Ball python
The Royal python, also called the ball python, is a python species native to West and Central Africa, where it lives in grasslands and shrublands. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List because of its wide distribution. It is threatened by hunting for its meat and for the international pet trade. This nonvenomous constrictor is the smallest of the African pythons, growing to a maximum length of. The name 'ball python' refers to its tendency to curl into a ball when stressed or frightened.
Taxonomy
Boa regia was the scientific name proposed by George Shaw in 1802 for a pale variegated python from an indistinct place in Africa.The generic name Python was proposed by François Marie Daudin in 1803 for non-venomous flecked snakes. Between 1830 and 1849, several generic names were proposed for the same zoological specimen described by Shaw, including Enygrus by Johann Georg Wagler, Cenchris and Hertulia by John Edward Gray. Gray also described four specimens that were collected in Gambia and were preserved in spirits and fluid.
Description
The ball python is black or dark brown with light brown blotches on the back and sides. Its white or cream belly is scattered with black markings. It is a stocky snake with a relatively small head and smooth scales. It reaches a maximum adult length of. Males typically measure eight to ten subcaudal scales, and females typically measure two to four subcaudal scales. Females reach an average snout-to-vent length of, a long jaw, a long tail and a maximum weight of. Males are smaller with an average snout-to-vent length of, a long jaw, a long tail and a maximum weight of.Both sexes have pelvic spurs on both sides of the vent. During copulation, males use these spurs for gripping females. Males tend to have larger spurs, and sex is best determined by manual eversion of the male hemipenes or inserting a probe into the cloaca to check the presence of an inverted hemipenis.
Distribution and habitat
The ball python is native to west Sub Saharan Africa from Senegal, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, and Nigeria through Cameroon, Chad, and the Central African Republic to Sudan and Uganda.It prefers grasslands, savannas, and sparsely wooded areas.
Behavior and ecology
This terrestrial species is known for its defense strategy that involves coiling into a tight ball when threatened, with its head and neck tucked away in the middle. In this state, it can literally be rolled around. Favored retreats include mammal burrows and other underground hiding places, where they also aestivate. In captivity, they are considered good pets, with their relatively small size and placid nature making them easy to handle. Males tend to display more semi-arboreal behaviours, whilst females tend towards terrestrial behaviours.Diet
The diet of the ball python in the wild consists mostly of small mammals such as Natal multimammate mouse, shrews, gerbils, and striped mice, and birds. Young pythons less than total length and males prey almost exclusively on small bird nestlings and immature young. Pythons greater than 70 cm total length and females prey almost exclusively on small mammals.Reproduction
Females are oviparous and lay three to 11 rather large, leathery eggs. They incubate them under ground with a shivering motion. They hatch after 55 to 60 days. Young male pythons reach sexual maturity at 11–18 months, and females at 20–36 months. Age is only one factor in determining sexual maturity and ability to breed; weight is the second factor. Males breed at or more, but in captivity are often not bred until they are, although in captivity, some males have been known to begin breeding at. Females breed in the wild at weights as low as though or more in weight is most common; in captivity, breeders generally wait until they are no less than. Parental care of the eggs ends once they hatch, and the female leaves the offspring to fend for themselves.In captivity
Python breeders have developed many morphs with altered colors and patterns.Wild-caught specimens have greater difficulty adapting to a captive environment, which can result in refusal to feed, and they generally carry internal or external parasites. Specimens have survived for over 40 years in captivity, with the oldest recorded ball python being kept in captivity 47 years and 6 months until its death in 1992 at the Philadelphia Zoo.
Most captive ball pythons accept common rats and mice, and some eat chicken.
Breeding
Ball pythons are one of the most common reptiles bred in captivity. They usually are able to produce a clutch of six eggs on average, but clutch sizes also range from one to eleven. Ball pythons reach sexual maturity at the age of two to two and a half years and a weight of 1500 grams. These snakes usually lay one clutch per year and the eggs hatch around sixty days later. Usually these eggs are artificially incubated in a captive environment at temperatures between 88-90 degrees Fahrenheit. Some captive breeders use ultra-sounding technology to verify the progress of reproductive development. This can help to increase chances of successful fertilization as the ultra-sound can help predict best times to introduce males and females during breeding season.In captivity, ball pythons are often bred for specific patterns, or morphs. While most of them are solely cosmetic, some have come under controversy due to inherited physical or cognitive defects associated with the inherited pattern. It has been shown that the spider morph gene is connected with major neurological issues, specifically related to the snake's sense of balance. The International Herpetological Society banned the sale of such morphs at their events.
Captive ball pythons are available in hundreds of different color patterns. Some of the most common are pastel, albino, mojave, lesser, and axanthic. Breeders are continuously creating new designer morphs, and over 6,500 different morphs currently exist.
General husbandry
While ball pythons can make excellent pets for those unfamiliar with keeping snakes as a pet, ball pythons still require specialised care and attention.Over the course of their life, a ball python requires a number of different sizes of enclosure in order to meet its needs as it grows; their enclosures can consist of designated reptile terrariums, plastic tubs, or aquarium tanks. Ball pythons can be adept at escaping from their enclosures, meaning that their habitat should be kept secure so as to prevent escape.
The snake's enclosure should be kept well-ventilated, and it is recommended that the snake be able to stretch out fully within its enclosure without having to bend or curl up to fit; many keepers recommend a 30-50 gallon tank for an adult ball python.
It is also recommended that ball pythons have some form of enrichment in their enclosure, generally defined as something that allows the snake to exhibit behaviours they would naturally display in the wild, such as exploration. This can be something as simple such as fake leaves and/or a cardboard roll, or a more extensive form of enrichment, such as live plants and sculpted backgrounds that allow the snake to climb. Enrichment is considered important, as captivity generally does not provide the same level of activity or positive stimulation as a ball python's natural habitat, and so must be added in by the keeper. Enrichment is generally thought to improve a captive snake's general health and wellbeing.
In the wild, ball pythons are naturally found in tropical areas with relatively high temperatures, and as such, should be kept in a thermoregulated enclosure. Because snakes rely on their environment for thermoregulation, there should be a range of temperatures throughout the enclosure; this is best achieved with a heat mat placed underneath the enclosure, monitored with a thermostat. It is recommended that one side of the snake's enclosure stay at roughly, with the other measuring at roughly, mimicking shade and direct sunlight and allowing the snake to thermoregulate between the two.
Like most snakes, ball pythons benefit from a 'hide' or small cave, allowing them to the ability to retreat from the 'open ground' of their enclosure; this may simply be an upturned plastic bowl with a small entryway cut into it.
The humidity of a ball python's enclosure is also important, and is recommended to be kept around 50-60%. This mimics the natural environment of the ball python. During shed, the humidity should be around 80% to assist the snake in shedding, allowing them to remove their skin entirely on their own.
A ball python's enclosure is usually filled with a small layer of substrate - an earth-like substance allowing the snake to move easily through friction with the substrate itself, and also assisting in shedding by giving the snake something to rub against to help loosen dead skin. Substrate can consist of coconut husk and mulch, though paper towels and newspaper are also used; substrate choices must be considered as the type of substrate chosen for a ball python's environment will have an effect on the humidity of the enclosure.