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Ball python

The ball python, Python regius, is a small West and Central African python named for its habit of curling into a tight ball with the head buried when frightened.

In Britain it is the royal python.

Adults reach 1.2 to 1.5 metres, females larger, and thirty years is an ordinary lifespan — animals over forty are documented. They are heavy-bodied, slow-moving and among the most placid snakes kept, which with their size is why they are the usual first snake. The one habit that surprises new keepers is voluntary fasting: a healthy ball python may refuse food for weeks or months, particularly in winter.

Origin
West and Central Africa
Adult size
1.2–1.5 m; females larger
Lifespan
30+ years
Basking temperature
31–33°C hot spot, 26–28°C ambient
Humidity
55–65%, raised during a shed
Diet
Appropriately sized rodents, every 1–2 weeks

Related: Blood python · Burmese python

3 ball python photos, newest first

Ball python feed
  • Monty, a ball python

    Monty

    Monty picked the branch with the best view and has not left it in a week.

    FrostyOtter · 6 days ago

  • Marlowe, a ball python

    Marlowe

    Marlowe in the reading glasses, watching the green one foam over. The little chair went up with the balloons and has stayed up.

    FrostyOtter · 1 week ago

  • Marlowe, a ball python

    Marlowe

    I have never once won a staring contest with Marlowe.

    GentleFinch · 2 weeks ago

Living with a ball python

Expect refusals. A ball python that skips meals through the winter while holding its weight is behaving normally; weigh it rather than worrying at it, and see a vet if it loses condition. Most feeding problems are actually husbandry problems — too cold, too dry, too exposed.

Provide two tight hides, one at each end, so the snake never has to choose between feeling safe and being the right temperature. A ball python without cover is a stressed ball python.

Humidity of 55–65%, raised towards 70% during a shed. Stuck eye caps and patchy sheds mean it is too dry.

Thirty years is the commitment, and it is the part most often glossed over at the point of sale.

On morphs: the spider morph and several related genes carry a neurological wobble that is inherent to the gene, not a defect in a particular animal.

General guidance, not veterinary advice. Individual reptiles vary, and anything about a specific animal is a question for a vet who has seen it.

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