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Baby pythons turn one-week old

Liam Parsons

Saturday, November 24, 2012

© The Cairns Post

 

IF he's anything like his mum, this baby python is on his way to big things.

The 12 new arrivals at Cairns Tropical Zoo were among the mammoth clutch of 75 eggs laid in August by Psycho Sally  Australia's second biggest reticulated python in captivity.
At just one week, the baby pythons are already 70cm long.
But they still have some growing to do to reach their mother's massive 100kg and 6m length.
"The females will grow that big and the males will grow to about four metres," reptile keeper Hirani Kydd said.
While Sally's diet includes four chickens every fortnight, the baby snakes are still a few weeks away from their first meal  a small rat.
"We'll probably try them out on a young rat or maybe a small adult-sized mouse," she said. " That's a pretty big meal, but they are pretty big snakes."
Ms Kydd said the young snakes were already taking after their mother in more ways than one.
"They have a little bit of attitude," she said. "If a hand gets too close, they'll react with a bite."
The zoo will keep a male and female and send the remaining 10 to zoos around the country in a couple of months.

 


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Curly one: This baby python is in good hands with reptile keeper Hirani Kydd. Picture: MARC McCORMACK





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