This is a reticulated python showing off its teeth

Today I want to write about a really cool long snake, the reticulated python.

Here are five interesting facts about them:

1. These huge snakes grow up to 10 metres long, making them the longest snakes in the world, even longer than the green anaconda and African rock snake.  Females are larger than males.
2. They eat a wide range of mammals and birds, up to the size of pigs and deer.  They have even been recorded killing and eating children.  They can go for months without eating again after a large meal.
3. They are ambush predators and have over 100 teeth so that they can grab their prey and wrap their coils around and suffocate their meal.  They swallow their prey whole, even if its a deer with antlers.
4. At breeding time, the females lay between 25-80 eggs.  The babies hatch after about 85 days and are about 60-70 cm long.  They can catch and eat frogs, mice, rats and lizards from the time they hatch.
5. Reticulated pythons are found throughout south-east Asia from India, Bangladesh and Myanmar down to Indonesia and the Philippines.  They live in rainforests, woodland and surrounding grassland.

I hope that you found these facts interesting and learned something new.

Are there any other interesting facts that you would like to share about reticulated pythons?

Similar species:

African Rock Python

Green Anaconda