Ball python
Python regius
— Where the name comes from
Python is the monstrous serpent that, in Greek myth, guarded the oracle at Delphi until Apollo killed it; the place took the name Pythṓ from the body left to rot (pýthein, to rot). Regius, royal: the rulers of West Africa, and perhaps Cleopatra, are said to have worn this docile python coiled about the arm like a living jewel.
— Facts
- Group
- Reptiles · Reptilia
- Order
- Squamates
- Habitat
- Savannah, scrub and clearings at the forest edge
- Range
- West-central Africa
- Size
- 1–1.5 m, rarely 1.8 m
- Diet
- Carnivore — small rodents
- Lifespan
- 20–30 years, up to 40
— Characteristics
- 01
It is not venomous: it kills by constriction, tightening its coils with every breath the prey lets out.
- 02
It has heat pits on the lip that “see” the warmth of prey in the dark.
- 03
It keeps tiny spurs, the remains of its ancestors’ hind legs.
— What sets it apart
The English name is ball python: when frightened it neither attacks nor flees, but wraps itself into a tight sphere with its head hidden at the centre, and can stay that way for hours. It is one of the most peaceable defences in the animal kingdom — become a helpless ball and wait for the danger to pass. That very mildness has made it one of the most widely kept snakes in the world.
