Main Characteristics

Green Tree Pythons are very similar to the emerald tree boa. They are bright green in colour with a broken vertebral stripe of white or dull yellow. They may have spots of blue, white or yellow scattered over their body and they reach lengths between 1.6 and 2.2 m (5.2 - 7.2 ft).

They have a slender shape and a prehensile tail which enables them to move around between the branches of trees. They spend much of their time coiled over branches with their head resting in the middle of the coils.

Their head is large and is much wider than their body. The supralabial scales are the scales around their mouth and these have thermoreceptive pits.

Habitat

Green Tree Pythons are found in the rainforests, bushes and shrubs of New Guinea, its surrounding islands and the very north of Australia. They are solitary and they spend their life among the branches of trees, only descending to the ground to move between them.

Diet

Green Tree Pythons are non-venomous carnivores that feed on small mammals and occasionally reptiles.

Breeding

20 - 24 days after mating, female Green Tree Pythons lay 6 - 30 eggs in a tree hole or among epiphytic plants. Females incubate and protect the eggs and after 45 - 52 days the eggs hatch. When they hatch the young snakes are immediately independent.

Hatchlings are usually yellow in colour but occasionally they can be orange or red. As they mature they turn green which usually occurs between 6 and 8 months old. They reach sexual maturity at 2 years of age and they have a breeding interval of 1 year.

Predators

Young Green Tree Pythons are hunted by birds of prey.

Interesting Facts

Green Tree Pythons can live up to 35 years old (in captivity).

Green Tree Pythons are popular with reptile collectors and are kept as pets.

Similar Animals

Carpet Python
Rough-Scaled Python
Amethystine Python
Boelen's Python