When brooding females lay eggs, they will coil up into a tight ball over the nest generating heat needed for incubation. Because of the energy used in shivering, a female may lose half her body weight during the incubation period. Also, the constricting feature aids the blood python in killing its prey by suffocation. Blood pythons also have special features that differentiate them from other snakes. Evidence of pits in the roof of the mouth suggest that pythons once were venomous snakes.
Blood pythons have only two large pits on each side.
You can easily see these pits in the large picture at the top of this page. Fritz was constantly in action. Whether he was attempting to escape his cage or was playfully slithering in, out, and between my fingers, Fritz was very energetic. In opposition to Fritz and his personality lies the two full grown blood pythons at the Fort Worth Zoo. In my two trips the the Herpetarium, I observed the snakes.