Large boas like the Indian python are very slow snakes. They travel about 1 mph in open space. The scales on the bottom of a snake are called scoots. A snake can shed its skin in one full piece of shed. Indian pythons will eat medium -sized mammals, birds, reptiles, and occasionally a leopard.
Pythons are constrictors.
This means they strike with open jaws, then grasp and loop several coils around their prey. The python squeezes the animal until the breathing and heart action stops. When all motion ceases, the prey is swallowed, usually head first. When eating large prey, the python, like all snakes, will distend its jaw with the quadrate. The Indian python is the common python of southern Asia.