Rainbow Python

Rainbow Python is a type of animal in the Pythonidae family. It has a total length of about 1-1.5 meters, with the longest reaching over 2 meters. When exposed to sunlight, it can emit rainbow light. Its scales are relatively smooth, and the head can be clearly distinguished due to its slender neck. The heat pits located on the lip scales are also well-developed. It feeds on mammals, birds, or lizards. Rainbow Pythons are a widely distributed medium to large-sized snake species in South America. Due to their slender body shape, they are not as thick as typical pythons.

The scales of the Brazilian Rainbow Python emit beautiful halo light, making their bodies dazzling, which is also the origin of their name. They have a row of irregular black circles on their backs, and black "eye-shaped markings" along the sides of their bodies. This python has a body length of about 2 meters and is mainly found in the tropical forests of northern South America.

Rainbow Python is a widely distributed medium to large-sized snake in South America. Due to their slender body shape, they are not as thick as typical pythons. Because their scales are covered with tiny tubercles that reflect rainbow colors like a prism, they are called Rainbow Python. There are about ten subspecies, mainly distinguished by the countries they inhabit. However, some subspecies must be identified by counting the number of scales. There are three common types of Rainbow Pythons in the pet market: the most common and largest in size is the Brazilian Rainbow Python, followed by the Colombian Rainbow Python (E.c.maurus), and finally the relatively rare Argentine Rainbow Python (E.c.alvarezi). Occasionally, others such as the Peruvian Rainbow Python (E.c.gaigei) or the Marahou Rainbow Python (E.c.barbouri) can be found, but the other subspecies have never appeared. Most of the Brazilian Rainbow Pythons on the market come from individuals in Guyana or Suriname and their captive-bred offspring.

1. Acute pneumonia

It is one of the common diseases of snakes. The symptoms are difficulty breathing, mouth open, unwillingness to eat, long stay outside the nest, and sudden onset, which can cause a large number of deaths when severe. It often occurs during the period when female snakes lay eggs or give birth, because they are weak at this time, do not drink water, and the hot and humid weather makes snakes prone to illness. The preventive measures are to supplement sufficient clean water to female snakes during the period of egg laying (birthing), maintain good ventilation, and reduce the surrounding temperature.

2. Mold spot disease

Common in snakes in captivity, especially pit vipers and five-step snakes. This disease often occurs in poor living conditions, small activity ranges, and humid environments. The main preventive measures are to keep the snake's habitat dry and allow the snake to have a certain range of activities. Regularly clean and moisten with lime or wrap the lime in paper and put it on one side of the snake's nest, and replace it regularly.

Treatment: Apply 2% iodine tincture to the snake once or twice a day. Or soak it in a solution of potassium permanganate, it can be cured after one week. Mold spot disease should be detected and treated early, and the treatment effect is not good in the late stage.

3. Parasites

There are many types of parasites that infect snakes, such as whipworms, roundworms, tapeworms, and ascarids. Ticks and mites parasitize on the snake's skin.

Treatment: Oral administration of veterinary dichlorvos solution, giving the medicine according to the weight of the snake for 5 consecutive days, can kill or expel various parasites in the body. In addition, anthelmintics, levamisole, and dichlorophenol can also be used. For ticks and mites parasitizing on the skin, put the snake in a nylon bag and soak it in the veterinary dichlorvos solution for 10 minutes, then wash the skin with water after the ticks and mites die and fall off.

4. Snake oral inflammation

It is almost the most common disease in snakes. Oral inflammation is prone to occur in venomous snakes because taking venom is easy to cause oral injury. Improper repeated venom extraction methods and careless operations can easily cause oral inflammation. In the hibernation period, some bacteria are prone to invade the cheek, which may also cause oral inflammation. During the feeding season, large prey can also cause oral injury and induce oral inflammation. If it is artificial feeding, the incidence of oral inflammation is higher. The main symptoms are swelling of the upper and lower jaws, inability to open or close the mouth, affecting feeding, sometimes the gums and forehead become red (normally pale), and severe cases have pus overflowing from some tooth sockets. Eventually, due to the spread of inflammation, failure to drink water, and exhaustion, the snake dies.

Rainbow pythons are very sensitive to dehydration and need special attention to humidity and temperature control. Generally, a humidity of 70-80% is more suitable, and a humidity below 50% can easily lead to vomiting and fatal dehydration. The temperature should be kept between 21-29 degrees Celsius, and it is best not to exceed 30 degrees. Brazilian rainbow pythons are not tolerant to high temperatures, and overheating can also cause refusal to eat and death. Therefore, a water basin that they can soak in and drink from should be set up in the terrarium, and it is also best to spray water several times a day to maintain humidity. Since rainbow pythons are nocturnal snakes, they do not need ultraviolet light sources. Their main food source is mice. Juveniles are fed once a week, while adults are fed once every two weeks. Rainbow pythons tend to be arboreal, so the terrarium should prioritize height and have plenty of branches for them to climb on. The substrate is preferably wood shavings, sphagnum moss, or shredded bark that can maintain humidity. However, newspaper or tissue paper is also commonly used as substrate.