It still leaves lots of extremely realistic statues all around to announce to the PC group 'that's it, you'll meet either a cockatrice, a basilisk, a medusa or a gorgon'. It can eat anything, including his petrified preys. It moves slowly but still faster than a statue so he still has that going for him.
The basilisk is a 2m long, eight-short-legged lizard with a petrifying gaze (range of 9 meters, Fort save of 13 to negate).