• Size: 3-4 ft
• Temperament: Calm
• Care: Easy
• Food: Rats & Mice
• Owner Experience: Beginner

The Ball Python (Python regius) is a native of Africa.  It is a small species of python, generally growing no more than four feet in length.  It is one of themost popular pet store snakes, as they are bred readily in captivity, and are imported by the tens of thousands annually.

 The secret to keeping a ball python in captivity is to buy a baby, and obtain it from a reputable breeder.  As imported animals, especially imported adults, are difficult to get to feed in captivity, this is an important point.  Captive bred babies generally feed well right after hatching, and will thrive for many years.  The author has, to this day, a ball python purchased as a baby in 1975!! 

Ball python setup is easy.  They like to feel confined, so a small cage is preferable to a large one.  If you buy a baby, he will do well in a ten gallon tank, but may not like a 55 gallon one.  We keep babies about six months in plastic shoe boxes, and they will actually prefer them to larget quarters.

Ball pythons will need a heat source.  This can be accomplished by a cheap red light bulb over one end of the tank.  Buy the bulb and a clamp-on light fixture at a hardware store, and you will save considerably over a "reptile light".  Buy a thermometer, and place it on the floor of the cage under the bulb.  The temperature should be 85-88F under the bulb.

Be sure to have one or more hiding places for your ball python.  They will do much better if they can crawl under something and stay out of view.  They will be active at night, and you can see them easily inder the red light.

A quirk of ball pythons that concerns many beginners is the fact they they will go off feed for prolonged periods of time.  The 31 year old guy mentioned above will typically stop eating for months at a time.  This is particularly true during the winter. Even if the temperature on the cage is kept constant, they know, and will typically stop eating in October or November. When this happens, make sure that all of their housing conditions are correct. If everything is fine, and the animal appears to be in good health, do not beconcerned.  Offer the animal food every few weeks until he starts to eat again. When actively feeding, the ball python needs food every week to 2 weeks. 

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