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Burmese Python
Common Name: Indian Python
Order: Squamata
Family: Pythonidae
Genus: Python
Species: molurus
Range & Habitat
Indo-Malayan region of Asia in the Tropical forests.
Reproduction & Growth
Pythons lay up to 100 eggs at a time, in tree hollows or scrapes in the ground. Female will coil around eggs, contracting her muscles in a rhythmic fashion to create body heat to maintain an outside air temperature about 86 degrees Fahrenheit (the only reptile to do this). Eggs hatch after 3-4 months, with the mother leaving the babies to fend for themselves. The young will double their
size in a matter of months.
Diet - Carnivore
In the Wild: Feeds on mammals as large as deer and birds (usually ambushes prey)
In the Zoo: Rats about twice a month
General Information
Pythons are exothermic or cold blooded and can reach a length of 25 feet. Constrictors squeeze their prey to death and then swallow it whole by unhitching their lower jaw. This enables them to swallow prey much larger in diameter then themselves. Snakes sense scent molecules with their tongue and transfer them to the Jacobson organ, located on the roof of their mouth, where they are analyzed. Heat sensing pits lie between eye and nostril. Once an adult, this snake has no predators but will hiss, strike or bite if threatened. May aestivate in the drier parts of its range. The Burmese python is endangered from collection for the pet trade.
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