Card #056 · Reptiles
Reticulated python
Malayopython reticulatus
Common LC · Least Concern
Field notes
- Classification
- Order Squamata · Family Pythonidae
- Range
- Forest and rivers, Nicobar Islands to the Philippines
- Size
- Typically 1.5–6.5 m (5–21 ft)
- Weight
- 1–75 kg (2–165 lb)
- Lifespan
- ~20 yrs (wild)
- Diet
- Rodents, civets, wild boar
Most Notable
The famous record shrank the moment somebody measured it. Colossus, a zoo snake reported at 8.7 m in 1956, left a skeleton 6.35 m long and a hide of 7.29 m when it died.
The longest wild snake ever formally measured was found in Sulawesi in late 2025 and confirmed at 7.22 m in January. Almost none of them are anywhere near that. Over a thousand wild pythons measured in southern Sumatra ran from 1.5 to 6.5 m, and most weighed under 15 kg.
You will see 10 m quoted as the largest ever recorded. It is not a formal measurement and never was. The longest living specimen measured in a straight line, under anaesthesia, was 6.95 m in East Kalimantan.
It has no venom at all. A python kills by constriction, tightening on each exhalation until circulation stops, and the strike that starts it is about grip rather than injury.
Least Concern is not the same as untouched. It is among the most commercially exploited reptiles on earth, taken in enormous numbers for skins, meat and the pet trade, and it holds its status because it breeds fast and lives comfortably alongside people.
The genus changed. It was Python reticulatus for well over a century and is now Malayopython, so older books, museum labels and photo captions all still carry the previous name.
Range: Forest and rivers, Nicobar Islands to the Philippines.