let her/him out every day or two to access fresh drinking water . I honestly think by allowing it to free roam in your bathroom ,you may end up with either forgetting to shut door properly or something else that could go wrong and its not worth it ,when you can provide a safe area of containment for the snake ..it will also toilet in the tub which will be far easier to clean up then if smeared all over ya bathroom ...
 
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