Ball Python

The ball python is 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 182 cm (72 in). Females reach an average snout-to-vent length of 116.2 cm (45.7 in), a 44.3 mm (1.74 in) long jaw, an 8.7 cm (3.4 in) long tail and a maximum weight of 1.635 kg (3.60 lb). Males are smaller with an average snout-to-vent length of 111.3 cm (43.8 in), a 43.6 mm (1.72 in) long jaw, a 8.6 cm (3.4 in) long tail and a maximum weight of 1.561 kg (3.44 lb). 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.

The ball python is native to west Sub Saharan Africa, from Senegal through Cameroon to Sudan and Uganda. It prefers grasslands, savannas, and sparsely wooded areas.

Ball pythons are typically nocturnal or crepuscular, meaning that they are active during dusk, dawn, and/or nighttime. This 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. This defense behavior is typically employed in lieu of biting, which makes this species easy for humans to handle and has contributed to their popularity as a pet. In the wild, ball pythons favor mammal burrows and other underground hiding places, where they also aestivate. Males tend to display more semi-arboreal behaviors, whilst females tend towards terrestrial behaviors.

Diet. The diet of the ball python in the wild consists mostly of small mammals including Woermann's bat, Gambian pouched rat, Tullberg's soft-furred mouse, typical striped grass mouse, forest giant squirrel, Prince Demidoff's bushbaby, and juvenile grey parrots. Young ball pythons of less than 70 cm (28 in) prey foremost on small birds. Ball pythons longer than 100 cm (39 in) prey foremost on small mammals. Males prey more frequently on birds, and females more frequently on mammals.

Reproduction. Females are oviparous and lay three to 11 rather large, leathery eggs. The eggs hatch after 55 to 60 days. Young male pythons reach sexual maturity at 11–18 months, and females at 20–36 months. …

The ball python is particularly revered by the Igbo people in southeastern Nigeria, who consider it symbolic of the earth, being an animal that travels so close to the ground. Even Christian and Muslim Igbos treat ball pythons with great care whenever they come across one in a village or on someone's property; they either let them roam or pick them up gently and return them to a forest or field away from houses. If one is accidentally killed, many communities on Igbo land still build a coffin for the snake's remains and give it a short funeral. In northwestern Ghana, there is a taboo towards pythons as people consider them a savior and cannot hurt or eat them. According to folklore, a python once helped them flee from their enemies by transforming into a log to allow them to cross a river.