Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,

First I just want to thank everyone who either posted photos here or emailed them to me to help me get info for putting together data for the chart below. I'm still gathering information, so these are just the early results.

I separated the chart into sections for each type of burm morph. I also put my personal data from my burm in chronological order. Keep in mind that I don't have the best photos to work with, so there is some variability in the results, but I think it's good enough to give us a rough idea of the relative differences between the morphs.

The first thing I notice here is that there is a trend with my burm where his head seems to be getting smaller as he gets bigger - or, more accurately, as his body gets bigger his head just isn't keeping up. The good news is that he seems to be right on par with the other morphs, maybe just a little on the small side.

I also noticed, from the photos I had to work with, that it looks like it is typical for a python's body to disproportionately outgrow it's head. Even some of the normal burm photos appeared showed this (the photos of normal burms I got to work with were of very varying size animals, which probaby accounts for the variation in the data).

I would love to gather as much data as possible on this, so if any of you have photos you can share, please do. Again, the best photos to get measurements from are ones that are taken from above, with the whole snake on a level surface and completely in the photo... like this:

Again, thanks to everyone who has helped out so far,
- Mark
.
-----
----------------------------------------------
My personal website: www.antegy.com
----------------------------------------------
My Kingsnake.com Picture Galleries

- 1.0.0 Labyrinth Burmese Python Gallery
- 0.1.0 Suriname Boa Gallery
- 0.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake Gallery
- 1.0.0 Pueblan Milksnake Gallery
- 0.1.0 Trinket Ratsnake Gallery
----------------------------------------------
My photography on photo.net
----------------------------------------------
Me on myspace.com

I think I know where your coming form in saying your burm seems to have breathing problems, I noticed the same with my big female albino. As soon as I noticed that she had to open her mouth to breath well, I got her into the vet. She seemed to have scabbing over her nostrils, somewhat blocking them. The vet took some lube, and picked the scabbing off, then shot more lube down each nostril to make sure they were completely clear. Now I see no problems. Have you noticed anything similar with your laby male? Maybe a quick vet check will make a world of difference.

Well, my burm's problem with breathing is actually a compound problem. First off, there may very well be a head-size issue; which I am still working on. Secondly, he does seem to have a cold, though I can't imagine what in the world I could have done differently to have prevented it. I keep his humidity up (about 70%), and he has a warm (up to about 100F) to cool (about 73F) gradient in his cage. He has clean water, and eats consisently without any problems whatsoever. Lastly, he has always been a 'nose-rubber'. This rubbing and prying really bangs up his nose quite a bit; which can't help with the breathing thing.

I try to take him out often, and he is always completely tame. I'm not sure what more I can do for him.

Oh, there's one other thing that has come up. Back when I got him, 4.5 years ago, I took it on good faith that he was indeed a male, as I was told. But, looking at him lately I'm beginning to think that he may actually be a she. And on top of his/her appearance (at the tail), he has been really acting weird this winter - that is, he has been doing this rubbing thing with the sides of his body that looks exactly like what a cat does when it rubs up against your leg. Only he does it to anything he passes by.

Also, I am 100% convinced now that he has some sort of fascination with mirrors. At first I thought he might just be attracted to the location in his room where I have a mirror standing (he always seems to find his way over to that mirror and 'look' in it for a long time). But now when I let him out of his room he manages to find his way all the way over to the front hall where there is another mirror - and there again he spends quite a bit of time. I have no idea what he is thinking, but there is definitely something going on there.

So, how did the vet pick the scabbing off? Did he use tweezers, or some other kind of instrument? If it's not terribly difficult I might just do it myself for him.

Sorry this reply turned so long,
- Mark

>>I think I know where your coming form in saying your burm seems to have breathing problems, I noticed the same with my big female albino. As soon as I noticed that she had to open her mouth to breath well, I got her into the vet. She seemed to have scabbing over her nostrils, somewhat blocking them. The vet took some lube, and picked the scabbing off, then shot more lube down each nostril to make sure they were completely clear. Now I see no problems. Have you noticed anything similar with your laby male? Maybe a quick vet check will make a world of difference.

No doubt, he's a she. I have 2 teenage daughters and they are ALWAYS in the mirror. Maybe after seeing her midline in the mirror she thought she ought to rub some of her middle girth away so the male snakes would find her more attractive. J/K LOL.

I've tried removing the "crusties" from around Moses' nostrils. Even with 2 other people "TRYING" to hold him still it's a chore. He simply will not hold still and I'm afraid to either choke him out or accidentally poke him in the eye or down his nostril with the tweezers. One time I was trying to hold him still he pulled so hard the skin under his head swelled up like he was a pelican. It stayed like that for about a day then shrunk back to normal. Not saying you can't, just that it's a real pain in the A--!

Good luck Mark! I hope you stick with him, her, You know!
-----
DZ

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

I tried holding my female down the other day to have a look at her nose....when we were finished she had drug me backwards accross the floor like nothing and i never got to look at her nose....i had help also. When they dont want to do somthing its a real pita to make them

i thot over feeding made the snakes body grow to fast for the head making it look small
am i on track with that or not?

I wouldn't know for sure, since I definitely don't over-feed my burm, though I do make sure to keep him well fed. And I track very closely what and how much he eats and how often he sheds (among other info) so that I can trend his eating and growing history.

- Mark

>>i thot over feeding made the snakes body grow to fast for the head making it look small
>>am i on track with that or not?

Mark is absolutely the most meticulous person I've heard of when it comes to the data of his burm. He's showed us graphs, charts, little green line thingies, and some stuff I don't even know what it is. If his snake farts sideways he'll know because it will show up on a chart!
-----
DZ

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

n/p

.

There is a difference between over feeding and feeding good sized meals...

I hope this is a sign that you mean to keep him. Hes a beautiful guy and it would be ashame if you chose to let him go. Best of luck.