Woma python

Scientific Name: Aspidites ramsayi

The woma python has ‘wow!’ factor with its distinctive banded patterning of alternating light and dark browns. The browns range in colour from yellowish, reddish to olive-brown and grey. Sometimes the banding can be faint, and other times mottled. The underbelly is creamy yellow. It has a very narrow pointed tail, which it uses as a lure, wiggling it to attract prey while the rest of its body remains motionless, waiting to pounce. Once prey has been caught, it either coils its strong body around it to kill it by constriction, or squashes the prey against the walls of its burrow.

Habitat:

Woma pythons are found in the arid regions of central Australia and in the south-west of Western Australia, near Shark Bay. By day, they shelter in hollow logs and burrows. Sometimes they will enlarge their burrows by using their heads as shovels to dig them out. Areas with sandy soils are favoured due to the ease with which burrows can be made.

Diet:

Mainly small reptiles, but also small mammals and birds. The snake searches for prey at night.

Reproduction:

A clutch of 5-19 eggs is laid in September to October. The female incubates them in the burrow for about two months before they hatch.