Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys,

I know this is probably asked a lot around here, my browser aint working well at the moment so i haven't searched for old posts so forgive me!

I am considering getting a baby male albino Burmese in the next few weeks and i wanted to know the LIKELY size that it will grow to?

I know that burmese can grow 20ft that's why I chose a male and an Albino hoping that it will be somewhat smaller!

Is my theory right?

Thanks In advance

Phil
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1 Varanus Exanthematicus, 1 Morelia Spilota Cheynei

It is asked a lot, and usually answered in depth with quite a wide degree of variance in the answers. Some truly experienced herpers that indeed have decades of true giant herp experience, yet do not advocate the novice ownership of burmese may post here that you are not thinking clearly, and that you could end up with a giant snake whether it is male or not. This is true,.. but not very likely.

Then there are the responses from the much older people that actually consider themselves to be moore experienced with large constrictors, yet have maybe kept one burmese for 30 years, and almost never come into direct contact with it because they're afraid of it.

Then there are the responses from herpers like me, that keep, feed, raise and breed and interact with more large pythons in a week's time than the self proclaimed experts will in a lifetime. I have been keeping large pythons since the mid 70's and have been breeding them since the early 80's and I can confidenly say that you are correct in assuming that if you purchase a male burmese that you will likely end up with a much shorter and thinner and thus more manageable python. it will still become large with time, but will very likely remain in the 10-13 foot, 40-70 lb range. I was caring for snakes like this when I was 12 and I feel that any dedicated herp enthusiest can do the same.

This issue usually leads to a fairly heated debate with vastly differing opinions, so expect this to get fairly ugly before it dies down. There are a handful of "herpers" that, while owning burmese, are very adamant about advising people not to keep them. I theorize that because it might have been hard for them to keep burmese that maybe they assume it should be hard for everyone else too. As most capable burm owners are aware this is just not the case. They are a very easy to keep and provide for snake with very few complex requirements.

>>Hey guys,
>>
>>I know this is probably asked a lot around here, my browser aint working well at the moment so i haven't searched for old posts so forgive me!
>>
>>I am considering getting a baby male albino Burmese in the next few weeks and i wanted to know the LIKELY size that it will grow to?
>>
>>I know that burmese can grow 20ft that's why I chose a male and an Albino hoping that it will be somewhat smaller!
>>
>>Is my theory right?
>>
>>Thanks In advance
>>
>>Phil
>>-----
>> 1 Varanus Exanthematicus, 1 Morelia Spilota Cheynei
-----
"Sure,... you say that now. But what will you say when you are looking into my dark, merciless eyes." [Walter Wego]

"Charlie won because we never knew where he was. We had superior numbers, but he had stealth, patience, and sheer determination to prevail. We lost the moment we decided to engage, only it took us 10 years to lie down and die." [General Enevi Tability on the Vietnam war]

“I know that burmese can grow 20ft that's why I chose a male and an Albino hoping that it will be somewhat smaller! “

Hi Phil – I bet you didn’t realize your simple, straightforward question would provoke such an extended, off-kilter response

Short answer: As you hoped, most males in captivity never reach the maximum lengths and weights for the species. Even a 15 foot or 100 pound male would count as pretty darn large.

Can anyone help with the albino part of his question? I don’t have anything to back up my assertion, but I’ve always suspected that both male and female albinos don’t get as large as the normal phenotype.

-Joan

Hi Joan, I can field that one with relative accuracy. I have kept many scores of burmese over the years and even now have over 40 (adults, I don't count offspring as they are mostly for sale and not pets) and this number will be tripled by July as I keep select "litter picks" to raise for selective breeding projects. Every burmese that I have is albino or morph, so I feel that I have some insight in the subject of growth and overall size, though most of my burmese are still relatively young and thus I cannot possibly know what their ultimate lengths will be. All of the morph types (granite, albino granite, albino labyrinth, albino green/patternless, etc, etc, etc) grow at the same rates as the standard, "normal" burmese, yet seem to slow a bit sooner in rapid growth. This is certainly not to say that they cannot go on to grow to great sizes, but it seems to me that the albino morphs *may* have an overall smaller average maximum size. I think this in large part would be predominitely dictated by the genes of the original albino morphs and not due in any way to the color morph gene directly.

>>“I know that burmese can grow 20ft that's why I chose a male and an Albino hoping that it will be somewhat smaller! “
>>
>>Hi Phil – I bet you didn’t realize your simple, straightforward question would provoke such an extended, off-kilter response

This was more of a preventative measure than an informative answer. Basic reverse phychology. And it seemed to have worked.

>>
>>Short answer: As you hoped, most males in captivity never reach the maximum lengths and weights for the species. Even a 15 foot or 100 pound male would count as pretty darn large.
>>
>>Can anyone help with the albino part of his question? I don’t have anything to back up my assertion, but I’ve always suspected that both male and female albinos don’t get as large as the phenotype.
>>
>>-Joan
-----
"Sure,... you say that now. But what will you say when you are looking into my dark, merciless eyes." [Walter Wego]

"Charlie won because we never knew where he was. We had superior numbers, but he had stealth, patience, and sheer determination to prevail. We lost the moment we decided to engage, only it took us 10 years to lie down and die." [General Enevi Tability on the Vietnam war]