Carpet pythons, or Morelia Spilota, are perhaps the most popular pythons in captivity in Australia. Carpet pythons are large, robust snakes and there are different many different subspecies located in nearly every area of Australia.

Morelia Spilota are common and popular in Australian captivity for two reasons; they are large and they are cheap. This may seem like an unfair assumption, but many people who are buying their first snake want something large and impressive to show off to their friends. Most of the subspecies of Morelia Spilota (such as Darwin Carpet Pythons and Coastal Carpet Pythons) can be found for sale for under $100 each. Although some Morelia subspecies (like the Green Tree Python) can usually be sold for over $2000 each.

The smaller snakes, like those of the Antaresia species, aren’t nearly as popular as carpet pythons in Australia. Although the Antaresia are excellent snakes for beginners many still choose to buy a carpet python as their first snake. I definitely wouldn’t recommend carpet pythons as a first snake unless you have an experienced snake keeper that you can get help from. They are hardy snakes and sure, some have wonderfully docile personalities. But if you unluckily get an aggressive carpet python you will regret it. Most Antaresia don’t even reach two meters in length, and some Morelia can reach over eight meters, so obviously, getting bitten by an adult carpet python is a very different experience than getting bitten by an adult Antaresia.