Snakes World

Natural Background: Python is a common name for Nonpoisonous snakes of boa and python family. These are the genus of very large snakes of the Boidae family. These reptiles are very large, muscular and kill their prey by squeezing, or constricting, until it suffocates. They usually feed on small mammals; some large species can kill and swallow small pigs and goats. Pythons generally grow up to 1 to 10 meters (3 to 33 ft) in length and weigh up to 140 kg (300 lb). Some species are small but some species like reticulated or regal pythons can grow sometimes up to 30 feet long. Reticulated python is the common species in Indo-china and Malay Islands. Anaconda is the largest snake, some specimens being known which measured about 30 feet in length.

Rock pythons of India and Sri Lanka are scarcely smaller while the African species are much smaller, up to 15 feet in length. “Carpet Snake” is the most beautiful of all the pythons. The entire body is covered with scales, which are usually smooth and glossy. The head is flat, with small eyes and large nostrils. An adult python is white or yellow in color, depending upon its habitat.
Distribution: Python Snakes are mostly found in tropical and subtropical regions of Southeast Asia, Australia and Africa. They are also seen mostly in the dense underbrush of the rocky humid rainforest regions. The biggest pythons–anacondas inhabit the rivers and swamps of Brazil, Peru and the Guianas. Most pythons live in trees. They also like lying in water where it is cool.

Diet: The python is strong enough to kill an ox, but chooses smaller animals which it can swallow. If a python is disturbed soon after a meal, it is likely to vomit the animal up again, still whole. The giant pythons could no doubt overpower and kill by constriction almost any large mammal, since such snakes weigh hundreds of pounds and possess terrific strength, but the width of their mouth is drawn at the size of a goat. Before a python swallows such large prey, its bones are crushed and the body is mangled into the shape of a sausage. The snake begins with the head, and a great quantity of saliva is discharged over the body of the victim as it is hooked into the right and left forward motions of the distended well-toothed jaws. It rarely attacks man and is not poisonous.

Reproduction: Unlike boas, they lay eggs rather than produce living young. The females lay about 15 to 100 eggs and brood them until they are hatched. The python lays eggs with leathery shells and guards the eggs by coiling itself around them. It collects her eggs into a heap, round which she coils herself, covering them so that her head rests in the center on the top. In this position the snake remains without food throughout the whole period of incubation.

A healthy adult can survive from six to twelve months without food. When food is scarce females do not ovulate so energy is not used up in reproducing.

Pythons are reptiles, but are different in their own way from the rattle, water, coral, the copperhead, and the cobra snake. They are not poisonous, but they are the largest snake in terms of length. See the pictures of snakes above for an appreciation of their beauty. For more information on the biggest snake ever captured, see the home page.