The Cockrell Butterfly Center is excited to announce that we have two new residents.
|Hiss and Boo the latest additions to the Cockrell Butterfly Center.|
“Boo” and “Hiss” are baby green tree pythons, and they are on display in the “lizard crevice” next to the large aquarium on the main level of the rainforest. That exhibit housed a lonely, shy male Cuban Knight Anole for many years, but we were looking for something showier. Our friends in the Reptile House at the Houston Zoo recommended emerald boas or green tree pythons as good display animals that would “fit” in a rainforest setting. And, they just happened to have a large litter of green tree pythons and would be happy to donate a couple! (The Knight Anole, I’m happy to say, went to join a harem of female Knight Anoles at Moody Gardens.)
The baby snakes were born at the zoo last January, part of a litter of 18 eggs.
Green tree pythons are usually green (as the name implies) as adults, but juveniles may be yellow, or brick-red, or sometimes orange. All of these colors can appear in a single litter. Our Boo is yellow and Hiss is dark brick-red. I’m sure some of you have read “Verdi” to your children; if so, you will know what Boo looks like (and see attached photos).
Green tree pythons (Morelia viridis) are native to the rainforests of Indonesia, New Guinea, and northern Australia. They are one of the world’s most beautiful snakes. Adults range in color from bright green to yellow, and occasionally blue-tinted specimens (called cyanomorphs) are seen. Young snakes, born yellow, brick red, or orange, slowly change color as they mature; the complete color change may take several years. Smaller than many python species (adults are typically from 3 to 5 feet long), these snakes are mostly arboreal and nocturnal, spending the day coiled up along the branch of a shrub or tree, unwinding at night to explore and hunt. Their prehensile tails help them to hold on to branches as they climb. They primarily eat rodents.
|Hiss being fed.|
Emerald tree boas (Corallus caninus) are the South American equivalent of tree pythons, and the two share many characteristics.
Both are green as adults, but come in a range of colors as juveniles. Both share a distinctive way of coiling when at rest, making sort of a saddle shape with two loops and resting their head in the middle. However, the two species are not particularly close relatives. Their impressive similarities in appearance and behavior are due to convergence – the fascinating phenomenon whereby two unrelated species have evolved similar characteristics because they live in similar habitats (another great convergent pair among reptiles is the North American “horny toad” and the Australian thorny devil lizard). Pythons are found in the Old World tropics (Asia, Indonesia, and Africa), have heat-sensitive pits along their upper lip, and lay eggs. Boas are New World (Central and South American), have no heat pits, and are ovoviviparous – i.e., they give live birth (the eggs hatch while still inside the mother snake). Both boas and pythons are considered primitive among snakes in general – for example, both have two lungs wheras more derived snakes have only one.
While very beautiful, neither green tree pythons nor emerald boas are recommended as an “easy” snake for beginning snake enthusiasts. They don’t become particularly tame, even when bred in captivity, and are prone to bite if disturbed (they are not venomous, but who likes to get bit?). Despite their somewhat crabby disposition, we are very fond of our beautiful babies and hope you will stop by to meet them soon!