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| SCIENTIFIC
CLASSIFICATION |
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| COMMON
NAME: |
royal python, ball python |
| KINGDOM: |
Animalia |
| PHYLUM: |
Chordata |
| CLASS: |
Reptilia |
| ORDER: |
Squamata |
| FAMILY: |
Boidae |
| GENUS
SPECIES: |
Python (serpent slain by Apollo) regius
(of royalty) |
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| DESCRIPTION: |
Small-sized,
heavy-bodied python with beige blotches on a dark
brown background |
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| SIZE: |
Adults
1-2 m (3-6 ft.) in length; hatchlings 30 cm (12
in.) |
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| DIET: |
Variety
of warm-blooded vertebrates |
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| INCUBATION: |
Approximately 90 days |
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| SEXUAL
MATURITY: |
3-4 years |
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| LIFE
SPAN: |
Heavy-bodied
snakes can exceed 40 years, even longer in captivity;
longest lived recorded is 47 yr. 6 mos. |
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| RANGE: |
West-Central Africa |
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| HABITAT: |
Found in open areas of dry tropical forests and
open savannahs; often found in burrows |
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| POPULATION: |
GLOBAL |
No
data |
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| STATUS: |
IUCN |
No
data |
| CITES |
Appendix II |
| USFWS |
No
data |
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|
| 1. |
These
snakes are called ball pythons because of their
defensive posture of coiling into a tight ball with
their heads protected in the center of the coil. |
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| 2. |
The name royal python is believed to be derived
from the fact that many African rulers were known
to have worn live pythons as jewelry. |
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| 3. |
Ball pythons are believed to live the longest of
snakes species in managed situations, with some
individuals living into their forties. |
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| 4. |
Pythons
are considered a primitive snake, differing from
many other species by having two functioning lungs
and vestigial, or left over, hind limbs. These vestigial
limbs appear as spurs on either side of the cloaca. |
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| 5. |
Pythons
show a degree of parental care above many other
reptiles by actually incubating the eggs using heat
generated by muscle twitches. |
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Ball pythons are often over-collected for the pet
trade. This impact, as well as the collection for
food by indigenous people, is beginning to have
a negative effect on their populations. These snakes
play a very important role in the control of many
small mammals, especially rodents, which, when in
excess, can have a serious effect on the environment.
Also, these small snakes are frequent prey animals
for larger predators such as cats and birds of prey. |
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|
|
Bauchot, Roland (ed.). Snakes: A Natural History.
New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 1994. |
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Ernst, Carl H., and Zug, George R. Snakes in
Question. Washington: Smithsonian Institution
Press, 1996. |
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Mattison, Chris. Snakes of the World. New
York: Factions on File Publications, Inc., 1986.
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| Mehrtens,
John M. Living Snakes of the World. New York:
Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 1987. |
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| Stafford,
Peter J. Pythons and Boas. New Jersey: T.F.H.
Publications, Inc., 1986. |
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