Ivory Jungle Carpet Python (Morelia Spilota cheynei)

Our work on the Ivory jungle carpet project started in 1998, when by chance we hatched a slightly odd looking female from an otherwise ordinary jungle clutch. At the time this neonate did not stand out much from the rest of the small clutch, save for a more intricate pattern than its siblings. The little female was a very difficult feeder and it was only after discovering that it had a fondness for dwarf hamster fuzzies that it really began to fed well.

After a rough start she became a solid feeder and it soon became apparent that this was not an ordinary jungle. All of her siblings started their color change early and went on to become decent looking jungles for the time. Shed after shed this female remained an ivory white and black color and at that point the project began.

The search for the right male to pair her with began when she was a little over a year old. We did not think we would ever find a male with the same ivory coloration but we kept hoping. In 2000 that original female had grown to 6ft in length and we were having no luck in our search for a suitable male. We were considering breeding her to a sibling from the 1998 clutch when we found what we were looking for. We received an email from a man who offered us a perfect male and needless to say we did not hesitate. The new male was a very slender and questionable for breeding that season so we also brought in the sibling male in case the new Ivory was not motivated to breed. With heavy feeding the Ivory male made it to a slender 4ft by the start of the breeding season.

After a few weeks of cooling the pair was introduced and as we had feared the male had no interest in breeding at all. We opted to use male combat to hopefully stimulate the Ivory male to breed and were delighted when it did just that. Once he started breeding things went smoothly and the pair copulated a total of 10 times over the next 3 months. On 2/11/01 the female ovulated. There was much anticipation and it seemed like an eternity waiting for the eggs. On 3/21/01 we were fortunate to find her coiled around 11 perfect eggs. After a quick photo shoot of the eggs they were placed into the incubator. 52 days after deposition we found 3 tiny heads peaking out at the world. Over the next day all 11 left the eggs and the results were a sex ratio of 6.5 .

After all the babies were established and feeding it became apparent that not all would look like their parents. Some began to gain yellow pigments and others did not. This would be the next step in a long selective breeding process. We picked what we felt were the best pair from the clutch and decided to offer the remainder for sale. We were contacted by Matt Turner who later obtained 7 of the juveniles as well as the adult pair. Matt already had a female that was very similar to our adult male and wanted to add to his group. This left us with only our holdback pair.

In the winter of 2004 we paired our holdback animals from the 2001 clutch and the following summer hatched our third generation of Ivory jungles. The results of this clutch were much more consistent with almost all the neonates exhibiting the Ivory characteristics. We have seen how many of the animals from 2005 clutch have developed and are very pleased with the results.

We continue to work toward refining this line and expect even greater results in the generations to come.