What is a proserpine carpet?

[Earthling]

Has anybody looked into why this is so with the distinct head patterns?
Also the body pattern being reticulation like?
Is this just a natural Darwinian variation for that Locale...or could it be a mix of jungle + Coastal somewhere in the line or something altogether different?

[cris]

They are basically intergrades(not to be confused with unnatural hybrids). I dont really think it is known if differant types of M.spilota have evolved seperately and just blended or if they just have adapted to their environment over time, i would imagine a combination of the two.

[Earthling]

Interesting cris. Someone PM'd me regarding this and also thought it could be a natural intergrade. All theory though their end as well. Would it be hard with DNA to find out for sure? Or other ways?

Just another question...why does natural Intergrade make it OK to keep for many people, but if it was a Human influenced Intergrade (Hybrid) they suddenly flame up?

[Jozz]

My favourite prossie

If you have seen JungleLand's thread 'Exciting Pairing', I believe those animals are from selective breeding prossies.

[cris]

Originally Posted by Earthling

Just another question...why does natural Intergrade make it OK to keep for many people, but if it was a Human influenced Intergrade (Hybrid) they suddenly flame up?

Quite simply one is naturally existing and the other is man made. There seems to be some sort of mob mentality with reptiles that they should be kept as natural as possible except when it comes to albinos and other "morphs" that make heaps of cash

From a conservation point of view, a natural looking snake has some value as an example of something like what you may see in the wild. Designer snakes lose this IMO whether they are man made hybrids, "morphs" that wouldnt normally survive in the wild or just line bred traits that wouldnt ever exist naturally.

I personally see a place for designer snakes and natural looking types. Another thing to keep in mind is that no multigeneration CB snakes are truely natural.

[crush the turtle]

i just bourt a 4ft male

[Earthling]

Originally Posted by cris

Quite simply one is naturally existing and the other is man made. There seems to be some sort of mob mentality with reptiles that they should be kept as natural as possible except when it comes to albinos and other "morphs" that make heaps of cash
From a conservation point of view, a natural looking snake has some value as an example of something like what you may see in the wild. Designer snakes lose this IMO whether they are man made hybrids, "morphs" that wouldnt normally survive in the wild or just line bred traits that wouldnt ever exist naturally.
I personally see a place for designer snakes and natural looking types. Another thing to keep in mind is that no multigeneration CB snakes are truely natural.

Interesting thoughts cris. I must admit its a bit crazy that humans think 'well its ok in the wild..but definetly not ok in captivity.' I can understand their reasoning and used to blindly follow it as well, but when you think about it, what does it really matter. Plus, as you say, no multigeneration CB snakes are truely natural. How could they be with all this swapping around of locales and breeding certain lines and most importantly not allowing the weak and not so optimal snakes to die and perish as nature intended, but instead breeding from them; all this just diminishes the trueness of the CB lines when compared to wild snakes.
I wonder if it will go like dogs and how mongrels are more healthy then 'pure breds'?

[Earthling]

So...if someone bred a prossie with a 'normal' coastal is that ok?
What about if someone bred a prossie to a jungle?

Keeping in mind that more then likely the prossie is a mix of the two.

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Proserpine is 100's kms away from any Jungle pythons, impossible to intergrade.
The jungle range ends well north of Townsville,
Cheers
Adam.

[Jozz]

Yeah, I'm not sure where you got the idea that Prossies are a jungle / coastal intergrade?

[Earthling]

Originally Posted by ad

Proserpine is 100's kms away from any Jungle pythons, impossible to intergrade.
The jungle range ends well north of Townsville,
Cheers
Adam.

Impossible? Big statement. Just because a map in our herp books today says that the jungle doesnt go so far south. The books do not say wether:
A/ In the past jungles were actually further south
B/ Intergrades moved south.

Both possibilities. Unless this is the way the planet has been since God made it a few years ago and it hasnt changed except for man killing stuff.........well we know that to be untrue, Darwin did us all that favour.
Therefore A and B are possible.
One theory is that Proserpines are natural intergrades, and why not, they look like a combination of jungle/coastal to me.

Prove to me that they were never that far south and I will change my mind.

[jack]

my brother lives in proserpine, and i spend a bit of time there.... there is an amazing variation in the carpets there... i would be unable to pick many of them from coastals from elsewhere... best i could say is that many tend to be light and stripey...

[slimebo]

proserpines are coastals,not jungles.i've seen some cracking specimens as far south as sarina that are identical to those found around proserpine itself.i would say bowen to sarina,give or take 50km, would be the range of them ,and i've noticed that a majority ,(not all,so dont jump down my throat) seem to be a bit lighter in colour to the north and darker to the south but similar pattern.the head patterns vary as well.and not all are striped,many are banded,just everyone wants the striped ones.but they are stunning and i love them.heres a few i own ,and some that i dont ,but would love to own.
cheers
simon

[BROWNS]

Proserpines are just coastals but many do have distinct jungle like head patterns and reduced head patterns and a common thing with them is also generally a reduced body pattern and silver eyes.They don't get very big 6-7 foot and quite stocky and they do have a great deal of diversity as with most morelia ,however i think that Proserpines originally came about from Bob Whitey who was one of the first to breed these and coined them with that name however they didn't actually come from Proserpine but in that general area.Similar animals can be found around Mackay and i've seen similar as far north as Townsville.

I've seen some that are dog ugly and some absolute stunners and many have a full on skull and crossbones head pattern like jungles and i have often wondered if there is some jungle influence even though jungles are found much further north starting around just North of Cardwell which would be classified as an intergrade zone.They are much smaller than most other coastals and have silver eyes with some quite unique patterning ,many with stripes or zig zag type patterns and also some stunning banded examples as well.The reason i feel there may be some jungle influence is mainly head pattern and size which quite a few people i know seem to agree with.

Here's a few pics of Proserpines remembering they aren't just found in and around Proserpine and a better name for them would possibly be Whitsunday carpets as that covers the main area they are found in which is just my own opinion on it going on the fact i live in the area and see them all the time!

Here's a few pics of some nice ones..for some reason my attachments won't work ,i'll try again!!

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