The python balls , also known as royal python , are python species found in sub-Saharan Africa. Like all other pythons, it is a nonvenomous constrictor. It is the smallest of the African pythons and is popular in pet trade, largely because of its small size and temperament usually benign. No subspecies are currently known. The name "ball python" refers to an animal's tendency to curl into a ball when stressed or scared. The name "royal python" (from Latin regius ) comes from the fact that rulers in Africa will use python as jewelry.
Video Ball python
Description
The adult maximum length of this species is 182 cm (6.0 feet). Women tend to be slightly larger than men, maturing around 122-137 cm (4.0-4.5 feet). Men typically grow to about 90-107 cm (3.0-3.5 feet). Their buildings are stocky, while the head is relatively small. The scales are fine and both sexes have anal spurs on both sides of the vents. Although men tend to have larger spurs, this is uncertain, and sex is best determined by the manual eversion of male hemipenes or inserting the probe into the cloaca to check for an inverse hemipenis (if male). When investigating to determine sex, men typically measure eight to 10 subcaudal scales, and women typically measure two to four subcaudal scales.
Color patterns are usually black or dark brown with light brown or golden sides and dorsal spots. The belly is white or beige â € <â €
Maps Ball python
Distribution and habitat
They are found in western Africa from Senegal, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Benin and Nigeria through Cameroon, Chad and Central African Republic to Sudan and Uganda. No type locality is given in the original description.
The python balls have a strong physical resemblance to the Burmese python, whose adaptability has caused it to be classified as an invasive species in places like the Florida Everglades. Python balls, however, have not been known to reproduce in the wild beyond their natural range and no known reproducing wild populations are known in Florida.
Ball pants prefer grasslands, savannas, and rare wooded areas. but has been proven to adapt to all types of environments. Men tend to display more semi-arboreal behaviors, while women tend toward terrestrial behavior.
Behavior
This terrestrial species is known for its defense strategy that involves a circle into tight balls when threatened, with the head and neck tucked in the middle. Under these circumstances, it can actually be rolled out. Preferred retreats include mammal holes and other underground hideouts, where they are also aestivate. In captivity, they are considered good pets, with their relatively small size and quiet nature making it easy to handle.
Diet
In the wild, their diet consists mostly of small mammals, such as African fluffy rats, mice, and striped mice and birds. Younger snakes, below 70 cm in total length, and males prey almost exclusively on small birds (nest and young immature) while snakes are larger than 70 cm in total length, and females prey almost exclusively on small mammals.
Reproduction
Females are oviparous, with 3 to 11 rather large and coarse eggs (four to six most common). It is incubated by underground females (through shivering movements), and hatches after 55 to 60 days. Sexual maturity is achieved in 11-18 months for men, and 20-36 months for women. Age is just one factor in determining sexual maturity and the ability to multiply; weight is the second factor. Men breed in 600 g or more, but in captivity often not bred until they are 800 g (1.7 lb), although in captivity, some males have been known to start breeding at 300-400 g. Females breed in the wild with weights as low as 800 g even though 1200 g or more are the most common; in captivity, breeders generally wait until they are not less than 1500 g (3.3 pounds). The care of parents from eggs ends after they hatch, and women leave their offspring to fend for themselves.
Captivity
Wild-caught specimens have greater difficulty adapting to captive environments, which can cause refusal to feed, and they generally carry internal or external parasites. The specimen has survived for more than 40 years in captivity, with the oldest recorded python balls kept in captivity of 47 years and 6 months until his death in 1992 at the Philadelphia Zoo.
Hundreds of different color patterns are available in captive snakes. Some of the most common are Spider, Pastel, Albino, Mojave, and Lesser. Breeders continue to create new designer morphs, and more than 5,300 different morphs currently exist.
Beliefs and folklore
This species is highly respected in the traditional Igbo religion of southeastern Nigeria. It is considered a symbol of the earth, being an animal moving very close to the ground. Even among many Christian Igbos, these pythons are treated with extreme care whenever they wander into the village or into one's property; they are allowed to roam freely or be very carefully picked up and placed in forests or fields far from any house. If someone accidentally gets killed, there are many communities in Igbol and still builds coffins for the remains of snakes and gives him a short burial.
See also
- List of pythonid species and subspecies
- Pythonidae with common name
- Pythonidae by taxonomic synonyms
References
External links
- Python regius in Reptile.cz Reptile Database. Retrieved 12 September 2007.
- Python Ball Articles and Treatment Sheets at RC Reptiles.com. Retrieved 12 September 2007.
- Ball Python Care and Husbandry at Ball Python Care.
- Python Ball Treatment Sheet at Herphangout. Retrieved 12 September 2007.
- Troubleshooting Guide for Pythons Ball on kingsnake.com. Retrieved 12 September 2007.
- Python Ball as Pets at About.com: Exotic Animals. Retrieved 12 September 2007.
- Python Balls, Python regius Cares at ReptileExpert.org. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- Royal Python, Python regius Care in The Royal Python. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
- Presentation of Salmonella in CDC MMWR. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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