The Ssspectacular Sawa

Hello everyone, my name is Kyle and I am a Herpetology Keeper here at Zoo Atlanta. Today I’m going to talk about one of our Zoo guests’ favorite snakes, Sawa the reticulated python. Reticulated pythons are the world’s longest snakes and one of the heaviest.

Sawa arrived at Zoo Atlanta in 2014. She was born in 2008, which makes her currently 12 years old. She weighs in around 140 pounds about is 19 feet long. You can come and visit Sawa in her tropical habitat in Zoo Atlanta’s Scaly Slimy Spectacular. If you have difficulties finding her in her naturalistic habitat, she may be resting in one of her favorite spots, hidden behind the fallen tree.

Reticulated pythons are ambush predators, which means they sit in one spot, possibly for weeks, waiting for potential prey to come along. Their 100 re-curved teeth and immense strength allow large reticulated pythons to prey upon large mammals like pigs, civets, bears, cats and even primates. Reticulated pythons live in tropical forests throughout most of Southeast Asia. In fact, the species has the largest natural geographic range of any snake.

I truly hope everyone has enjoyed learning about one of the biggest animals in Scaly Slimy Spectacular. Please stop by and catch a glimpse of Sawa the next time you’re at Zoo Atlanta.

Kyle G.
Keeper II, Herpetology