Content deleted Content added
image |
add pet subheading, add ecological concerns, provide web reference in sources |
||
Line 27:
[[Image:Python molure 13.JPG|thumb|left|250px|Burmese Python]]
==Burmese pythons as pets==
Infant Burmese pythons are often sold as pets in the United States, and are made popular by their color and easy-going, docile nature. However, these animals have a rapid growth rate, and will exceed 7 feet in length by their first birthday if cared for and fed properly. By age 4, they will have reached their adult size, though they continue growing very slowly throughout their lives, which may exceed 20 years. While this species has a well-deserved reputation for docility, it is a very powerful species, capable of inflicting severe bites or killing a keeper by constriction should a mistake happen (such as attempting to handle the snake after handling rabbits or rodents). In more mundane concerns, they consume large amounts of food, due to their size, and require large, often custom-built, enclosures, which can be very expensive. These snakes, like others, will attempt to hunt, and as pets this means that they will attempt to get out of their cages. Cage cleaning can be difficult, as the [[feces]] of the snake are large, and fully adult pythons can produce droppings that require a shovel to pick up. While this species is gentle, tractable, and attractive, its sheer size and power make it an unsuitable choice for beginning snake keepers, who are all too often lured into buying one by unscrupulous pet shop owners.
==Ecological concerns==
Due to the difficulties of raising these as pets, some owners have released them into the wild. This has caused wide spread concern, as they occupy a place at the top of the food chain. Over 150 have been captured in the [[Everglades|Florida Everglades]] where they are competing with [[alligator]]s as the dominant predator. In recent years this competition has resulted in what officials describe as a [[draw]] [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051005/ap_on_fe_st/gator_python;_ylt=ApsaV03ThlB8jH.qX4MouGYDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl]
==Variations==
There is an [[albino]] form of the Burmese python. These have been selectively bred to produce a pure albino strain known as the ''golden python''.
==Sources==
Line 37 ⟶ 40:
Title=Snake| Publisher=DK Publishing|
Year=1999 | ID=ISBN 0-7894-4660-X}}
*{{web reference simple|URL=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051005/ap_on_fe_st/gator_python;_ylt=ApsaV03ThlB8jH.qX4MouGYDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl|
title=Python Bursts After Trying to Eat Gator|date=October 5|year=2005}}
[[Category:Pythons]]
| |||