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 Burmese
Python
(Python
molurus bivittatus)
Burmese Pythons can grow to more than 20
feel long, and weigh over 200 pounds.
As hatchlings, they eat full-grown mice.
As adults, they eat large rabbits and
chickens (always buy from a private poultry
farm to avoid the risk of salmonella).
Take a moment, before you buy, to make sure
you are up to this sort of challenge.
What will you do with this gigantic snake if
you get tired of caring for it? This
is a reptile that can swallow small dogs
without a hiccup. Zoos and herpetology
societies do not want any more cast-off
burms; they already have more than they can
handle. So think long and hard, before
you make this kind of commitment. The
cute little hatchling you adore now will
very quickly become large enough to crush
you in your sleep.
Natural History
The Burmese Python is native through
southeast Asia, including Burma, Thailand,
Vietnam, southern China, and Indonesia.
While burms are being captive-bread
throughout the United States, native
populations are considered "threatened," and
are listed as such on the CITES II Appendix.
This listing prevents them from being
captured in the wild and sold as either
food, exotic pelts, or pets.
These diurnal (active during daylight)
rainforest dwellers are equally at home on
the ground and in trees, from areas of lush
vegetation up to colder mountain forests.
They are also excellent swimmers, and always
enjoy a nice long soak in warm water,
especially just before they are ready to
shed.
In the wild, burms spend the morning hours
basking, soaking up the sun's warmth, so
they can begin moving around and searching
for food. They do not eat every day,
and often go for several days without
feeding if food is scarce, or they are
unsuccessful in the hunt. If they are
successful, they spend the next several days
or weeks keeping warm enough to digest their
meal.
Burmese breed in the early spring. Females
lay their eggs in March or April; their
clutches range from 12-36 eggs. Females
encircle their eggs, remaining with then
from the time they are laid until they
hatch. During this time, they will not
leave the eggs, and they will not eat. While
incubating, the females muscles twitch.
These tremors apparently enable the female
to raise the ambient temperature around the
eggs by several degrees. Once the hatchlings
cut their way out of their eggs, they are on
their own.
Burmese pythons, like all pythons and boas,
devour a variety of prey in the
wild--amphibians, lizards, other snakes,
birds, and mammals. In captivity, they
should be fed pre-killed mice, rats, and
rabbits. You can buy their prey at pet
stores, and from private breeders and
suppliers to the herp trade; these animals
have been specially raised and are clean,
healthy and well-nourished, and you can
always find a source who uses humane
euthanasia methods. If you live in a more
rural area, you may be able to find
free-range chickens. (Store- and
hatchery-bought chicks should be avoided due
to potential salmonella problems.)
Under no circumstances should you feed your
snakes wild-caught prey items. Wild rodents
and other animals carry a variety of
parasites and bacteria for which your snakes
have no immunity. If you cannot afford to
buy the proper food, you should not buy the
snake.
Selecting
Your Burmese Python
Choose an animal that has clear firm skin, a
rounded body shape, a clean vent, clear
eyes, and that actively flicks its tongue
around when handled. When held, the snake
should grip you gently but firmly when
moving around. It should be alert to its
surroundings. All young snakes are food for
other larger snakes, birds, lizards, and
mammalian predators--so your hatchling may
be a bit nervous at first, but should settle
down quickly.
Like all pythons and boas, Burmese have anal
spurs. Males have longer spurs than do
the females, and have tails that are wider
at the base (tail-end of the vent).
Otherwise, there is little difference in
temperament between the two sexes.
Getting Started
Build or purchase a strong
snake-proof enclosure. Select an enclosure
especially designed for housing snakes, such
as the Critter Cottages™
with the combination fixed screen/hinged
glass top. All snakes are escape artists;
Burmese are especially powerful when it
comes to breaking out. A good starter tank
for a hatchling is a 55-gallon tank.
After the first few years (and some bigger
commercially available enclosures), you will
have to build your own enclosure out of wood
and glass or Plexiglas. Some people
partition off a large part of a room, or
convert a walk-in closet into a suitable
Burmese "tank." Be prepared--giant
snakes need lots of room, and that includes
the space you'll need to get in and clean
out its enclosure. Remember that your
snake will grow rapidly, even when fed
conservatively, so you must always buy or
build an enclosure much bigger than the
present size of your Burmese.
Suitable Substrate
Use paper towels, butcher paper, or
unprinted newsprint at first. These are
easily and quickly removed and replaced when
soiled, and will allow you to better monitor
for the presence of mites and the condition
of the feces. Once your burm is established,
you can use decorative ground cover such as
commercially prepared shredded cypress or
fir bark. Do not use orchid bark,
pine, cedar, or redwood shavings, as they
can become lodged in the mouth while eating,
and due to the oils (most especially in any
cedar product), may cause respiratory
infections and other problems.
Shavings must be monitored closely, and all
soiled and wet shavings pulled out
immediately to prevent bacteria and fungus
growths. An easy, cost-effective
alternative is to use utility carpet mats.
These can be brushed clean, or run through a
washing machine when heavily soiled.
Linoleum is a bit pricier, but it is easy to
clean and disinfect and, when used on the
floor and a few inches up the walls of
wooden enclosures, will help preserve the
wood from the acidic urates. Remember:
the easier it is to clean, the faster you'll
do it!
Hiding Place
Burms, like most snakes and reptiles,
feel insecure out in the open. Always
provide at least one hiding place to help
ensure their good health. When your
burm is small, a half-log (available at pet
stores), an empty cardboard box, or an
upside-down opaque plastic container will
suffice. Remember to cut an amply
sized opening in one end of the box or
container, so your burm can enter and exit
without feeling cramped. Once your
snake outgrows these easily-replaced hide
boxes, you will need to use your
imagination. Eventually, you can use a large
kitty-litter pan or suitably modified
garbage can. Once the snake reaches ten
feet, you will have to put your imagination
(or hammer and nails and wood!) to work to
devise increasingly larger enclosures.
Temperature
Proper temperature range is essential to
keeping your snake healthy. The ambient air
temperature throughout the enclosure must be
maintained between 85 - 88°F during the day,
with a basking area kept at 90°F. At night,
the ambient air temperature should not drop
below 78 - 80°F.
Special undertank reptile heating pads may be
used inside the enclosure. Heating pads made for people,
found at all drug stores and supermarkets,
are also available. These have built-in
high-medium-low switches, and can be used
under or inside a glass or wood enclosure.
You can also use incandescent light bulbs in
porcelain or metal reflector hoods to
provide the additional heat required for the
basking area.
Snakes do not require ultraviolet B
wavelengths. However, do not make the
mistake of using a common household
lightbulb in your snake's heat lamp.
Always use a suitable white incandescent
bulb during the daytime, and a red, blue, or
nocturnal reptile light at night.
Remember, all lights must be screened off to
prevent the snake from burning itself, and
white lights must be turned off at least
12-14 hours a day to mimic a proper
day-night cycle. If kept under lights all the
time, the snakes will stress and may become
ill.
If the proper temperatures cannot be
maintained without an incandescent light,
then you must use another source of
non-light emitting or dim-light emitting
heat. Ceramic bulbs, available at most
pet stores, are an excellent alternative.
Avoid heat rocks, as all pythons are very
susceptible to thermal burns. Unless
properly protected by multiple layers of
cloth or substrate, heat rocks are
dangerous!
Don't try to guess at the temperature in
your snake's enclosure. If you're
wrong, your snake will be too cold to eat or
digest its food. This can lead to
starvation or regurgitation, which is
dangerous for your snake. (Plus,
nothing smells as nasty as a
half-digested rat or rabbit!) Always
use two thermometers: one placed 1"
above the enclosure floor on the cooler
side, and the other placed 1" above the
floor in the basking area.
Feeding
Allow your snake to acclimate for a week or
two to its new home. Start your hatchling
(about 22" in length) off with a single
pre-killed "fuzzy" baby rat. A
smaller sized hatchling may require a small
mouse. Older burms may be fed larger
pre-killed rats. If possible, never
feed your Burmese a live mouse or rat; this
can make them much more aggressive.
And the last thing you are going to want is
an aggressive 20-foot, 200 pound snake
breathing down your neck!
Burmese pythons are bottomless pits; they
are always hungry, and will gladly eat prey
too large for them to digest--with the
inevitable result, regurgitation. In
general, you should never feed your snake
any prey that's larger than the widest part
of the snake's body. Limit its food
intake to once a week, twice if you feed it
very small meals. An obese Burmese is
an unhealthy Burmese, and overfeeding will
not make it grow any faster.
Water
Provide a bowl of fresh water at all times.
Burmese like to soak in water, so the bowl
should be large enough to comfortably hold
its entire body. It may also use the
bowl as a toilet, so check (and clean, if
necessary) the bowl every day. Once
your snake gets too large for standard tubs,
it will need to be taken out and bathed in a
safe, secured bathroom.
Handling
Your New Snake
After giving your Burmese a couple of days
to settle in, begin picking it up and
handling it gently. It may try to move away
from you, and may threaten you by twitching
its tail, hissing, and snapping. Be gentle but
persistent. Daily contact will begin to
establish a level of trust and confidence
between you and your snake. When it is
comfortable with you, you can begin taking
it around the house. Don't get
overconfident! Given a chance and close
proximity to seat cushions, your Burm will
make a run (well, a slither) for it, easing
down between the cushions--and from there, to
points possibly unknown. Always be gentle,
and try to avoid sudden movements. If the
snake wraps around your arm or neck, you can
unwind it by gently unwrapping it starting
at the tail end, not the head.
CAUTION: If you have small
children, or children will have access to
the room in which the snake will be kept,
ask yourself whether you can properly secure
the snake so that, not only is there no
chance for it to escape, but there is no way
for young fingers to undo the cage. Remember that
regardless of how tame your Burmese becomes,
and no matter how long you have had it, it
is still a wild animal--and as such is to be
considered unpredictable and potentially
dangerous!
A Special Note About Albinos
Albino Burmese Pythons are gorgeous.
Hands-down, they are some of the most
impressive snakes you will ever see.
From patternless lemon-yellow to high orange
to high white to any color in between, they
are the undisputed jewels of the reptile
family. However, never forget that
albinos are created by inbreeding. And
inbreeding can cause both physical and
temperamental instability. Albino
Burmese Pythons have a higher incidence of
respiratory infections, physical mutations,
and--most importantly--fractious
personalities. Use extra care and
patience in training and caring for your
albino. They can become snap-tempered
without warning, often with painful results.
Places
to Go, Things to Do and See...
Check out your local
herpetological society and reptile rescue
for information on reptiles. Also, check your local
library for these and other python and
reptile care books:
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The General
Care and Maintenance of Burmese Pythons,
by Philippe de Vosjoli. 1990. Advanced
Vivarium Systems, Lakeside CA.
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The Completely
Illustrated Atlas of Reptiles and
Amphibians, by Obst, Richter and Jacob.
1988. TFH Publications, Inc. Neptune
City, NJ.
-
Snakes of the
World, by Scott Weidensaul. 1991.
Chartwell Books, Seacacus, NJ.
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Living Snakes
of the World, John M. Mehrtens. 1987.
Sterling Publishing Co. New York.
-
The Snake: An
Owner's Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet.
Lenny Flank. Howell Book House, New York
NY.
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