Yes, rainbow pythons do exist.
An insanely beautiful reticulated python at California’s Reptile Zoo went viral on social media recently, with reptile enthusiasts going crazy over the snake’s iridescent “rainbow” scales.
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The python, named MyLove, was shown on a video on the Zoo’s Instagram page. The Reptile Zoo’s founder Jay Brewer told Fox that the female was bred at the zoo, and has both the motley gene and the golden child gene. This combination makes her scales extremely bright and colorful, especially in the sunlight.
“She’s a super, super sweet snake,” Brewer says. “Her disposition is one of the best I’ve seen.”
Reticulated pythons are the largest snakes in the world, growing to 28 feet in length and weighing up to 350 pounds. The reptiles are nonvenomous constrictors that ambush prey that wander within striking range, coiling around their victims and strangling them to death. In the wild, their diet consists mainly of mammals and, occasionally, birds.
Native to south and southeast Asia, these pythons have become extremely popular in the pet trade due to their eye-catching appearance. While many reptile lovers maintain that the snakes can make good pets with proper handling, experts caution against it unless the owner has extensive experience with snakes. The sizable animals can sometimes be unpredictable and aggressive, and have been known to suffocate — and eat — unsuspecting humans.
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