Pythons in Florida 01

Blood Pythons Hatching in Florida

Filming pythons hatching can be very time consuming. The python hatchlings will poke their heads through the leathery egg shell repeatedly, tasting the air and than disappear back into the safety of the egg. It took me “only” halve a day of filming the hatching of the entire clutch of python eggs. But on other occasions I had to be on stand by for over three days and nights until the hatching process of an entire clutch of eggs was completed. Blood pythons lay an average clutch of 18 to 30 eggs. The female remains coiled around the eggs during the incubation period. When the hatchlings emerge after 2.5 to 3 months, they are about 30 cm (12 inches) in length. Newborn pythons can be aggressive and will not hesitate to strike. They are independent and will start hunting for small frogs, insects and newborn rodents after their first shedding.

Blood pythons are from southeast asia and live in the rainforest, swamps and along river banks and streams. Their habitat stretches from the Peninsular (Western) Malaysia to Sumatra east of the central dividing range of mountains, Bangka Island and other islands in the Strait of Malacca, including the Lingga islands, Riau islands, and Pinang. Most blood pythons in US collection are from central Sumatra. The Sumatra Blood Python can be found in the vast rice fields and plains of Sumatra, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. They are quite common snakes and can be easily found in the wild if one knows where to look. They are good hunters, feeding on small mammals like mice, rats and rabbits in the rice fields and grasslands of Sumatra. The locals hunt these constrictors (as well as many other pythons) for their skin and meat.

Adult pythons grow between five and eight feet in length and are heavily built. The tail is extremely short relative to the overall length. The color pattern consists of a beige, tan or grayish-brown ground color overlaid with blotches of reddish to blood-red in color. The life span of blood pythons is over 20 years but they can live longer in captivity.