New addition: Calcifer, Morelia bredli

[Caitlin]

First, I have missed these boards. I like to settle in and read and post when I am here and time hasn't allowed that lately. I was just telling the keeper of Wiggles the Children's python that I need to learn to let myself participate here in brief bursts when things get crazy rather than just not log on!

So...news. I have a new addition. After thinking this over for about two years, and numerous conversations with Lori Torrini, I decided to get a baby Morelia bredli. This is based on their famously gentle temperament and their responsiveness to training and enrichment. I've named him Calcifer after a charming little fire demon in a fantasy film I enjoyed.

The tl;dr here is that my impression so far is if you want a family pet, I would put a Bredl's at the top of your list.

I already liked the Australian pythons in general, with Antaresia being my favorites. I'll confess that I believed a Bredl's would be basically the same as my other Aussie pythons and that Lori's appreciation for them was a generalized appreciation for all of the Carpet pythons. While that seems to be true in some ways, in other ways I was wrong.

I'm realizing that I had to experience these snakes to see how wonderful they are.

Calcifer is calm. Like bone-deep serene, which I find unusual in a baby snake. I really look forward to what he'll be like once he's developed some of the additional confidence of a mature snake.

He's curious, interested in everything around him, and you can see his intelligence. It's pretty obvious when he's exploring that he likes to stop and think things through. And he DOES explore - very slowly and methodically. The first evening he arrived, he wanted out. This wasn't the nervous pacing and edging you often see in a newly-arrived snake. It seemed to be pure curiosity with no anxiety or fear, so I took the lid off of his quarantine tub. He came out right away and slowly checked out all of the edges at the top, then came over to me - I was standing about a foot away - stretched himself out, got right up in my face, and tongue-flicked my forehead and cheeks for a bit before leisurely going back to the enclosure edge and continuing. He's repeated this every night since his arrival - he doesn't seem to be in any hurry to move away from the enclosure. It's more like he is gradually checking out the neighborhood and wants to take his time doing so.

He's not at all reactive. He doesn't miss a thing but he isn't flighty or jumpy. I haven't picked him up yet but he hasn't reacted at all when I've had to gently redirect his explorations. If he's uncertain about something he'll back up a bit and just observe.

Enclosure-wise he has zero interest in hides. If not exploring, then most of the time he's draped on the highest perch. Very occasionally he'll curl up on the enclosure floor and sleep out in the open.

So far the only thing I'd say to be aware of if considering one is that if you are a keeper who is more comfortable having a snake that hangs out peacefully in their enclosure and doesn't necessarily require a lot of active engagement, then this likely isn't the snake for you. Calcifer wants to explore. He wants to engage with the environment. I'm expecting that he will need a lot of engagement from me and a lot of enrichment opportunities both in and out of the enclosure. That takes time, so if your time for this sort of activity is super limited, you might need to consider a different option. Photo below of Calcifer on his first night with me, checking things out after I removed the quarantine tub lid.