The Official Houston Zoo Blog

Green Tree Pythons (Morelia viridis) are native to New Guinea and northern Australia.  They are found in many zoo collections due to their vibrant green and yellow colors and their tropical arboreal habitat.  

The Houston Zoo has had Green tree pythons in the collection since the late 1960′s and just recently hatched a new clutch of this species. The father has been at the Houston Zoo since January, 1986, and has fathered other offspring in the past, while the mother has been with us since October, 2008, when she was evacuated from Moody Gardens after Hurricane Ike.
 

Of the 19 eggs laid, 18 hatched after a 54 day incubation period, resulting in 10 red offspring and 8 yellow offspring. 

Their average weight was only 8 ½ grams, which is less than a third of an ounce.

What many visitors may not be aware of are the amazing colors that newly hatched animals exhibit – either bright yellow or brick red! These colors help them hide in their preferred habitat, which is in low lying tree branches along the forest edge.

When they grow to about 22 inches long their color changes to bright green – sometimes this color change can occur in only 8 days! The red and yellow colors are not related to sex or any other trait. Red hatchlings have been found on only a few islands including New Guinea. These pythons are nocturnal so in the zoo we often have to enjoy seeing them on display sound asleep and coiled on tree branches.

Green tree pythons live in any type of tropical forest including both rain forest and secondary growth forest. Adults are found high up in trees, sometimes over eighty feet above the ground. Hatchlings live near the ground and feed on lizards and invertebrates. 

As these pythons grow, their diet changes to one comprising small mammals and birds.  As this occurs they move higher and higher into the trees.  Adults average around 4.5 feet in length.  The young normally hatch sometime during November to mid December.  This is just in time for the wet season, which helps to ensure plenty of food for the young pythons. 

Be sure to come on in to see these sometime soon.

Written by Beth Moorhead, Senior Zoo Keeper

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