Arsenic.

This post has nothing to do with deadly poisons. I'm talking about my brand new pet snake. He's a jungle jaguar carpet python, now named Arsenic. He's 75% jungle carpet python and 25% jaguar carpet python (which is a colour variation of a coastal carpet python). He's a bit less than 1 1/2 years old at the moment and he's about 2 1/2 feet long.

Now jungle carpet pythons are black with bright yellow patterned (picture) and jaguar carpet pythons are a pale yellow with faded black patter (picture). So when Arsenic is about 2 years old (which is when they reach their true colour) he's be black with sort of faded yellow patterning.

Interestingly a lot of pet shops put carpet pythons down as being very difficult to keep and should only be kept by experience keeper, but I've done some research and talked to thee guy I bought him off and apart from being snappy as juveniles they're not much harder to keep than other pythons.

Just a little bit about them. Carpet pythons are found in the in and around Australia. They become fully grown and sexually mature at about 3 to 4 years old. Fully grown they are between 4 and 7 feet, males normally about 5 feet and females about 6 feet. They eat mice and rats.

I happened to get my lovely python off a breeder in Solihul, near Birmingham. He actually doesn't breed carpet pythons but he does breed royal pythons, corn snakes, leopard geckos and bearded dragons. Website.