KUALA LUMPUR: A reticulated python on display at the Cave of Reptiles at Batu Caves has laid more than 160 eggs over the past two days.
This is believed to be the first time such a large number of eggs has been laid by a python in captivity, said Arun Raveendran, who owns the snake.
The 25-year-old snake weighs about 115kg and measures 7.6m.
"Normally reticulated pythons lay 30 to 40 eggs with a maximum of up to 100 eggs," he said yesterday.
"We incubate the eggs. They are kept at a constant room temperature of about 30o Celcius.
"We have 100 per cent success in hatching them."
The reticulated python is non-venomous but it is an aggressive constrictor and feeds monthly on a live goat weighing 20kg to 40kg or large turkeys.
It is the longest snake in the world. The largest one ever caught in the wild was found in Sulawesi in 1912. It measured 10.05m .
The blood python, the other python species found in Malaysia, is short and fat and grows to a maximum of 2m.
Both are protected species. They are in danger of extinction because they are hunted for their meat and skins, said Arun, who kept a pet tortoise when he was 3 years old but has since turned to researching and conserving reptiles.
His pet monitor lizard of seven years is also on display at the Cave of Reptiles together with a menagerie of Malaysian king cobras, spitting cobras, water snakes, frogs and other amphibians.
Arun also breeds cobras and other reptiles and releases them into the jungle for nature conservation.
News and picture by: NST Online..
The 25-year-old snake weighs about 115kg and measures 7.6m.
"Normally reticulated pythons lay 30 to 40 eggs with a maximum of up to 100 eggs," he said yesterday.
"We incubate the eggs. They are kept at a constant room temperature of about 30o Celcius.
The reticulated python is non-venomous but it is an aggressive constrictor and feeds monthly on a live goat weighing 20kg to 40kg or large turkeys.
It is the longest snake in the world. The largest one ever caught in the wild was found in Sulawesi in 1912. It measured 10.05m .
The blood python, the other python species found in Malaysia, is short and fat and grows to a maximum of 2m.
Both are protected species. They are in danger of extinction because they are hunted for their meat and skins, said Arun, who kept a pet tortoise when he was 3 years old but has since turned to researching and conserving reptiles.
His pet monitor lizard of seven years is also on display at the Cave of Reptiles together with a menagerie of Malaysian king cobras, spitting cobras, water snakes, frogs and other amphibians.
Arun also breeds cobras and other reptiles and releases them into the jungle for nature conservation.
News and picture by: NST Online..
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