Pythons Eye Sight

[Pythline08]

Hey i have one question can pythons see very well or not and can they see colour or just black and white?

Thanks for the help
Simon

[pythonrockchik1]

Pythons generally have very poor eyesight but have a very keen sense of infrared vision meaning their heat sensing pits (located along the upper lip and jawline) are utilised to detect warm-blooded prey.

[Pezza]

dont pythons see red??

[natrix]

From what I understand , a pythons eyesight is a little better than Stevie Wonder's.
You can pretty much test it by moving around at 12 feet away from the enclosure & gradually moving closer to the snake , it's usually pretty obvious when it can see you. Or at least it can see
a shape moving around , I don't know how much clarity it has or if it differentiates colours etc.

[trouser_snake6]

When they look at a person/animal(something warm blooded or something with heat), they see heat(yellow, orange or red) thats why they have their heat sensing pitsn under their eyes or lower jaw, and say if they look at a fridge or a coffee table ect. it'll be Blue, white or green. From what I understand.

[junglepython2]

Vision of the boa constrictor has been compared to that of a cat during the day, so python vision may be better then most people think. There is also evidence that they may have some weak colour vision as well.

[natrix]

i think you're mixing up eyesight with heat pits there trouser.
The heat -pits are lined with a layer of cells that contain many thermo-receptors , each of which is linked to the brain. Using these cells , snakes can detect minute rises in temperatures , such as
those radiated by the small warm blooded creatures that are their prey.
the pits allow snakes to detect changes in temperature of 0.002 degrees C.
Eyesight / vision is another thing again.

[SNAKEBOY33]

Originally Posted by Pezza

dont pythons see red??

fairly sure they dont see red or blue light thats why you heat their cage at night with red or blue light bulbs they still think its dark

[trouser_snake6]

Thats the what I was trying to say, but you described it way better

Originally Posted by natrix

i think you're mixing up eyesight with heat pits there trouser.
The heat -pits are lined with a layer of cells that contain many thermo-receptors , each of which is linked to the brain. Using these cells , snakes can detect minute rises in temperatures , such as
those radiated by the small warm blooded creatures that are their prey.
the pits allow snakes to detect changes in temperature of 0.002 degrees C.
Eyesight / vision is another thing again.

[SNAKEBOY33]

Originally Posted by trouser_snake6

Thats the what I was trying to say, but you described it way better

i got what you ment mate

[Timotei]

From what I understand, pythons are able only to visually perceive movement, as opposed to shapes, and the sensory pits really have nothing to do with vision (as snakeboy said), just as the sonar of a bat or dolphin has nothing to do with their vision. In dolphins it doesn't even have anything to do with their ears either, rather to do with their teeth. Fascinating stuff if you want to look it up