Just curious...

[kayleegrace]

Okay so I have three pythons. And I have seen many pythons in pictures also. And I have noticed that they all have something in common... Small nostril looking holes above their mouth. What are they?

Thanks for the help! I am just quite curious...

[Feebo]

Those are the heat pits. They almost look like jet fighter vents don`t they! :) Very impressive bits of kit those heat pits. It enables them to see the heat signiture of warm mammals, like seeing in infra red. It means they are able to hunt in complete darkness and probably over much greater distances than with thier fairly poor eyesight.... :)

[infernalis]

Yes, I like the way feebo worded that.

Those heat pits are amazing.

That's why I always advise people to warm up the thawed out prey item, Fussy eaters demand a heat signature from the food item or they will not eat.

Cold mice and rats are almost always a "dud" when feeding pythons.

[shaunyboy]

my favorites are the heat pits on green tree pythons.they look almost robotic imo and totally awsome ...!!


its only carpets i keep and they all strike feed.i do exactley what waynes saying.i heat all my food items up with a brand new hair dryer that i bought just for that purpose.i felt one that had been used to dry human hair may taint the prey item with human scents (just my way of thinking ).


cheers shaun

[kayleegrace]

thats amazing!!! i cant believe i never knew that haha... wow. god made some truly amazing creatures!!! and why don't other snakes have them. or am i just not noticing?

[Feebo]

Well I don`t mean to disrespect the whole god thing but certain species evolved slightly different ways of doing things based on thier surroundings. For example, a snake that spends most of it`s time clinging onto a little bit of root sixty feet up inside a cave spends most of it`s hunting life in the dark where there are different evolutional choices, huge eyes with huge retinas, feelers, night vision, the later being what ended up evolving. I find it just incredible! To have eye sight AND heat sensing organs, how cool is that?! Even the best night vision doesn`t stand up to infra red type vision. Bats in a cave would be bright coloured heat signitures against a dark background, basically lighting them up like christmas trees lol Other snakes meanwhile have spent more of thier evolutionary lives as a slightly different type of ambush predator, relying on vibration, scent and fairly poor eye sight. But even without the thermal vision, it`s still a really impressive way of tracking thier prey. The forked tongue flicks up and down, waving through the air. As it moves up and down, up and down it picks up teeeny tiny particles from whatever happens to be floating about in the air. The snake then rubs the fork on the roof of it`s mouth, on an organ called the Jacobsons organ. The right fork transmiting information from the right side and left fork information about the left side. Which ever direction the particles increase in, well that`s where dinner is! The snake can build up a three dimensional picture of it`s preys movements and take it`s time following the trail. The little mouse or rat leaves plenty of scent behind as it goes too, urinating everywhere it goes and generally smelling like dinner. All of my snakes know they`re getting fed as soon as I get the food out of the fridge DOWNSTAIRS! lol There only has to be the tinyest amount of particles of any given food source on the air for a snake to pick it up. Snakes have evolved different methods of attack, different killing methods and different ways of getting around, all evolved out of necessity. Some snakes even use the tips of thier tails as lures, wiggling it about like a worm. A lizard or something will come along, think it`s found dinner and then it curtains. lol In short, nature is awesome.....

[kayleegrace]

who do you think made them...silly. anyways. its a beautiful creature. and i love learning more and more about them