Pythons Hatched
With the babies not out on display, the public can see pictures of the nest at the Centre's new Facebook page. The babies weigh just 21-23g. Currently brown in colour, after their first slough (shed) they will turn bright orange/red before maturing to a mottled black, brown. Males are smaller than females but they only get to 6ft max in length.
Councillor Martin Mullaney, Cabinet Member for Sport, Leisure and Culture, said: "The Nature Centre has a wide variety of species. Many are available for the public to see, but others are housed there for the purposes of conservation and breeding projects across world. Not only is it a great day out for families, but with Facebook, we can now give people an opportunity to see species not necessarily accessible."
The python's habitat is a tiny island in Indonesia. They were only discovered in 1993 and the find has prompted the need to explore Indonesia for more undiscovered species.
The babies will be fed and looked after until they are old enough to go to other zoos in the United Kingdom and Europe to carry on the breeding program and introduce new genetic bloodlines in to the collections.
With Strangles Awareness Week just around the corner (5-11 May), vets are being encouraged to share a survey about the disease with their horse-owning clients.
