It seems to me that some of the comments passed are not justified.
Some comments on APS are directed towards learning for the poster and some are not. The are many threads that are more socially oriented than they are knowledge of reptiles or amphibians oriented. Even those that are can cover a huge range of issues, many highly specific to the husbandry of a given species. There is no basis for assuming particular knowledge due to the number of posts made. And that is without taking into account the starting knowledge (or lack thereof) of a given individual.
The animal photographed is clearly a coastal (subspecies) irrespective of its location. The statement that colouring is never a good thing to go by probably derives from the gamut of line bred and cross-bred individuals produced in captivity. This does not apply to wild populations where colour and pattern have their limitations. What is required to identify wild individuals as belonging to certain population or subspecies, is the knowledge of the range of colouring and patterns present in those groups. Sometimes the range is very limited and sometimes it can be quite variable. Clearly, knowledge of the natural variation in colour and pattern is pivotal to determining the ID of a given reptile.
Darlyn, To quote Wilson and Swan (3[SUP]rd[/SUP] ed): “M. s. variegata (Top End Carpet Python) is reddish brown to blackish brown with simple ragged, dark edged pale bands. M. s. mcdowelli (Eastern Carpet Python [often referred to as ‘Coastal’]) is extremely variable; typically shades of brown to olive green with many dark edged pale blotches, tending to be transversely elongated on back and coalescing to form longitudinal stripe on anterior flanks. Some individuals are wholly striped.” If that is not clear enough, I am happy to have a go at rephrasing it to make it more easily digested. Just let me know.
Hope that helps
Blue