Olive Python

Photographed at Perth Zoo

One of Australia's largest snakes. Apparently a gentle giant unless you annoy it. (Tell that to the staff bitten at the Armadale Reptile Centre).

This snake does not have a pattern and is sometimes mistaken for the Mulga or Taipan snake which are venomous.

It has been found active both in the day and at night. Most pythons are nocturnal but may bask in the sun in mild weather to help digest a big meal from the previous night.

There are two subspecies.

Bothrochilus olivaceus olivaceus or Liasis olivaceus. This snakes total length is approx 2.5m. Extends from Broome in WA across NT to western half of Qld.

It is brown to dark brown on its back going to a greyish colour on the sides down to a cream belly.

You can see it does not have a pattern like the carpet python but its smooth scales reflect the light.

I do not know which subspecies these snakes are, but I think they could be the Liasis olivaceus.

This photograph was taken at the Armadale Reptile Centre

The other subspecies is B.o.barroni. This snake is restricted to the Pilbara area and may reach lengths of up to 6.5m in length.

THREATENED SPECIES

The EPBC lists this the Pilbara species as vulnerable.

Bothrochilus olivaceus barroni

Arid to humid areas of northern Australia. found along drainage systems associated with rocky areas. Restricted to Pilbara region in Western Australia separated from the other subspecies by the Great Sandy Desert. Shelters in deep rock crevices, abandoned burrows and caves. Terrestrial and rock climbing.

It is greyish on the back, head and sides and is larger than the other subspecies and is approx 6.5m in total length.

This photograph was taken at Perth Zoo. It may be the Pilbara species.

Photographed at the Armadale Reptile Centre

Males may fight during the pursuit of a female.

When the female is gestating she will not eat and may lay belly up in the sun.

The females lay between 11-21 eggs. She will spasmodically contract her muscles which produces heat when the air temperature is too cold for the eggs. As the eggs can take two months to hatch the female python has to be able to maintain her body temperature through out this time regardless of the air temperature.

The hatchlings remain in their slit eggs for two to three days. They will not eat until they have had their first moult at around one month old.

What's the Diff?

What's the difference between pythons and boas?

Pythons are oviparous , this means the eggs are surrounded by a thin , parchment-like shell. Female pythons will usually coil around their eggs and stay with them during the incubation period and they will not eat while protecting the eggs. To help the eggs stay warm the female snake shivers.

Boas are termed ovoviviparous, this means their eggs inside the females are surrounded by a membrane instead of a hard shell like pythons. So when the boa babies are born they break through the membrane to crawl away.

Photographed at the Armadale Reptile Centre

Aboriginals from the central north (Newcastle waters to Katherine) believe the Olive Python to be the Goorijalpongo, the earthly form taken by Bollong, the mythical rain serpent, creator of all material things (Worrell 1951).

What do they eat?

It eats mammals some as large as Euro wallaby joey's as they go to drink, and large monitor reptiles.

These large pythons swallow their prey whole, bigger than their own head size. Their lower jaws are connected only by muscles and ligaments which allows the jaw to stretch apart. Because snakes have no breastbone the tips of their ribs can separate widely to allow large prey to pass down into the body. But it can take several hours to swallow.

Pythons kill their prey by making it run out of breath by squeezing it or constricting it. Every time the animal breathes in the snake squeezes tighter and the animal can't breathe out. This Olive python may crush its prey against the sides of a burrow but usually pythons coil around the prey.

This is a Euro or Common Wallaroo joey that I raised. There were many Euro's living in the Dampier region in the Pilbara where the Threatened Olive python is found.

Habitat

Dampier Western Australia

I have been to Dampier Burrup Peninsular to observe the aboriginal rock art unfortunately we did not observe this snake in the wild.

Because of their heavy size these large pythons move differently to the quick Whip snakes. Olive pythons move by the edges of their broad belly-scales being lifted and brought forward by muscular contraction, and then lowered to catch onto the ground's surface so the snake can slowly pull its body forward. Its hardly detectable that the snake is moving at all which allows the snake to creep up to its prey.

Scats

These are the Olive Python scats.

Photographed at the Armadale Reptile Centre

Go here and to the texts below, to gain an insight into this beautiful snake
What a great site these year four students have done.

Text;
"Australian Reptiles A Photographic Reference to the Terrestrial Reptiles of Australia" by Stephen K Wilson, David G Knowles.
CD Rom "Australian Reptiles and Frogs" by Herald Ehnann and Micheal Tyler
"Australian Snakes A Natural History" by Rick Shine

More on Pythons
Another Python link
Pythons and other snakes
The olive python