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How to Determine the Type of Python Snake

Pythons are large constricting snakes -- that is, they dispatch their prey by coiling around the victim and tightening with each exhalation. Some species may reach lengths of better than 20 feet, making them among the world's biggest serpents. They are mainly found in the Old World tropics; Africa, Asia and Australia each have one or two particularly large species. Smaller pythons tend to prey on rodents, birds and other diminutive creatures, while bigger species sometimes target prey as large as monkeys, hoofed mammals and crocodilians. Identifying pythons is not always easy, especially in the wild, but the observant eye can usually pick out enough details to narrow down the field of candidates.

Instructions

- 1
  
  The green tree python is colored more vividly than most other species.
  
  Look at the snake's coloration and pattern, which tend to reflect their native habitat. Many, like the African rock python, exhibit brownish or yellowish bodies with intricate dark spots or bands which help conceal their presence in tawny grasses, leaf litter or tree branches. By comparison, the mostly arboreal green tree python of Australasia is usually a striking green with yellow underside.
- 2
  
  The reticulated python is often regarded as the longest snake in the world.
  
  Estimate the snake's size. Several python species are famously enormous. Sometimes growing to better than 30 feet, the reticulated python is perhaps the world's longest snake, though other species -- like the African rock python and green anaconda (not a python, but a huge boa of South America) -- are more massive. Indeed, any python over 12 feet likely belongs to only a handful of species: the African rock python, the Burmese python, the Indian python or the Australian scrub python. Many others rarely grow much larger than six feet.
- 3
  Consider the python's location, if you're observing it in the wild. Some regions, like northern Australia, harbor quite a number of species, so identifying a free-roaming python will take some close study of its physical features. In an acacia woodland in Botswana, by contrast, a python briefly glimpsed is likely to be the African rock python, the only species regularly found there. On a smaller geographic scale, considering the snake's immediate habitat -- tree canopy, grassland, jungle litter or waterway, for example -- can assist in identification.
- 4
  
  The Florida Everglades now host feral populations of Old World pythons.
  
  Look out for pythons that may be found well outside their normal range thanks to introductions by humans. The Everglades of southern Florida, for example, hosts at least two species of nonnative python -- Burmese and African rock pythons -- likely because owners of captive pythons released their pets when they grew too large or troublesome. Now feral populations of these giant snakes are burgeoning, apparently adapting well to Florida's subtropical marshes and hammocks.

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