# Rough scalled python teeth !!



## MoOrelia (Sep 20, 2010)

Hi guyz, some questions about this gorgeous and maybe rarest morelia ever. 

Does someone have pictures of the inside mouth ?? apparently some people describe this snake as the biggest tooth for a non venomous snake !! 

Usually everybody think about GTP or corallus caninus, but apparently the tooth of morelia carinata are huge too. 

Secondly i read several time a describe on this snake : "keeled scale" what does it mean ??? is it like "a flat scale" ???

Thanks for your time


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## deebo (Sep 20, 2010)

Not a very good pic of its teeth but afetr seeing one defensive with mouth wide open you soon realise to stay away from the pointy end!

The scales have a peak running the lenght of the scale (like a keel on a boat) and makes the snake feel rough.

There are some good pics getting around of their teeth....

Cheers,
Dave


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## cement (Sep 20, 2010)

Yes the RSP has the longest teeth.
Keeled scales mean the scale has a ridge running the length of the scale which gives it the ability to really dig in to the rock country that it lives in making it almost impossible to get out.
No photos of teeth mine are all placid. But a food bite is penetrating!


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## Bax155 (Sep 20, 2010)

Check out this previous thread which has some nice shots of roughie teeth, post #18 probably are the best!
http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/australian-snakes-37/show-us-roughies-142353/page/2


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## MoOrelia (Sep 21, 2010)

ok thanks, so for sure they have good teeth but GTP are usually a bit bigger again, and a big corallus caninus ("emerald tree boa" in english ?) are bigger again...

But still, i would avoid a bite from them. unfortunetly from what i know nobody have them outside of australia, at least not in franc (certainly europe).


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## D3pro (Sep 21, 2010)

MoOrelia said:


> apparently some people describe this snake as the biggest tooth for a non venomous snake !!



Bigger then an emerald boa? or a retic? or a rock python?


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## shaye (Sep 21, 2010)

Thanx bax lol I was gonna say the same thing j haven't seen a pic like the one I posted of my little guys teeth 
Henry cook took then photographs too 
Cheers shaye


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## Pythoninfinite (Sep 21, 2010)

The skin & scales of RSPs are certainly rough & keeled, but to suggest that this is a mechanism to 'lock them in' to rock crevices is drawing a long bow. They are nothing like the skin & scales of Egernia stokesii, or the tail of Varanus acanthurus, which are designed to do just that. The skin of Morelia carinata is as soft and flexible as any python, despite being textured, and would offer little resistance to a predator seeking to remove it from confinement.

No one knows why the scales of this snake are keeled.

Jamie


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## Waterrat (Sep 21, 2010)

D3pro said:


> Bigger then an emerald boa? or a retic? or a rock python?


 
I think he meant relative to body size.


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## D3pro (Sep 21, 2010)

Waterrat said:


> I think he meant relative to body size.


 
ahhh... fair enough lol...

Emerald's teeth


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## bulionz (Sep 21, 2010)

wow that green snake looks awesome


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## MoOrelia (Sep 21, 2010)

Take a 1meter retic python and the same for a rough scalled python you will see, morelia winner !!!!
I played with a 3m retic python in thailand...they just have big mouth with plenty of teeth but not that long... 

So i heard that the "keeled scale" is a scale on the head who help the snake for digging ... Is that right ???? a morelia who would dig.....what a joke....


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## Joelspythons (Feb 9, 2011)

Does anyone no where I could get a rough scaled python in brisbane I had looked everywhere if anyone knows where some are can u pm me please


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## Waterrat (Feb 9, 2011)

All highly arboreal pythons and boas evolved extra long teeth because they need to secure their prey when hunting in the canopy. If they drop their dinner, they go hungry.


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## swampie (Feb 9, 2011)

Here's a pic of my male eating an adult quail, if you look closely at his bottom jaw you can see his rather large teeth .


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## REPTILIAN-KMAN (Feb 9, 2011)

some top photos


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## Waterrat (Feb 9, 2011)

For those interested, I published an article in S&T on this subject - why they have such long teeth.
These are skulls of a GTP and Emerald boa.


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## -Matt- (Feb 9, 2011)

The teeth on my male.


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## saximus (Feb 9, 2011)

Wow they're huge. Has anyone been tagged by one? Lots of blood? 
Waterrat is the long teeth something to do with the way they hunt from trees and need to pull the prey up to them to constrict it?
By the way why are RSPs class 2 (in NSW at least)? Do they have any special requirements?


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## Airlie (Feb 9, 2011)

Pythoninfinite said:


> The skin & scales of RSPs are certainly rough & keeled, but to suggest that this is a mechanism to 'lock them in' to rock crevices is drawing a long bow. They are nothing like the skin & scales of Egernia stokesii, or the tail of Varanus acanthurus, which are designed to do just that. The skin of Morelia carinata is as soft and flexible as any python, despite being textured, and would offer little resistance to a predator seeking to remove it from confinement.
> 
> No one knows why the scales of this snake are keeled.
> 
> Jamie


I disagree. A captive breed roughie would offer little resistance but a wild speciemen would be a different story. They do not have soft flexible skin like power feed captives and would have the survival instints to resist a predator.


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## moosenoose (Feb 9, 2011)

No doubt it's because they mainly eat birds and need the extended length to hold a prey item covered in feathers? I'm always amazed at the length of their teeth. Similiar in size I imagine to a GTP?


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## Airlie (Feb 9, 2011)

Gripping onto small branches with the prehensile tail while constricting flying fox.


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## ezekiel86 (Feb 9, 2011)

great shot in the keeping and breeding aussie pythons ( mike swan ) 
R.S.P tooth on the back of a coin ..thinking it might be next to a normal size python tooth aswel


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## Waterrat (Feb 9, 2011)

moosenoose said:


> No doubt it's because they mainly eat birds and need the extended length to hold a prey item covered in feathers?


That was actually one of the old theories until someone realised (and tested) that bird's feathers are not different to rat's fur when it comes to penetration with teeth. By the way, GTPs don't eat MAINLY birds.


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