Inland Carpet Python
Morelia spilota metcalfei
An Endangered Species of the Victorian Murray-Darling Basin
Description
The Inland Carpet Python (Morelia spilota metcalfei) is a non-venomous snake with an average adult length of 1.7 to 1.9 m,
although they may grow to 3 m.
They have a strikingly contrasted and complicated colour pattern, generally of black and shades of grey, occasionally with brown or
tan on the sides. There is a series of paired, pale, rounded blotches down the back, with some pairs joined to form transverse bars
or dumbbell shapes. The sides are pale, with a dark, central longitudinal stripe.
Inland Carpet Pythons are generally slow-moving and nocturnal. They are most active in the warmer months and feed very little, if
at all, during the cooler months. They are a ‘sit and wait’ ambush predator that overcome and kill their prey by constriction.
Juvenile pythons are believed to feed mostly on lizards. Hatchling pythons have been observed taking insects. Adults prey upon
small to medium-sized mammals, as well as birds roosting in tree hollows. Rabbits make up 50 to 80% of the diet of adult Inland
Carpet Pythons.
Female Inland Carpet Pythons breed every three or four years, laying a clutch of around 20 eggs in a hollow log or rock crevice.
The female guards the eggs and incubates them for 50 to 60 days – this level of parental care is advanced for a reptile. The eggs
hatch in February to March, and the young snakes are then left to fend for themselves.
Habitat
In Victoria, Inland Carpet Pythons are mostly found in either one of two quite different habitat types: River Red Gum (Eucalyptus
camaldulensis) forests and associated Black Box (E. largiflorens) woodlands along major watercourses; and on rocky hills, often
within Blakely’s Red Gum (E. blakelyi) woodlands.
There are also records of Inland Carpet Pythons from mallee shrublands, Callitris woodlands, and freshwater swamps.
Hollow-bearing trees and logs, or large rock outcrops, with thick litter or shrub cover, are essential as shelter sites and for
temperature regulation. Inland Carpet Pythons may also shelter and hunt in rabbit burrows, as well as sheltering in the roofs of
houses and out-buildings.
The home range of a python can be from 30 to 150 ha in size.
Distribution
In Victoria, the Inland Carpet Python was once widespread in woodlands along major watercourses and rock outcrops in the north
of the State. There are fewer than 200 confirmed records for Victoria.
Figure 1 Inland Carpet Python (Morelia spilota metcalfei) distribution in Victoria (Source: VFD, DSE 2007)
Conservation status
The Inland Carpet Python is listed as Threatened under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988, and is classified as Endangered
in Victoria.
Similar species
The Inland Carpet Python can be distinguished from other snakes by its diamond-shaped head, and its distinctive patterning. The
Diamond Python Morelia spilota spilota is similar; in Victoria this species is found only in far east Gippsland, well outside the range
of the Inland Carpet Python.
Decline and threats
The Inland Carpet Python has disappeared from much of its former range in northern Victoria. Threats to the Inland Carpet Python
include:
• Loss of, or reduced, habitat quality: The loss of hollow-bearing trees and logs, shrubs and ground cover, and the removal of
rocks in rocky outcrops reduces key habitat needed for the pythons to shelter and hunt in. Pythons use logs of greater than 40
cm in diameter as incubation sites.
• Fragmentation of habitat: Patches of habitat becoming disconnected due to clearing, timber harvesting and some farming
activities.
• Rabbit control: Inland Carpet Pythons may use rabbit burrows, leaving them at risk when warrens are fumigated or ripped. Also,
the decline of rabbits results in the loss of prey for adult pythons.
• Predation by foxes and cats; this predation can increase when rabbit control is done without control of foxes
and cats.
• Poisoning through eating poisoned rodents.
• Killings by people, intentionally or accidentally (e.g. road kills).
• Poaching: illegal collection by reptile fanciers and/or for the pet trade.
What you can do if there are Inland Carpet Pythons in your area
• If you see an Inland Carpet Python, please don’t disturb it. Report sightings to a Biodiversity Officer via your local DSE office.
• Drive carefully. Inland Carpet Pythons move slowly, and are very vulnerable when crossing roads.
• Retain fallen timber and trees with hollows to provide shelter.
• Branches touching the ground or leaning into a tree from ground level, are important to allow pythons access to raid bird’s nests,
such as those of cockatoos and Galahs. Where possible, leave these ‘python ladders’ for easy access.
• If you are ripping or gassing rabbit burrows, do so in the cooler months when pythons are not likely to be using them.
• Pythons can die from eating poisoned rodents. If you need to control rodents with poison, it is best kept to cooler months when
pythons are not feeding.
• Control foxes in autumn and spring.
• Fence remnant native vegetation from stock. Inland Carpet Pythons avoid open ground, so maintaining the shrub layer in
remnants is important.
Note: A permit is required to keep these animals, and they must not be removed from the wild.
Published by the Victorian Government Department of Sustainability and Environment
Melbourne, October 2010
© The State of Victoria Department of Sustainability and Environment 2010This publication is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright Act 1968.
Authorised by the Victorian Government, 8 Nicholson Street, East Melbourne.
ISBN 978-1-74242-719-5 (print)
ISBN 978-1-74242-720-1 (online)
For more information contact the DSE Customer Service Centre 136 186.
Disclaimer
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