Ball Python
Scientific Name: Python Regius
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These snakes, which are non-venomous, are common in many African countries; the ball pythons are the smallest and they are one of the most traded pet snakes. People also refer to the Python Regius commonly as the Ball Python due to its propensity to coil into a round shape; people also refer to it as the royal python. Adult Ball Pythons have an average length ranging between ninety and one hundred and twenty centimeters; the longest lengths ever recorded were one hundred and fifty two centimeters and one hundred and eighty two centimeters.
Ball Pythons have a stocky structure; their heads are relatively small and the scales on their bodies are very smooth. Both the male and female Ball Pythons have two anal spurs on both sides of the vent. A person can identify a male by looking at the size of the anal spurs; the male Ball Pythons have bigger anal spurs while the females have either medium-sized or small anal spurs. The Ball Pythons have black coats that have brown or green dorsal patches; their bellies are either cream or white and some of them have black markings on them. The Ball Pythons that people keep as pets have numerous morphs; they have genetic mutations and have different patterns and colors.
Ball Pythons Are Beautiful Creatures
Facts About Ball Pythons
Geographic Location
These snakes are common in countries such as Guinea, Mali, Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Benin. Other countries where the Ball Pythons are common include Chad, Sudan, Uganda and Central African Republic.
Habitat
The Ball Pythons live in grassland areas, wooded areas and savannahs.
Behavior
Ball Pythons feed on small mammals, which they trap in their burrows. Some of these mammals include shrews, striped mice and rats. Ball Pythons feed on birds in the wild; while pet Ball Pythons feed on rats or mice.
Reproduction
Female Ball Pythons lay between three to eleven eggs, which are normally large. Female Ball Python incubates the eggs for ninety days then they hatch. They become sexually mature depending on the sexes; males become sexually mature from twelve to eighteen months while female Ball Pythons become sexually mature from twenty-four to thirty-six months. A person can base the snake’s ability to breed on their weight; male Ball Pythons have a minimum weight of nine hundred grams while female Ball Pythons have a minimum weight of one thousand, five hundred grams.
Captivity
Ball python enclosures can be as simple or as elaborate as you want to care for. Remember that the more you put in the cage, the more you have to clean and disinfect on a regular basis. That said, there are different enclosures that work well for ball pythons, including, but not limited to, plastic sweaterboxes (i.e. Rubbermaid), melamine racks and any of the commercially available, plastic-type reptile cages. Glass aquariums and tanks are adequate for ball pythons, but the screen tops on such enclosures can make it very difficult to maintain proper humidity levels.
