(Python sebae)
By Jonathan Piazza
Rock Python, Rock Python
You make a bad pet.
You’re brought into homes and then get way too big.
Rock Python, Rock Python
You eat like crazy!
You need a lot of food but your owner gets real lazy.
Rock Python, Rock Python
Although I haven’t seen you to date,
You come from Botswana but are in the United States.
Rock Python, Rock Python
As an adult, your youthful vibrance fades.
You hatch from your egg and now slither into the ‘glades.
Rock Python, Rock Python
Why are you so mean?
You’re wrecking an ecosystem that was once pure and clean.
Rock Python, Rock Python
Your presence makes many scared and mad,
But the destruction you’ve caused to Florida’s wildlife makes ecologists pretty sad.
Interesting Facts:
-Grow up to 3-4 meters in Botswana; sometimes bigger in other places
-Eat wide variety of prey including antelope, birds, crocodiles, wild dogs, etc.
-Constrictors; no venom or fangs, but they do have many teeth
-In the wild, takes 8-10 years to reach sexual maturity
-Lay on average 30-50 eggs per clutch (depending on size of specimen)
-Brood clutch by basking and then coiling around un-hatched eggs
-After hatched, mother normally sticks around until 1st shed (10-12 days)
-Common in exotic pet trade
-Causing many problems in Florida’s Everglades
(Photo from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Python_natalensis_Smith_1840.jpg)