Caudal luring is a hunting tactic in which a snake uses its own tail as bait. In Morelia viridis the tail tip is paler than the body and contrasts with the surroundings, and a hunting juvenile holds the front of the body in an S-coil while wriggling the tip in slow undulations a short distance in front of the snout. Small lizards and frogs treat the movement as invertebrate prey and come within range.
The behaviour is largely a juvenile one. Young pythons hunt small ectotherms in low vegetation, where the lure works; adults shift towards mammals and birds taken by ambush from the canopy and lure much less. That dietary shift also coincides with the colour change, juveniles being bright yellow or brick red before turning green during their first year or two.
Heat-sensing pits in the labial scales let the snake detect endothermic prey in darkness. The pits are grooves in the lip scales, distinct from the discrete facial pits of pit vipers, and they supply a thermal image accurate enough for an unsighted strike.