Stuff You Should Know - Python-a-palooza!

Episode Date: November 25, 2021

Pythons are big snakes. Really big. But there's more to them than their size. Learn all about these big daddies in today's episode.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would Lance Bass and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place because I'm here to help. And a different hot sexy teen crush boy bander each week to guide you through life. Tell everybody, yeah, everybody about my new podcast and make sure to listen so we'll never, ever have to say bye, bye, bye. Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Munga Chauticular and it turns out astrology is way more widespread than any of us want to

believe. You can find in Major League Baseball, International Banks, K-pop groups, even the White House. But just when I thought I had a handle on this subject, something completely unbelievable happened to me and my whole view on astrology changed. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, give me a few minutes because I think your ideas are about to change too. Listen to Skyline Drive on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh. There's Chuck and this is Stuff You Should Know about pythons. Take it, Chuck. You mean take my two pythons to the vet because I have two sick pythons?

Do you have two sick pythons? You never heard that joke? No. About muscles? No, let's hear it. Well, I mean, that's just kind of it. It's just a noxious way to say you have big biceps. Say like I need a vet because I've got two sick pythons. Oh, no, I've never heard anything like that. I don't think that joke even made it into the hangover. It's like two tickets to the gun show. Yeah, I've heard that one. You haven't heard two sick pythons? No. No, that's terrible. I think it was in the hangover too. Oh, I never saw that one. It was not good. Was the first one good? Yeah, it was. In fact, I just watched some of that recently on a plane flight because I just needed some comfort food. And that movie was really, really funny. No. Yeah. Did you see it? Yeah. Oh,

dude, Zach Galifianakis was great. Ed Helms was great. Ken Burns. What's his name? Huh? Ken Burns was awesome. No. The main guy? Ken, the guy who's the doctor in real life, the Asian actor. Oh, Ken Jung. Yeah. Jung. He was hysterical. Yeah, he's funny. Okay. Am I Tyson? So funny. Tyson was funny in that. You know, actually, he wasn't that good in it? No, never mind. I'm not going to talk about that. Okay. Correction, wrong. I'll let everyone guess who I didn't think was good, out of all the remaining characters. Oh, man, you're so hard on that guy. Why? You don't even know what I'm talking about. I do too. Of course, I know who you're talking about. Should we talk about pythons? I think we should. And we're not talking about the muscles as the joke everybody

knows goes. No, instead, we're talking about snakes, real-life snakes that will mess you up. Yeah. I'm not so scared of pythons. No. Largely because I'm never around them, but there's something my snake fear, and I don't have that much of a snake fear, but my snake fear is around having fangs of a snake enter my body. But pythons are, you know, they have been known to kill people every once in a while. But from what I read, get this, Chuck, every single person that's ever been killed in the United States by a python, and take that with a grain of salt because they're not native to the United States, was it killed by their own by a captive python? Usually, it was their pet, and they messed up by not following the proper procedures for feeding it. Right.

Or they went to sleep with it wrapped around their neck because they thought it was comforting? Or sadly, they didn't keep their snake in an enclosure like you're supposed to, and the python got a hold of a kid in the house. Yeah. That is, I can't even like put my mind there. No, nightmare fuel. But we don't want to give pythons bad name because in a lot of cases, there are definitely plenty of them that are pretty docile, nice, friendly, and if a python does try to eat you, it's probably a case of mistaken identity to begin with. But also, there's differences that make pythons seem less threatening. They move just like one mile an hour. They're very slow. They're not venomous. That's another big one, right? Sure. If you're scared

of venom. Yeah, I think, you know, I'm scared of any venomous snake, like really scared of any venomous snake, not like a phobia or anything. I think that's just like a legitimate fear. That's right. They are found in Asia, Africa, and Australia. They are old world snakes. And there are 41 species of python. We're going to concentrate on just a few of these. But these are, you know, they, along with the anaconda, which maybe we should do like a shorty on anacondas at some point. But these are the big daddies that are just amazing. You can see a python that's 20 to 30 feet long. And to see a snake that big and that heavy is just, it looks like a hold over from ancient times. Yeah. There are very small pythons, too, though, it turns out. There's one

called the anthill python. It's only about two feet long and it's adult size. But for the most part, if you're talking about pythons, one of the ways to, I think this is probably one of the reasons why they do seem so impressive, too. Their bulk to length ratio is substantial, which means they're like pretty big around. Yeah. Even though they're really long, they're also really big around. So when you see a snake like that, like it definitely stands out in your mind. Yeah. And even among big ones, there's not the same, the same color pattern or anything there. They can really, really differ depending on where they are and what they need to camouflage themselves. Sometimes you see those really pretty pattern scales that

look almost like a copperhead in some ways. Sometimes they're solid, though. You've seen those big, gigantic, bright green ones or brown ones that are solid brown. Yeah. Yeah. Really good looking snakes. Yeah. That's the green tree python, right? That's right. One thing I found, Chuck, that I found is totally fascinating is a lot of python species eat warm-blooded prey, right? Yes. So they've developed what are called labial pits, which are these little heat-sensing organs in their face, around their mouth. And it allows them to sense, it's basically like the predator. Remember, they would switch to what looked like thermal imaging? Oh, yeah. That's what those labial pits pick up. But these snakes still also see visible light,

too. So they use their eyes, but that the labial pit information is transferred up their trigeminal nerve through their face and eventually hits like their optic, the optic center in their brain. So, and this is really tough to wrap your head around, but the thermal imaging from the labial pits and the visible information from their eyes is superimposed so that they see in a way that this one site put, it's impossible for us to imagine. Isn't that awesome? Unless you've seen the movie Predator. And that the labial pits are so sensitive, they can detect changes in temperature of as little as 0.001 degrees Celsius. That's amazing. I think so, too. Good luck if you're a rabbit.

I know. You don't stand a chance, sadly. No, none. Because if you do get a python around a rabbit, they will grab ahold of it with its triangular shaped head and they have these sharp backward curving teeth. If you ever looked at a, if you just look up pictures of python teeth, they have a lot of sharp fangs that are kind of pointing in the backwards direction. They don't because they're not venomous. They don't have those two giant big daddy venom injectors at the front, which those are the things that really scare me when it comes to snakes. So pythons don't have those, but they do. Some of them arboreal pythons have these prehensile tails that there are legends of pythons like leaping from trees

to kill people or kill prey. That is not true because that would hurt the snake to leap from a tree. But they said in the articles I read, they were like, well, they don't do that. So don't worry, but they can really hang from the tree and then come down and grab you. Right. They're famous for wearing a hat and swinging down in front of your face and going, hello. Yeah, basically. So there's some other things about pythons that stand out even among snakes. One of the things that they have that most snakes don't is two lungs, which is weird because it makes them primitive. Then that seems odd. We have two lungs. We think, well, it's evolving towards humanity. Of course, that's not primitive. That's the opposite. But apparently, all snakes,

or at least pythons, I should say, evolved from four-legged, two-lunged vertebrates of some sort in the great distant past. And they just haven't evolved into just a single lung like plenty of other snake families have. That's right. And because of that evolution, they also have remnants of that stuff. They have remnants of a pelvis and these little hind limbs, and they're called spurs located on the sides beside the cloaca. And they use those for a bunch of different things. But one of the things they do, and we'll talk a little bit more about mating, they'll kind of stroke the ladies with what's left over of their vestigial limbs. I like that. Does that creep you out? Yes, it does. I think it seems very sweet. So,

if you wanted to find a python in the wild, Chuck, where would you go? Well, I already said Asia, Africa, and Australia. But what parts of those continents? You would go to where it's warm and wet. You would go maybe to a rainforest. Maybe in the woodlands or grasslands or the swamps. They like to hide under rocks and things. They like to hide in little animal burrows. Like I said, they can hang from tree branches. This should scare everyone and we'll get a little bit more into how they've made their way to Florida and the United States. But when they are found in urban areas, they shelter in urban debris. So, you could pick up a spare tire or turn over a wheelbarrow and find a python under there. And if you're in the wrong

place at the wrong time, somewhere in Florida. Right. The inner cities are littered with overturned wheelbarrows. Well, you never know. So, remember I said that pythons move at about one mile an hour? There's a reason for this. That's really slow, just if you stop and think about it. The reason they are so slow is because they're using a form of movement called rectilinear progression, which is where they brace themselves on the ground with their ribs and then lift their body up a little bit in front and then push themselves forward and then just keep repeating this. It's just kind of like herky jerky moving forward in a herky jerky motion. Yeah. I was looking at python movement and it looked like a slither to me.

It didn't stand out as much as I thought it would is looking really different. I guess I should say. Well, that's how they fool you. Well, I guess so. I mean, they were definitely slow, but I think I expected a lot more of a straight line. Yeah. And they do go on a straight line as opposed to a really big S-shaped slither. Right. But there was still some slither to their dither. You know what I'm saying? Sure. I mean, they are snakes after all. Sure. They're also like frequently you can find them in water. Apparently pythons can stay submerged in water for up to a half an hour. And one of the ways that they hunt is by basically hanging out in water and waiting for something to come over to get a

little drink and then kapow. And they're able to do this because their skin tones really camouflage well with like muddy, mucky bottom. So it's really tough to see a python, especially a Burmese python. Yeah. There was a lot of alligator assimilator. It's interesting when I was studying this stuff. Oh, yeah. That hadn't stuck out to me, but absolutely. You're right. Including how to get away from them, which we'll get to. But maybe we should take a break and we'll come back and talk a little bit about their hunting and feeding in more detail right after this. Yay. Yay. Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. The hardest thing

can be knowing who to turn to when questions arise or times get tough or you're at the end of the road. Okay, I see what you're doing. Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would Lance Bass and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place because I'm here to help this. I promise you. Oh, God. Seriously, I swear. And you won't have to send an SOS because I'll be there for you. Oh, man. And so my husband, Michael, um, hey, that's me. Yeah, we know that Michael and a different hot sexy teen crush boy band are each week to guide you through life step by step. Oh, not another one. Kids, relationships, life in general can get messy. You may be thinking this is the story of my life. Just stop now. If so, tell everybody, everybody

about my new podcast and make sure to listen so we'll never ever have to say bye bye bye. Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Mangesh Atikular. And to be honest, I don't believe in astrology. But from the moment I was born, it's been a part of my life in India. It's like smoking. You might not smoke, but you're going to get secondhand astrology. And lately, I've been wondering if the universe has been trying to tell me to stop running and pay attention. Because maybe there is magic in the stars, if you're willing to look for it. So I rounded up some friends and we dove in and let me tell you, it got weird fast. Tantric curses, Major League Baseball teams, canceled marriages, K-pop. But

just when I thought I had a handle on this sweet and curious show about astrology, my whole world came crashing down. Situation doesn't look good. There is risk to father. And my whole view on astrology, it changed. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, I think your ideas are going to change too. Listen to Skyline Drive and the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. So, Chuck, we're talking about their hunting and feeding habits. And like I said, they sometimes hang out underwater waiting for something to come up. They might also just be hanging out on a tree branch. They might just be hanging out under some brush. But what they're doing every

time they're hanging out is performing the type of hunting they do, which is ambush. They just wait around for some prey to come and then kaboom. They get you. Alligators. Yeah, it is. It's like alligators. You're right, man. Please stop proving your point now. But that's what they do. They ambush hunt. They bite and then they constrict. Bite and constrict back into the left. That's right. If you're a little python, like the little guys that are two or three feet long, you're going to eat mice and rats and things like that. Lizards, maybe some birds might get in there if they're not paying attention. If they're bigger, you name it, man. Pigs, antelope, monkeys. I think they found a rock python that had a leopard in its stomach. A small leopard. Yeah,

but that's terrifying that the leopard doesn't win that battle. Well, so that's something that pythons are known for and we'll talk more about it in a second. But they are capable of eating things that are even bigger than they are, which doesn't make sense even for snakes. Like that's really crazy, some of the stuff that they've eaten. I saw a picture. It's a really sad, terrible picture of a python that tried to eat an alligator and it was too big and the python actually burst in half and the alligator was spilled out. But they are willing to eat really large things because their body actually changes to accommodate this huge load of food that they've just now taken on. Eyes got too big for his stomach. Exactly. Now the body's like, oh,

now I got to change and adjust because this guy doesn't know his own size. So you mentioned constriction. They are constrictors and we'll talk a little bit about what they have in common with boas a little bit later. But I think for many, many years they thought that, well, they thought a few things. Constriction at first they thought was like they were crushing their prey and like breaking their bones. That's not true. Then for a while they thought that they suffocated their prey and just like tightened up on the lungs so much that you can't breathe. That makes sense. All of this sort of makes sense. But in 2015, there was a scientific paper that came out that basically said, hey, with boa constrictors, we now know that what they do is they don't

suffocate you. What they do is they cut off your brain or your blood circulation, basically. So you don't get any blood to your brain and that's how you die. So it may be true for pythons as well because they are also constrictors, obviously. Yeah, it would make a lot of sense. And that actually makes even more sense than preventing you from breathing because you would lose consciousness much faster if they can cut off the blood supply to your brain, which is what you want to happen because when they capture you by biting your head, like you're eaten head first by a python, you would probably hope, no matter whether you're a person or a bunny, that you have lost consciousness by the time it starts to swallow you head first.

Yeah, I saw a video of someone feeding a dead bunny to this python on a porch. And it was, you know, it's just not fun to watch. Sure. I mean, super interesting, but again, it wasn't a live bunny, but when you see an animal consuming like unhinging that jaw and working this bunny's body into its mouth, it's amazing in a nature sense, but I didn't watch it all. Let's put it that way. Yeah. I don't blame you. So, Chuck, I think we should talk about studies of trying to figure out how pythons can eat things that are so much bigger than it, or just so enormous to begin with, not necessarily even bigger than the snake, but way bigger than anything you or I could eat proportionately, right? That's right.

And they figured out, thanks to genetic sequencing, they sequence the genome of the Burmese python and found out that it's actually their genes changed, the way that their genes express things like proteins or affect their metabolism. All this stuff actually changes when they eat, and it happens really fast, and the changes that it creates are really, really dramatic. Yeah. I mean, the fact that this was naturally selected over, I mean, they think that happened quickly as well, right? Yeah. Yeah. During its evolution, it started picking up these positive adaptations really fast. And the main thing they found out that it allows pythons to eat things that are as big as they are is their organs shrink when they're eating to make room in there,

like their liver and their kidneys and their intestines, and their heart even gets smaller while they're eating these things to create space. And after, like some of these things, I think the liver actually doubles in mass in the two days after they're done eating. Yeah. Their heart actually increases in size by about 40% in the two days after they eat, which is like that is very unusual, but it actually has to happen because the metabolism that's required to eat this huge thing, because we didn't, I don't know if we said, like they'll go like a week without eating. They'll eat once a week. So the rest of the time their metabolism is just going along doing whatever, then all of a sudden it's presented

with this huge piece of food that it needs to digest. So that's a huge increase in metabolic demand. And the heart actually increases 40% in size to accommodate that increase in metabolic demand. It's amazing. It really is. And they figured out that their genes just become super active and start producing way more proteins. And just doing all this stuff that under normal circumstances, when they're not digesting food, just doesn't, that it's just not how their genes behave. Yeah. And if you're wondering how they're breathing with a rabbit stuff down their throat, is they have a windpipe that opens at the front of the mouth so they can breathe while they're doing this stuff. Yeah. I saw it described as kind of popping up like a periscope.

Yeah. That is amazing. So what about reproduction? I know that you really like how they, court, do you want to talk some more about that? Yeah. When they make kind of depends on which species it is. It's not set in stone, but they do, those males use those spurs that were originally limbs to stroke the female. And once they impregnate them, the ladies, they lay eggs actually, which is another thing that's different than other boas even, is that they give birth to live young. But pythons give birth to little egg, well, I guess big eggs, because some of these things are a couple of feet long when they come out, when they hatch. I saw they're about the size of chicken eggs. Well, how could they be two feet long? I don't know. It's crazy. I don't know. I don't know.

I guess maybe they eat themselves while they're in the egg, like a Ouroboros. They do provide, most of the time, some parental care, and they make little nests, mama does, and keeps them warm, and like protected spaces under logs and stuff like that, in sort of burrowed areas, and they coil around them. If they tense temperature changing, whatever, the mother will sort of flex her muscles and sort of contract in place to heat up her own body to warm up the eggs. That's called shivering thermogenesis, and they're not feeding when this is going on. They're only leaving their nest if they want to really warm up, and they call that basking, just like we do. Yeah. And then the eggs hatch, and the mom says, see you, and that's that. And depending on the species, they will

reproduce fairly frequently. I think a female snake produces about 40 eggs every two years. They start breeding at about three to four years old. So they're a pretty successful family of snakes. They reproduce pretty frequently. And then I guess because the hatchlings are so big when they're born, they don't really need to be raised or nurtured or protected. They're just on their own from the moment they come out of the egg. Yeah, and they can live decades. Yeah. They can live a long, long time, which is why a lot of snake enthusiasts love them as pets. I think the San Diego Zoo says about 35 years, which is, that's a long time. Yeah, that's at the tippy top. So Chuck, I believe that we should speak at length about the Burmese python, because

this is, as far as pythons go, it's a very, very beautiful snake. It's actually highly prized for its skin, sad for the Burmese python. But it also has a really interesting story here in the United States. That's right. They have pale tans, sort of gray bodies, sometimes yellow-brown. They have these big sort of reddish splotches. And they're sort of almost like they were drawn around. They're outlined in different colors, white or yellow, usually, and they are really pretty. Yeah. And they are in Florida. Just like we were talking about the alligators, there's, I don't, I mean, I guess you would call it a python problem in one sense. Oh, yeah. It's not as much of a problem in that they're not really like coming out of the wild and attacking people, really.

Right. But they're making wreaking havoc on the local ecosystem there as far as mammals go. It's an ecological disaster, as a matter of fact. Like, if you're in the Everglades and you care about biodiversity, you have a real problem with the Burmese python, which have been really successful in setting up shop in the Everglades specifically. But they're an invasive species because they're not supposed to be there. There haven't been snakes this large, native to the Americas since long before humans were around. So they came in and they have no predators. They're themselves like an apex predator. And they've been eating everything they can get their hands on, basically. And the crazy thing about this is that they set up shop in the Everglades

because people started releasing them as pets. They were pets that got released and abandoned. And now they're a huge problem in Florida. Yeah. And not just like, oh, you know, there's been a 25, 30% decline in this rodent or this species. There was a study, and this was in 2012 even. The raccoon population dropped 99.3%. Possums almost extinct, 98.9%. Bobcat's 87.5%. And this is from 1997 to 2012. And essentially foxes and rabbits have all but disappeared in the Everglades. Yeah. So again, it's an ecological catastrophe because not only is it eating all of these important like animals, they're also competing with other larger stuff for food too. So they're having an effect on like the local alligators

and other like probably the whatever panthers are down there. So it's a huge problem that they're there. And as a result, they're finding that Florida is basically trying to figure out anything it can do to handle this stuff. And I read that there's this thing called the Python challenge, the annual Python challenge, where they basically say, hey, anybody and everybody who has a gun or a stick or a knife or whatever you want to use to kill a Python, we'll give $10,000 to the person who kills the most pythons this year during this Python challenge. That's the level that Florida's at right now. And it's having almost no effect because there's number one, so many of them, but also because it is so hard to see a Python, even when you're basically

standing on top of it. It's that good. A Burmese Python is that good at camouflaging itself in the Everglades. Well, yeah, that in the 20 eggs a year. Right. Well, that was another thing too, Chuck, is because the hatchlings are so big. Do you remember when we talked about alligators and how their numbers are kept in check because raccoons will eat their hatchlings? Well, these Burmese Pythons hatchlings are so big, there's nothing in the Everglades that is going to eat them. So they're incredibly successful at reproducing too. That's a really good point. I'm trying to imagine something 36 inches long coming out of a chicken egg. I know. Even if it was, I guess it would have to be the width of like a worm.

Yeah, maybe a little bit bigger. It would have to be thin, but again, Pythons are known for their bulkiness, right? So I don't know. I just saw, I read a, I believe it was a Smithsonian article that was kind of the, the journalist was embedded with people who, you know, hunt and track Burmese Pythons in the Everglades. Apparently, there's an all women tracking team called the Everglades Avengers. And like they, somebody who knows what they're talking about describes it as the size of a chicken egg. So that's where I got that from. So actually looking now, if I'm wrong, they were wrong. They look a little bigger, but not that much bigger. I guess they're just wrapped up. Yeah,

they must just be really thin and bulk up really fast. They go sproing when they come out of their egg. So you mentioned the Everglades. They're definitely all over the Everglades, but they're expanding their territory. They're also in big Cyprus National Preserve. They are in Collier Seminole State Forest. They have been found in Miami. They have been found in the Florida Keys, which is, means one of two things. Either someone brought them there and released them there, or they can tolerate salt water. They were Python swimming in the ocean. Yeah. Apparently that's been documented that they're, you know, they're good swimmers and they can apparently tolerate salt water. So it's entirely possible. They sway under the keys.

Could you imagine doing a little ocean swimming and seeing a frigging Python? Yeah. Because I mean, these things get big. Like in their native habitat in Southeast Asia, they get up to about 26 feet and 200 pounds. Apparently the ones in Florida usually are average about eight to 10 feet. So that's still a very significant bulky snake that you would see coming swimming at you while you're waiting in the water going, how are you? I think those are, I think the ones in Miami, those are African pythons though, right? Yes. Which apparently are almost indistinguishable from Burmese pythons to the average person. So suburban and urban areas of Miami have pythons. Yeah. They also have boa constrictors.

Apparently there's a big iguana problem down there as well, all from just jerks releasing their pets that they don't want any longer because they, there's, there's a really big problem with inscrubulous snake dealers, backyard breeders, people who actually have storefronts, even like corporate chain pet stores selling snakes. And being like, you have to kill a mouse to feed this thing. There's a lot of like, this, it's not just intuitive how to keep a snake happy and healthy. And so people get overwhelmed by snakes and they don't know what to do with them. So if you're in Florida around Miami, you just release it in your backyard and say, see you later. And the snake takes off and becomes a problem in the Everglades. With a tear rolling down its cheek. That's right.

Just go, go and don't look back. Right. And it turns around and you have to punch the snake in the face and go, go. Right. I never liked you to begin with. I think we need to take a second break still, right? Yeah, we do. All right. Let's do that. And we'll talk a little bit more about what you can do if you do see a python in the wild and all about pet pythons, the sweetest kind right after this. Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. The hardest thing can be knowing who to turn to when questions arise or times get tough or you're at the end of the road. Okay, I see what you're doing. Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would Lance Bass

and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place because I'm here to help this. I promise you. Oh, God. Seriously, I swear. And you won't have to send an SOS because I'll be there for you. Oh, man. And so my husband, Michael, um, hey, that's me. Yep. We know that Michael and a different hot sexy teen crush boy band are each week to guide you through life step by step. Not another one. Kids relationships life in general can get messy. You may be thinking this is the story of my life. Just stop now. If so, tell everybody, yeah, everybody about my new podcast and make sure to listen. So we'll never ever have to say bye, bye, bye. Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the iHeart radio app,

Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Mangesh Atikular. And to be honest, I don't believe in astrology. But from the moment I was born, it's been a part of my life. In India, it's like smoking. You might not smoke, but you're going to get secondhand astrology. And lately, I've been wondering if the universe has been trying to tell me to stop running and pay attention. Because maybe there is magic in the stars, if you're willing to look for it. So I rounded up some friends and we dove in and let me tell you, it got weird fast. Tantric curses, Major League Baseball teams, canceled marriages, K-pop. But just when I thought I had to handle on this sweet and curious show about astrology, my whole world came crashing down. The situation

doesn't look good. There is risk to father. And my whole view on astrology, it changed. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, I think your ideas are going to change too. Listen to Skyline Drive and the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, we've established that you are probably not in danger of being attacked by a python in the wild in the United States. As far as we know, that has not happened. I don't even think once, right? That's my understanding. All right, good. Let's just keep that going. Let's keep that record intact. If you do see a python in the wild, if you're living in Florida, they have apps now. They have hotlines. I've got one is the name of the program. There's a hotline

888-483-4681 or smartphone applications. I've got one. You can just get that app if you live in the area. And you just report that thing. If you don't have the app, just go to the National Park Ranger, say, hey, I saw a python over there. By that time, it's probably way too late. They're probably out of there. But you should definitely report it because it's a big, big issue. And it's not, you know, I guess it sounds a little awful that they're just saying go kill as many as you can for 10,000 bucks. But it is, like you said, it is wrecking the ecosystem down there. And that's not good for anyone. No. And the people, like it's still sad for the Burmese pythons. They're just doing their thing. They just happen to be very successful. It's the people

who released them that are really at fault and deserve everyone's scorn. Sure. But we should talk about the ball python. And this is sort of the go-to pet. If you want a constrictor and you don't want a boa, you can go with the old ball python. Yeah. They're a lot more docile. They're much smaller. They grow maybe to five or six feet. They don't move around much. They don't, they're not super active. So they are, if you're going to have a snake as a pet, a ball python is a good way to go for sure. Yeah. They've got little dark stripes a lot of times on their face. Yeah. Like through their eyes. It's very pretty. Yeah. Very pretty snake. They have these, again, those dark blotches that are outlined in a lighter color. Very attractive skins. And again,

it's very sad that their skins are being used for, you know, by poachers or whatever to sell. They, there are albino pythons as well, which has become such a favorite snake that they're actually breeding this into them. Yeah. They don't have albinism. They have amelitonism. Amelitonism. I think that proves that doesn't have quite the ring though. Amelitonism, whatever. But one of the, there's actually some types of ball pythons that they'll have like a yellow body and then their stripes are actually lacking in pigment. So it looks like yellow and white. There's ones that have black stripes, but they're lacking pigment in their body. So it's like this black and white. They're really gorgeous snakes for sure.

Yes. And like you said, they're docile. They're good. If you have never even had a snake before, it could be a good place to start. If you've never, if you didn't even know snakes existed, the ball python is a great place to start. It is. They're called ball pythons because if they get threatened, they curl up and roll up in a little ball. It's very cute. It's very sensible too. So if you are going to buy a snake, you probably do not want a wild caught ball python because when they're caught, they don't really want to leave their home in the wilderness and come to your home. So they're going to be stressed out. Snakes like all other captive animals who get bored and are not cared for can display zucosis and other terrible habits. So you would probably

want to get one from a breeder or a pet store or something like that. But again, you should consider you're taking something out of the wild even if it wasn't born in the wild and keeping it in a little 20 gallon aquarium in your house. So think that part through first. Yeah. And they don't, it's not mean to keep them in a smaller enclosure. They like tight spaces. So you don't need to get this huge thing for your ball python. No, that would be mean actually from what I understand. Yeah. I mean, they need a little bit of room, but they're not real active again and they like tight spaces. It has to be really secure because they are great at getting out of those cages and exploring your apartment. I think one of the reasons,

we talked about their lifespan, I think one of the reasons people release them sometimes is even though they know this, getting into it, it's hard to make a 30 year commitment to something. So if you're some 40 to 50 year old dude and you're like, get into snakes all of a sudden, you're not thinking about what's going to be going on when you're 80. You might pass away, your family may not know what to do with it and release it. So this is a long term commitment that you really, really need to think through. Right. If you're going to do this, let's say you're under the age of 50 and you're like, I'm into snakes now. There are some things you want to do. You want to keep your snake nice and warm. And in fact, you want to have basically dual climate

zones in your 20 gallon or 30 gallon aquarium, depending on the size of the snake. You want to keep it somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 to 80 degrees in the tank in general. And then you want to Fahrenheit. Fahrenheit. Thank you. Celsius I think would melt the snake. And then you want to keep a little area for basking even hotter. Remember you talked about how snakes like to bask. This is going to be more like 88 to 92 degrees Fahrenheit. So the snake can be like, I'm going to go warm up over here on my nice little rock. And if you do that and you keep track of your temperatures, you have to really make sure it stays like this. The snake will be much happier than otherwise. Yeah, but you want to screen those lights off. You don't want it actually touching

the bulb because that can burn their little skin. And there was one other thing that they really love is branches. They love to hang on tree branches. So if you could outfit your aquarium, it's got to be sturdy. Don't just put like some sort of lightweight limb from your yard. But if you can affix like a really sturdy limb in your Python cage, they're going to be pretty happy with you as an owner. And also probably give them a place to hide too. They want to have a place to hide so that they can feel safe and secure. And then they also like to soak too. Apparently also when they're molting or shedding their skin, they like to soak. So you want a little tub, but they want to feel secure when they're in their little tub of water too. So you probably want to have like a

lidded plastic container that you've cut a hole out in the top and smooth the edges out. Be sure to do that so that the snake can go inside its little tub and soak, but also feel enclosed in there too. Right. And finally, part of being the owner of a constrictor is you got to feed these things. And when you have them in your house and they're domesticated, there's not snake food that you shake out like a fish. Right. You have this big can and just a bunch of dead mice shake out. Yeah. Well, that's what you got to do, man. You got to feed them. They need to be fed every week or maybe every two weeks kind of depending on their appetite. If they're young, you got to start out with little tiny mice about every five to seven days. And then as they get bigger, their diet's

going to grow. So if you end up with a six foot python, you're going to have to feed it something that will fill it up. And judging by this person feeding it this dead rabbit, it's not a fun task. I'm sure they don't mind. They're up for that, but I'm not. Sure. One of the other things too, like this is all if you have a ball python, which is manageable and is not going to be able to harm you even if it tried. But if you say have a Burmese python, there's entire steps that you have to follow through that you wouldn't with other kinds of smaller pythons. Like for example, when you're feeding it, you never ever want to dangle its food in front of your face, in front of its face with your hands, because it might bite your hand and start to get a hold of you.

Apparently when it's feeding time and they've sensed food, all of those genes start going crazy and they get a little bit of like food fever and they're not behaving in a way that you might expect them to, right? So you never want to dangle it with your bare hands or your hands. You want to use like forceps or something like that. And then also, if you have a Burmese python, you never feed it by yourself. You always have to have at least one other adult around with you, just in case something bad does happen. It does happen from time to time. There was a guy in the Bronx in 1996 who was found dead in his apartment and his 45 pound 11 foot Burmese python was wrapped around him still. And he apparently had gone to feed it outside of its cage, a chicken

that he had used his hand to dangle in front of it and it just went bad. But that is extremely rare. But the point is it can happen. So you have to be extra safe and smart when you're feeding a Burmese python. Yeah, it happens quick. Like when this rabbit was dangled, there's such a chill sort of species, the way they move around. And you know, we've all been to the nature center and some people have held them and petted them. They look very relaxed. But when that rabbit was dangled, when it popped at it and wrapped around it, it happened very, very fast. Yeah. And they will bite you too. Even though it's not like a venomous bite, it still hurts like their teeth can break off into your hand or your arm or wherever. So it's not a pleasant sensation from what I understand,

even though it's not going to kill you. That's right. And then finally, finally, as far as endangerment goes, there are 13 species on the International Union of Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species. And I think the Ramses python is endangered, the Burmese and the Myanmar are vulnerable. So is the Indian python too, apparently. But plentiful in Florida, it sounds like. Yeah, I was surprised that the Burmese python's still on that list for as good as it's doing in Florida, but maybe they're just thinking of the natural range of it. That's right. And the biggest threat to pythons, you guessed it, us. Sharks. Yes, us. Not sharks. You got anything else? I don't have anything else. Well, thanks for putting this

one together. Shout out to definitely Live Science for that one article about the guy who found out how you could sequence the genes of pythons and just be amazed at what you find. Yeah, thanks to Live Science and there were a bunch of different snake specialty websites that we dug into for this. Sweet. And if you want to know more about pythons and just start reading about pythons and think really long and hard before you actually get one as a pet. But if you do, take good care of it and tell it that we said hi. And since I said that, it's time for Listener Mail. I'm going to call this Salem Witch Family Trial Family Connection. Hey, guys. I've been listening to the show for a few years, thoroughly enjoyed them.

I recently listened to Salem Witchcraft Trials and something for the instruct me. You mentioned that Salem was in Essex County. My mother's family settled in Essex in the mid-17th century, so I did a little research and found out that there was an Elizabeth Morse in Newbury who was convicted of witchcraft in 1680. She was originally sentenced to death, but that was changed to home confinement after a second trial. And it turns out she is my seventh great-grandmother. Wow. Pretty cool. That was a bit of fun family history to share with the friends and family this Halloween season. And that is from George Oakes. That is a great email, George Oakes. We actually heard from a lot of people who were related to

people who were executed at the Salem Witchcraft Trials. Did you notice? Right. I think we heard it from McCory and a bunch of other people. So shout out to all you guys carrying the family line on for those old witches. But none of those matters. No. No, they don't tell people. Well, if you want to get in touch with us, you can... Who was that that wrote in? George? George Oakes. If you want to get in touch with us like George did, you can send us an email like George did to stuffpodcast.iheartradio.com. Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts on my heart radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Yeah, everybody about my new podcast and make sure to listen. So we'll never ever have to say bye, bye, bye. Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Munga Chauticular, and it turns out astrology is way more widespread than any of us want to believe. You can find in major league baseball, international banks, K-pop groups, even the White House. But just when I thought I had a handle on this subject, something completely unbelievable happened to me and my whole view on astrology changed. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, give me a few minutes because I think your ideas are about to change too. Listen to Skyline Drive on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.