Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi again,

I've looked around online to find good pictures of adult Burmese pythons, and while I have found some nice looking photos, none are quite useful to me for my objective.

I'm trying to compare the average head size to body size ratio of adult burm's. I can get this info from a photo, but only if the animal is positioned correctly in the picture.

Here's an example of what would be the best (this is a photo of my Labyrinth burm):

In the photo his whole body is shown, and it is on a flat surface so there is no depth distortion in the picture (which makes measuring length arbitrarily difficult). Also, there is an object included in the scene for relative size reference (the 8.5"x11" sheet of paper).

If anyone out there could take a photo like this of your adult (over ~10 feet) burm and share it with me it would be VERY much appreciated, as it would help me to put to rest once and for all the question of whether morphs are prone to growing disproportionately compared to normal burms. Also, I will be more than happy to share the results with the forum once I get to a conclusive point.

Thanks very much,
- Mark
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I'm not sure how much this will help since he is not an adult (only 8 feet, but its the best picture I have at the moment. Wouldnt disproportionate growing also be from inadiquite feedings, such as too much or too little?

Here ya go...this guy is between 10 and 11ft.

Here is my 14', 10 year old female normal.

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Derek Roberts
Sonoran Reptile Breeders
sonoranreptile@cox.net

Er this is totally off topic, but I just thought I should let you know that if that's a plug in air freshner those are a really bad fire hazard!

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Justin

I can compare your six footer pic to older pics I have from back when mine was ~6'.

Thanks,
- Mark

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>>Justin

From the way it looks only 1 of the albinos really had a wider head. I can't do pictures from this computer but my 11 foot normal is almost the exact same size as your labby. He too has a small head compared to others I've seen his size. He usually only has trouble breathing right before a shed. Speaking of I got 9 feet of full shed skin today. I can't find the head and the tail broke off. I'll hang it in my office at work. I hang the best shed from the ceiling. This one will drag the floor. Makes for interesting conversation when people come in.
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DZ

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

The head size of your lab doesnt look any smaller than my male i posted.
I havnt noticed any problem with his breathing (except for the ri he had when i got him)
I have heard feeding larger food makes there head get bigger but that sounds like bs to me...anyone else heard of that before.
I have only had my male for probobly 4 months and he would only eat rats or GP's when i got him. If there is any truth to the head size in relation to food size that could be why his head is farily small...not sure though.
Other snakes have small heads compared to body size...bloods for example have thick bodies but not real huge heads...
I've got my male burm to take a rabbit on the two last feedings so i guess i'll see if his head grows some from the larger food

That's interesting, what you said about food size being related to head size. Though I too think it's probably BS. The only thing is, I have historically fed my burm smaller prey items. Now, to be clear - that doesn't mean I'm underfeeding him. No. What I generally do is, instead of giving him one huge item I give him two smaller ones. So he still gets the same weight, just in smaller packages. Hmmm...?

>>The head size of your lab doesnt look any smaller than my male i posted.
>>I havnt noticed any problem with his breathing (except for the ri he had when i got him)
>>I have heard feeding larger food makes there head get bigger but that sounds like bs to me...anyone else heard of that before.
>>I have only had my male for probobly 4 months and he would only eat rats or GP's when i got him. If there is any truth to the head size in relation to food size that could be why his head is farily small...not sure though.
>>Other snakes have small heads compared to body size...bloods for example have thick bodies but not real huge heads...
>>I've got my male burm to take a rabbit on the two last feedings so i guess i'll see if his head grows some from the larger food

Maybe there is some truth in it.
Seems kinda strange that both our snakes that have been eating smaller food have smaller heads. I think i have now got my male switched to rabbits so i think i will pay closer attention to his head size and see if it increases with the rabbits

This is an interesting thread, as just about a week ago I posted a message about prey size...for rabbits.
I am about to switch my male albino, about 9-10 ft over to rabbits. He can eat a lot this boy, yet I doubt he can eat a 2lb rabbit. He has been eating 2-3 collosal rats every 10 days.
I see plenty of normal burms around, mine included.
( All smaller ), and the heads on them seem so much bigger than my albino. That is why I posted the message about the rabbits.
The albino's head is much smaller.
Big enough of course for the huge rats, or smaller rabbits, but not big enough for one large prey item. He does not, however, have any breathing problems. During shed or other wise.
The reason I found this thread about head size interesting...
I thought I was nuts thinking the head of my albino was smaller.
Now I see I'm not the only one.

And while on the subject of food size...where do Y'all ( not bad for a yankee) order your rabbits from? I was checking out Hare Today.com, and they're shipping cost seems a whole lot cheaper than RodentPro.
Any body here ever order from Hare Today?

I get mine local for 5 bucks. I'd probobly raise my own if i couldnt find somone that already does..i hate thawing stuff out..LOL

I too get mine local for $4 frozen.
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DZ

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

He could probobly get down a larger rabbit then you think....if you look back a few posts in this thread there is a pic of my male albino that is between 10 and 11ft and he ate a rabbit that probobly weighed 4-5 pounds just a couple days ago.

I have only fed mine 4 rabbits in his lifetime. I first fed him a rabbit when I got him in 03 and it seemed a little to big for him as his mouth bled just the slightest bit. The next time I fed a rabbit he was larger and the rabbit was larger but he gulped it quick. I too have heard that feeding larger prey helps enlarge the head. My though process tells me the larger prey item would expand his head momentarily. If big enough it would stretch his head enough that some tissue may split, then as it heals it would do so to the new dimensions. Sounds crazy but if it were true, that makes sense to me. I don't think wild burms are to picky on EXACT size for their meal. They see it, they take it (within some reason of course). Kinda weird though that all of our snakes have smaller heads and all of us are slow to introduce rabbits full time. Would be awsome if this was the key to you keeping your snake Mark!
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DZ

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

But if this were true, wouldn't some wild burms have disproportionately large heads due to eating things like the thompsons gazelle in that one pic? Not to say that this happens all the time, but snakes in general, are oppertunists. And for the record, I feed my ball pythons large to jumbo rats now and then, and there is no change in the head size or shape. I've had these snakes for 12-13 years.