Adult Ball Python - Python regius

Names & Classifications:

Scientific Name: Python regius

Common Names: Ball Python, named after it's tendency to curl into a ball with their heads protected in the center of the coil. Also known as a Royal Python.

Place Of Origin:

These pythons are native to the tropical grasslands, shrublands, and open forests of central and western Africa. They spend most of their time on the ground, in tight confined spaces.

Genetics & Characteristics:

Ball Pythons are oviparous animals, meaning they lay eggs, instead of giving live birth like boas.
Ball Pythons lay between 6-16 eggs. Sexual maturity takes 2-3 years. These pythons hunt prey using heat pits below their nostrils called labial pits, to identify the prey's heat signature.

Color Phases:

Ball Pythons were initially discovered in theirclassic gold, brown, and black patterns. These pythons were later found in naturally ocurring colors, and pattern mutations likealbinos, pieds, clowns, bananas, ghi's, just to name a few. Now there's over 100 different colored morphs and patterns!

Life Span:

With proper care these ball python snakes can live 20-25+ years in captivity.