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That cute little snake in the pet store tank, it's lovely brown and gold or yellow and orange (if it happens to be an albino) colors that are so attractive at 16 to 20 inches, a baby Burm doesn't seem intimidating even if it may seem aggressive like most hatchling snakes. If you are considering a Burmese Python as your first snake, I'd like you to finish reading this article that tells you why not to get a Burmese Python as your first snake.

A Burmese Python can grow ten feet in one year. This is not an exaggeration. I've owned Burms. They grow fast, are voracious eaters, and they can be aggressive. I do not recommend them to any as a first pet reptile.

Burms can grow to 20 feet or better in captivity. After they reach 5 or 6 feet, most owners realize what they've gotten into, and start trying to find a new home for the once-cute, once-little snake. Good luck. Pet stores can't give them away, you can't sell them for any price, and your family and friends likely already know better. So what do you do now? Most humane societies won't take them, because they don't have the facilities and also because most people have a healthy fear of snakes. Herp Societies will take them when and if they have the ability to, and they are so often swamped with ten foot Burms and adult green iguanas, they can't even handle the overflow.

Keeping a Burm is an interesting adventure. They will eat and eat and eat. You have to know when to say enough'. And after they do all this eating, you know what is next. As soon as you finish cleaning that cage, your snake (of any breed, actually) is going to take a dip in his water dish and leave you a package in the corner. With a Burm, these little presents aren't so little. A ten foot snake can leave quite a pile of droppings, and if you don't clean it up right away, everyone in the house will know.

A Burm will quickly outgrow the twenty gallon aquarium he started out in. In fact, an aquarium just won't do after awhile. Our 16-foot Burm required a walk-in closet that we converted over to a cage. There was a lock on the cage, for her safety as well as ours. So two more things to consider are Do you have the room to properly house your pet Burm, and do you have the money to care for him? A run to the vet can cost several hundred dollars. Feeding him will be relatively expensive, as you will have to provide an adult Burm with a full grown rabbit or chicken once a week, or more if your snake is a large female.

Burms have a reputation for being aggressive,

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