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  Amythystine Python ( Morelia amythestina )



Amythystine Python | Morelia amythestina photo
Amythystine Python

Photograph by Mike Wagner . Some rights reserved.

AMYTHYSTINE PYTHON FACTS

distribution map showing range of Morelia amythestina in Australia

Description
The Amythystine Python or Scrub Python is the largest snake in Australia. This huge snake has been known to eat mammals as large as wallabies and kangaroos. It looks like a giant Carpet Python. It has large square plates (scales) on top of their head, where as Carpet Pythons have small scales on the head.

Other Names
Scrub Python

Size
3.5 to 5 metres. Can grow up to 7m long and weight a whopping 250kg.

Environment
tropical rain forest, vine thickets, exposed rocky slopes during colder periods

Food
fruit bats, possums, rats, pademelons, small kangaroos and some birds. Its mouth is lined with backward-curving needle sharp teeth which it catches and holds it victims with. It then wraps coils of its body around the prey to constrict and suffocate it.

Breeding
Egg layer.

Range
tropics of North Queensland. Also found on islands of Torres Strait, New Guinea and eastern Indonesia.

Notes
Bites readily but the bite not dangerous. Due to its massive size and ability to take prey as large as wallabies, it could be dangerous to small children.



Classification
Class:Reptilia
Order:Squamata (Serpentes)
Family:Boidae
Genus:Morelia
Species:amythestina
Common Name:Amythystine Python