PEORIA, Ill. – One of the biggest residents of the Peoria Zoo has slithered her way into a new home.
“Louise” is a Burmese Python that zookeeper Douglas Holmes estimates to be more than 20 years old, 17 feet long, and 220 to 240 pounds, and has been in Peoria around 14 years.
She moved from a somewhat small enclosure in the Tropics Building to a just-built new home that Holmes says was much
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needed.
“This will give her more space to crawl,” said Holmes. “We’ve got a big tree in there, so she can crawl up the tree, and some more rocks and stuff she can sit on. It will also give her an opportunity to stretch out so she can get in a straight line, and a little bit bigger pool to swim around and soak in.”
You might consider Louise’s new enclosure her “retirement home.”
“She originally came in as a donation. Somebody actually had her as a pet,” said Holmes. “She was up in Chicago, and I think she just got too large. Then, we ended up getting her. They end up living 20 to 30 years. She’s kind of on the upper end of her life. I’m assuming once she passes away, we’ll probably get another large snake. People like to see them because of their size.
(Peoria Park District)
Seven zookeepers literally picked Louise up Thursday morning, and moved her from her old home to her new home. Holmes thinks she likes it.
“She’s checking out her environment, for sure,” said Holmes. “She seems content. It is difficult to say whether an animal is happy or not. But, we’re happy she’s got a little bit more space and she has the ability to swim and whatnot. Cool animal, though.”
Louise cannot see or hear very well, which is why Holmes says Louise seems content.
The lack of vision and hearing is not the only problem with Burmese Pythons these days, Holmes said.
“Out in the wild, unfortunately, many of them are preyed upon by people,” said Holmes. “They want to turn them into leather. About 15 million python skins come in to the country every year to be made into boots and shoes and wallets, things like that. Hopefully, we can suggest to people that they don’t buy things made from python skin.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists the Burmese Python as Endangered, while the International Union for Conservation of Nature has it listed as “near threatened.”
Two skinks will move into Louise’s old home from their current enclosure within the next month or so.
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