By Travis Gettys
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NEWPORT - Two Burmese pythons, 11-foot Sara and 9-foot Ruby, outgrew their welcome with a pair of area families and found new digs at the Newport Aquarium.

Derrin McCormick, 4, of Troy, feels the skin of "Ruby," a nine-foot-long, 30-pound Burmese python held by aquatic biologist Scott Brehob. (Patrick Reddy photo)

"These beautiful animals started out as pets when they were little and cute," said Tim Mullican, aquarium executive director. They are now part of an exhibit called Hidden Treasures of the Rainforest Islands.

Scheduled to open May 29, it is the first phase in a $4.5 million, 21,200-square-foot expansion.

Plants and animals, including Asian small-clawed river otters, will immerse visitors in a rainforest environment, said Jill Isaacs, public relations manager.

Visitors will be able to watch the pythons, which can grow to more than 20 feet long, inside a 1,700-gallon pool with a glass front, said Ric Urban, the aquarium's new rainforest curator.

"They are very good swimmers," he said.

Burmese pythons float near the surface, Urban said, lying in wait with only their nostrils above water.

"They can be like an alligator and reach and kind of leap out at their prey," Urban said.

At the aquarium, Sara is fed four adult rats per week, Urban said, but she would gladly go for larger prey.

"She can take a nice 4-pound rabbit if we offered it to her," he said.

Pythons suffocate prey by constricting the animal's rib cage, making it impossible to draw a breath, Urban said.

The snake then dislocates its jaw to swallow its meal whole, he said, using backwards-hooking teeth to prevent escape.

"They work it kind of methodically to hook it with their teeth," Urban explained.

Arrowhead Reptile Rescue Shelter helped relocate the pair.

By the numbers

May 29...the date Hidden Treasures of the Rainforest Islands is scheduled to open at the Newport Aquarium

$4.5 million...the cost of the expansion project

20 feet...the length to which a Burmese python can grow

4...the number of rats per week fed to one of the pythons at the aquarium

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E-mail tgettys@enquirer.com