St Francis Imbricata Pictures

[stiffler]

The issue of them being hard to feed stems again from their isolation. Their main food source on the Island is Mutton Bird chicks. Finding Mutton Bird chicks to feed them on a little difficult What consitiutes their other diet is not yet known, as they wont take mice, rats or chicks etc it makes them a challange to get feeding.

 

[ozziepythons]

The issue of them being hard to feed stems again from their isolation. Their main food source on the Island is Mutton Bird chicks. Finding Mutton Bird chicks to feed them on a little difficult What consitiutes their other diet is not yet known, as they wont take mice, rats or chicks etc it makes them a challange to get feeding.

This is also what I was told personally by Diane Stone. The population of carpets feeds en masse each year when the mutton birds breed and produce offspring, and when its all over don't eat much until the next breeding season. In captivity this annual pattern of eating was replicated, they showed no interest in feeding until the time of year the mutton birds breeding season kicks off, then when introduced food ate with enthusiasm. Then once the breeding season was over, they wouldn't eat. This predictable difficulty in changing their feeding response was one of the reasons they put this form of carpet in the 'too hard' basket.

 

[Jonno from ERD]

Due to their isolation on this small Island their gene pool is extremely small, thus leading to reduction of size. Much like is seen on Island forms of Tiger snakes. Infact there is also a population of dwarf Tigers on St Francis Island as well. Most carpets found on St Francis are less than a meter with the occasional big one comming in at 1.2 meters. I have seen many, many, many Jungles over 1.2 meters.

G'day mate,

The "pygmy" island locality Tigers have been found to grow to regular sizes in captivity - Peter Mirtschin did some work years ago...it was found to have more to do with the limited diet (predominantly skinks) more than anything. Size variations are common in a lot of python species anyway - look how variable Woma's are...some max out at 1.2m, others get close to 3.0m...

P.S...I'm not trying to pick or draw any attention away from the photo of the gorgeous snake you posted...but it really just is a common species of snake from an uncommon locality. There'd be islands in Moreton Bay with populations of Coastal Carpets smaller than St Francis's population of South Westerns. I think the reason they are so "important" is because M.s.imbricata is very uncommon in SA...more so from their tiny distribution rather than low population, much the same as Yellow Faced Whip Snakes in Victoria.

 

[Jonno from ERD]

Regarding the seasonal feeding...if they were experiencing difficulty with it with wild caught adults, they could endeavour to acquire a gravid female (granted they have collection permits etc), and attempt to "break" the habit with fresh juveniles. Obviously the juveniles wouldn't eat mutton birds and would be far better aclimatised to captivity and future breeding attempts would be easier...look at other seasonal feeders that are common in captivity - island form Tigers, Inland Taipans etc...

 

[ozziepythons]

Regarding the seasonal feeding...if they were experiencing difficulty with it with wild caught adults, they could endeavour to acquire a gravid female (granted they have collection permits etc), and attempt to "break" the habit with fresh juveniles. Obviously the juveniles wouldn't eat mutton birds and would be far better aclimatised to captivity and future breeding attempts would be easier...look at other seasonal feeders that are common in captivity - island form Tigers, Inland Taipans etc...

Yeah very good point, however, a gravid female was obtained and the F1 generation were all hatched out, and the offspring were just as picky with feeding and difficult to get breeding as wild caught adults. This is where the insular St Francis population specimens obtained were disseminated to other/another collection/s and seemingly forgotten about.
The story goes from research done on this population and others in the west coast region (of which there is little but some done), that the populations nearest to Ceduna are morphologically and genetically indiscernible from those of Nuyts Archipelago (St Francis Island), so basically the same down to scale sequence, pattern and genetics. So to establish the animals from this locality in captivity, mainland specimens would be the best bet for a founder captive colony (however, this would be legally near impossible, as the story of establishing other SA forms of carpet into captivity from wild caught animals was a dog fight between National Parks authorities and interested keepers, with more difficulty as time goes on).

 

[stiffler]

Regarding the seasonal feeding...if they were experiencing difficulty with it with wild caught adults, they could endeavour to acquire a gravid female (granted they have collection permits etc), and attempt to "break" the habit with fresh juveniles. Obviously the juveniles wouldn't eat mutton birds and would be far better aclimatised to captivity and future breeding attempts would be easier...look at other seasonal feeders that are common in captivity - island form Tigers, Inland Taipans etc...

So just out of interest, how is the seasonal feeding done with Tigers etc?

 

[Jonno from ERD]

It's not - they are seasonal feeders in the wild but eat all the time in captivity.

 

[Sturdy]

There'd be islands in Moreton Bay with populations of Coastal Carpets smaller than St Francis's population of South Westerns.

The Mud Island Coastal Carpet,
its a small island too, even smaller in high tide, right in the middle is a very tiny piece of tropical type forest, other than that the rest of the island is covered in mangroves

 

[redbellybite]

stiffler, as I am not up with this species am just wondering when you claim the rarity of this particular python ...is it rarer then the morelia oenpelliensis?

 

[ozziepythons]

stiffler, as I am not up with this species am just wondering when you claim the rarity of this particular python ...is it rarer then the morelia oenpelliensis?

The population on St Francis has been estimated at 800 - 1000 animals. However, as stated in a previous post this form is also found on the mainland of the west coast on the Eyre Peninsula, and considered sp**** and vulnerable, so not the rarest in Australia. Sometimes sweeping statements are made, hey, it happens!

 

[GetCoiled]

Since I've read a 2000 paper by Dave Barker about that unique, rare and unknown Carpet locality I'll try to find any infos about it. Back in 1988 Schwaner with Francis and Harvey wrote the paper "Identification and conservation of carpet pythons (Morelia spilota imbricata) on St. Francis Island, South Australia" published in Herpetofauna magazine. Well in it for the very first time they described it as imbricata instead of metcalfei as always thought and provide a table in which are reported some meristic data to distinguish that island population by the mainland conterparts. Thanks to share those pics as something of the rarest thing seen on this forum.
Regards
Stefano