That Reptile Blog – Reptile, Amphibian and Exotic Pet Care and Information

Click: Captive Care of the Ball or Royal Python, Python regius – Part 1, to read the first part of this article. Or, click:  The Natural History of the Ball Python, Python regius: Ball Pythons in the Wild to read about the natural history of Ball Pythons.

Feeding

Most ball pythons take readily to pre-killed mice and small rats, with hatchlings usually being large enough to handle a “fuzzy” mouse.  In the wild, ball pythons do not feed when nighttime temperatures become cool (January-February in some areas), during much of the breeding season, and while incubating eggs.  They are well adapted to long fasts, and frequently go off-feed in captivity.  This can occur even in captive-hatched animals, tuned, perhaps, to an internally-controlled cycle, and is rarely a cause for concern.

Individuals that go off feed regularly should be fed once weekly during those times when they do accept food, as should hatchlings and young animals.  Regularly-feeding adults do fine with a meal each 10-14 days.

Leaving a food animal in the terrarium overnight may induce reluctant feeders to eat.  Particularly stubborn animals may sometimes be tempted by switching food animal species…Mongolian gerbils are a particular favorite, but sometimes a weaning rat does the trick.   Of course, you may then be saddled with the responsibility of always providing that favored food item, so think carefully before offering anything too exotic.  “Scenting” a mouse by rubbing it with a with a favored food item is a well-known technique for tricking fussy snakes into eating.

Captive Longevity

A ball python kept at the Philadelphia zoo died at age 47.6 years, and holds, as far as I know, the longevity record for captive snakes.  Another was reported to have survived until age 51, but the record is unpublished.  A number of specimens have lived well into their 30’s.

Handling

Ball pythons are fairly mellow in disposition, but even long term captives will bite if provoked.  Their habit of coiling into a ball, while interesting, is a defense response – please do not harass yours into exhibiting this behavior.  As with all snakes, the head should not be placed in the vicinity of one’s face.

Breeding

Only snakes in good body weight should be used for breeding purposes.  Success will be more likely if the male and female are housed separately outside of the breeding season.

Ball pythons should be subjected to a semi-natural temperature and light cycle prior to and during the breeding season.  In October or November, nighttime temperatures should be allowed to fall to 68-72 F, and a night (dark) period of 12-14 hours should be established.  Daytime temperatures should remain as usual.  Feeding should be discontinued 1 month prior to turning down the temperatures, to allow for digestion of the last meal.

One month after the cooling period has begun, the female should be placed in the male’s cage for 1-3 day periods each week.  This process should continue for 6 weeks or so, after which temperatures and the day/night cycle should be returned to normal.

Gravid females will usually not feed.  Eggs may be expected from 2 weeks to 2 months after the reintroductions have been discontinued, depending upon when copulation had occurred.

 

The Rosemond Gifford Zoo ball python information sheet is posted at:

http://www.rosamondgiffordzoo.org/animals/Reptiles/BallPython.pdf

 

Please see The Natural History of the Ball Python: Pythons in the Wild, for information on the natural history of the ball python.

General

Ball pythons are now very well-established in the pet trade, and captive born animals are readily available.  They have much to recommend them as pets, including a mild disposition and manageable adult size.  Particularly unique is that they offer a “big constrictor feel” in a small package – thick bodied and muscular, ball pythons put one in mind of a much larger snake.

I heartily recommend this species for those interested in boas and pythons, but who lack the space required by larger snakes.  The very real safety issues involved in keeping giant constrictors are also not a factor with ball pythons, yet they display all of the behaviors exhibited by their larger relatives.

Ball pythons are available in an amazing array of color morphs and unusual patterns.

Captive Habitat

The Enclosure

Hatchlings may be started off in a 10 gallon aquarium and moved to a 20 long style aquarium as they increase in size.  Such might accommodate a small adult as well, but larger specimens do best in a 30-55 gallon aquarium.  Screen cover clips or metal cover screen locks are absolutely essential.

Heat, Humidity and Light

Ambient temperature should be maintained at 80-85 F, with a basking site of 90 F.  Temperatures can be reduced to 75-80 F at night. A ceramic heat emitter or under tank heat pad can be used to warm the air and create a basking site.  You can also use, in combination with these or solely (depending on terrarium size) an incandescent bulb.  The Coralife Reptile Spot Brightlight provides UVA and heat.  Ball pythons do not require UVB light, but may benefit from the provision of UVA.

The R Zilla Nightlight Red Halogen bulb or other night viewing bulb will provide heat at night without disturbing your pet’s natural day/night cycle.  It will also enable you to view the snake’s nocturnal activities.  The ceramic heat emitters and under tank heaters mentioned earlier also provide heat without visible light.

A water bowl should be provided for drinking and soaking.  Fill it only to a level such that it will not overflow when the snake submerges its head or body.  The terrarium should be kept dry…moist conditions will lead to bacterial skin infections (“blister disease”).

Substrate

R-Zilla Douglas Fir Bedding or Zoo Med Aspen Snake Bedding are good substrate choices.  Both allow for easy “spot cleaning”.  All substrate should be removed and the terrarium cleaned with R Zilla Terrarium Cleaner on a regular basis (i.e. once monthly).

Physical Environment – Habitat Type and Terrarium Decorations

Your ball python should be provided with a secure retreat….R Zilla Rock Dens and Hagen Hiding Caves are ideal.  A piece of freestanding driftwood will provide a rough surface upon which your snake can rub when in the process of shedding its skin.

If space permits, consider adding a log or piece of driftwood for your snake to climb upon.

 

Click: The Natural History of the Ball Python, Python regius: Ball Pythons in the Wild – Part 1, to read the first part of this article.

Status in the Wild

This species is threatened across large areas of its range by collection for the food, leather and, in the past, pet trade.  Today the vast majority of animals in the pet trade are captive bred.  It is listed on Appendix II of Cites.

Diet

Grassland rodents comprise the majority of the diet.  Recorded prey species include cane rats, Nile rats, gerbils, jerboas, jirds and zebra mice.  They also feed upon shrews and ground-nesting birds, and hatchlings may take lizards.  Wild individuals often favor particular prey species, and may be difficult to habituate to commercially available rats and mice when taken captive.

Ball pythons often inhabit areas subject to long periods of hot, dry weather, during which food is scarce.  Animals in such populations may aestivate in mammal burrows or similar underground shelters for several months.  It is theorized that the internal circadian rhythms of these pythons may be responsible for the long fasts that captive animals often undergo.

Reproduction

Females produce typically 6-7 large eggs at yearly or less frequent intervals.  Eggs are typically laid in abandoned aardvark or rodent burrows, and hatch after an incubation period of 3 months.  In common with other family members, female ball pythons remain coiled about the eggs during this time, providing protection and temperature/humidity modification.

Female pythons of various species have been shown to actively raise the temperature of their clutch by coiling about the eggs and “shivering”.  In captive situations, I have observed incubating female blood pythons (Python curtus) and Burmese pythons (P. molurus bivittatus) to raise their eggs by 7F above the ambient air temperature.  Field research conducted with ball pythons, however, indicates that incubation mainly functions to conserve egg weight by preventing water loss.

The young measure 10-17 inches upon hatching, and reach sexual maturity at 3-4 years of age, by which time they are approximately 3 feet in length.

Economic Importance

Ball pythons are heavily utilized as food by people throughout much of their range, and are harvested for the leather trade as well.  Until captive bred stock became widely available, huge numbers were collected for the pet trade and exported to Europe, Japan and the USA.

Miscellaneous

The common name of this snake is derived from its habit of coiling into a tight ball, with the head hidden within the center, when threatened.  Once so situated, it is difficult to uncoil the snake, and it will remain so even if rolled about (not recommended!).  However, some ball pythons surprise attackers (and annoying keepers!) by biting savagely when disturbed.  Actually, a number of other pythons and unrelated snakes utilize a coiled defensive posture, but in none is it so well developed as the ball python.

 

An extensive CITES-generated study of ball python populations and management in Ghana is posted at:

http://www.stevegorzulapresents.com/study_royal_python_ghana.pdf

Ball Pythons in the Wild

 

As recently as the early 1990’s, the now popular ball python was considered a troublesome captive, due largely to the prevalence of wild caught adults in the trade.  Today it is widely bred in captivity, but certain of its natural traits continue to affect how we go about keeping it as a pet. We’ll take a look at some of those traits, and then go on to captive care in future articles.

Physical Description

Although small as far as pythons, go, this species is very thickly-built.  Ball pythons average 3-5 feet in length, with occasional (and now only rarely encountered) specimens reaching 6 and even nearly 7 feet.  It is the smallest African representative of the genus Python, but not the smallest African python per se.  That title goes to the West African burrowing python, Calabaria reinhardtii, which rarely exceeds 3 feet in length.

Ball pythons are dark brown to nearly black in color and marked with numerous, generally oblong blotches of tan, light brown, reddish-brown or yellow-orange.  The color of wild specimens varies tremendously among different populations, with pied and even albino individuals reportedly being encountered more frequently than is usual among other snake species.  This may account for the ease in which captive color morphs are produced, although incubation temperature seems to affect the color pattern as well.  The savannahs of Ghana are known for their predominance of yellow-orange ball pythons, which are much favored in the pet trade.

Range

Sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal on the west coast northeast through Mali to western Sudan and southeast through Guinea-Bissau to the Gulf of Guinea, then east to the Central African republic, possibly Zaire, and Uganda.

Although typically described as being native to “Tropical West Africa”, the ball python actually has a fairly wide distribution across central and into parts of east Africa.  In addition to the aforementioned countries, ball pythons have been recorded from Niger, Chad, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Benin and Cameroon.

Most of the parent stock of today’s captive population apparently originated in Toga and Ghana.

Habitat

Ball pythons are snakes of open, often arid habitats – savannahs and other grasslands, sparsely forested woodlands, overgrown fields and the borders of agricultural areas.  They typically shelter in mammal burrows, termite mounds or hollow logs.  Although largely terrestrial in some habitats, ball pythons will climb, and often occupy tree hollows where such are available.

Where undisturbed, they frequent barns, tilled fields and village outskirts, drawn by large rodent populations.   Ball pythons do not occur in forests or thickly-wooded habitats, but will colonize such areas when they are cleared for agricultural use.

 

Status in the Wild

This species is threatened across large areas of its range by collection for the food, leather and, in the past, pet trade.  Today the vast majority of animals in the pet trade are captive bred.  It is listed on Appendix II of Cites.

Diet

Grassland rodents comprise the majority of the diet.  Recorded prey species include cane rats, Nile rats, gerbils, jerboas, jirds and zebra mice.  They also feed upon shrews and ground-nesting birds, and hatchlings may take lizards.  Wild individuals often favor particular prey species, and may be difficult to habituate to commercially available rats and mice when taken captive.

Ball pythons often inhabit areas subject to long periods of hot, dry weather, during which food is scarce.  Animals in such populations may aestivate in mammal burrows or similar underground shelters for several months.  It is theorized that the internal circadian rhythms of these pythons may be responsible for the long fasts that captive animals often undergo.

Reproduction

Females produce typically 6-7 large eggs at yearly or less frequent intervals.  Eggs are typically laid in abandoned aardvark or rodent burrows, and hatch after an incubation period of 3 months.  In common with other family members, female ball pythons remain coiled about the eggs during this time, providing protection and temperature/humidity modification.

Female pythons of various species have been shown to actively raise the temperature of their clutch by coiling about the eggs and “shivering”.  In captive situations, I have observed incubating female blood pythons (Python curtus) and Burmese pythons (P. molurus bivittatus) to raise their eggs by 7F above the ambient air temperature.  Field research conducted with ball pythons, however, indicates that incubation mainly functions to conserve egg weight by preventing water loss.

The young measure 10-17 inches upon hatching, and reach sexual maturity at 3-4 years of age, by which time they are approximately 3 feet in length.

Economic Importance

Ball pythons are heavily utilized as food by people throughout much of their range, and are harvested for the leather trade as well.  Until captive bred stock became widely available, huge numbers were collected for the pet trade and exported to Europe, Japan and the USA.

Miscellaneous

The common name of this snake is derived from its habit of coiling into a tight ball, with the head hidden within the center, when threatened.  Once so situated, it is difficult to uncoil the snake, and it will remain so even if rolled about (not recommended!).  However, some ball pythons surprise attackers (and annoying keepers!) by biting savagely when disturbed.  Actually, a number of other pythons and unrelated snakes utilize a coiled defensive posture, but in none is it so well developed as the ball python.

 

An extensive CITES-generated study of ball python populations and management in Ghana is posted at:

http://www.stevegorzulapresents.com/study_royal_python_ghana.pdf