Python is the name given to a genus of constricting snakes. Such snakes are not venomous. The family in question is the "Pythonidae". Pythons are more closely related to boas than to any other snake family. Boulenger (1890) thought this group was a subfamily (Pythoninae) of the family Boidae (boas). However, boas produce live young, while pythons are oviparous: they lay eggs.