Spurs at each side of the anus in pythons are the remains of legs, indicating the evolutionary link of all snakes with a lizard-like ancestry. These include the wetter tropical rainforests, monsoon forests and vine forests. When small animals come within striking distance, the python seizes its prey with its gaping mouth, and throws coils of its body around the prey which constricts and suffocates the animal. The coiling of the snake around its prey also prevents the animals from moving and potentially inflicting harm upon the snake. This is done because pythons do not posses any poison glands.
Night time gives pythons a distinct advantage.
Apart from smell, they rely on heat-sensing organs below their jaws to detect warmth radiating from bird and mammal prey. During the day, ground heated by the sun confuses this heat-picture, but at night, when the surroundings are cool, a potential warm dinner stands out. Chambers' resident Amethystine Python sunning itself on the log piles. A pythons prey includes fruit bats, possums, rats, pademelons and ground dwelling birds. During winter they can sometimes be seen sunning themselves on log piles at The Chamber's.