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I have a quick question I was at a local show yesterday and there was a vendor with a 12 foot indian python it looked just like a burmese he said it was full grown because indian pythons dont get that big. Does anybody have an indian and know of any websites that sell them?
Thanks
Brian

Hi Brian –

Yes, in general, Indian pythons, Python molurus molurus, are smaller at maturity and lighter in color than Burmese pythons, Python molurus bivittatus. Since Indian pythons have been CITES Appendix I listed since the 1970’s, it is highly unlikely that the snake you saw at a local show was really that subspecies. If you had been a US Fish and Wildlife officer and asked to see that vendor’s documentation, I think that animal would have turned into a Burmese python very quickly.

-Joan

Ok Iwas not sure because it looked exactly like a normal burmese python. It was 12 feet and weighed 114lbs the guy said it was full grown. I think what he was doing was trying to sell it and if some body new it was full grown at 12 feet they would have bought it. Just for your info he was asking $300
Thanks
Brian

...some further comments:
...I got my original male Indian in 1972 when they were more common than Burmese on the price lists. Indians became listed on CITES (officially "endangered" in 1976. Up to that point specimens over 15 feet were occasionally listed on the pricelists. Hank Molt at Philadelphia Reptile (now Global Reptile) had a few 14-15 footers listed. When I decided to pair up my male in 1980, I applied for a CBW (Captive-Bred Wildlife) permit through the USDI, and had no trouble obtaining it. I went on to breed true molurus in 1985, '87, and '90 after obtaining a CB female from Dick Goergen in 1980.
Unfortunately, most people over the years have been scared away from obtaining the easily-obtained CBW permit. Too many of these people then bred their Indians with Burmese to produce intergrades. Now it is extremely difficult to find any true molurus, let alone young ones. Intergrades often look more like Indians than Burmese. ALSO, Burmese pythons have a subocular scale separating the supralabial scale from touching the spectacle (eyecap), BUT intergrades MAY have the scalation of molurus (supralabial TOUCHING the spectacle, ie no subocular scale).
SO, if the snake you saw was say more than 11-12 years old, and had the proper scalation, it might have been a TRUE molurus. Back when I was breeding them there were a FEW other people also still working with molurus. And they can live well over 20 years. My original male received in 1972 as a 4' long import lived until 1997 (over 25 years)!
Another interesting fact: true molurus lay BIGGER eggs than bivitattus. Burm eggs average about 6 ounces while Indian eggs average about 9 ounces, and some of my eggs where over 11 ounces!!
Hope this helps! Scott J. Michaels DVM

That is the most interesting post! I've always wondered about the past of the Indian python.

Jeff

Thanks for the history it helped me out a lot.

np