Reticulated python

Appearance

Like all pythons, they are nonvenomous constrictors and normally not considered dangerous to humans. Although large specimens are powerful enough to kill an adult human, attacks are only occasionally reported.

An excellent swimmer, ''Python reticulatus'' has been reported far out at sea and has colonized many small islands within its range. The specific name, ''reticulatus'', is Latin meaning "net-like", or reticulated, and is a reference to the complex color pattern.

Habitat

The reticulated python lives in rain forests, woodlands, and nearby grasslands. It is also associated with rivers and is found in areas with nearby streams and lakes. An excellent swimmer, it has even been reported far out at sea and has consequently colonized many small islands within its range. During the early years of the twentieth century it is said to have been common even in busy parts of Bangkok, sometimes eating domestic animals.

Reproduction

Oviparous, females lay between 15 and 80 eggs per clutch. At an optimum incubation temperature of 31–32°C , the eggs take an average of 88 days to hatch. Hatchlings are at least 2 feet in length.

Food

Their natural diet includes mammals and occasionally birds. Small specimens up to 3-4 meters long eat mainly rodents such as rats, whereas larger individuals switch to prey such as Viverridae , and even primates and pigs. Near human habitation, they are known to snatch stray chickens, cats and dogs on occasion. Among the largest, fully documented prey items to have been taken are a half-starved Sun Bear of 23 kilograms that was eaten by a 6.95 m specimen and took some ten weeks to digest, as well as pigs of more than 60 kg . As a rule of thumb, these snakes seem able to swallow prey up to ¼ their own length, and up to their own weight. As with all pythons, they are primarily ambush hunters, usually waiting until prey wanders within strike range before seizing it in their coils and killing via constriction. However, there is at least one documented case of a foraging python entering a forest hut and taking a child.