Any information on BPs in the wild?

I read The Complete Carpet Python and found all the information on the different habitats incredibly interesting, and while I don't expect Ball Pythons to inhabit a similar range of diverse habitats as the Carpet Python complex I'm wondering if there are any similar books or websites on the habitats of Ball Pythons. Any websites, books or studies or videos I should check out on this?

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Originally Posted by MD_Pythons

I read The Complete Carpet Python and found all the information on the different habitats incredibly interesting, and while I don't expect Ball Pythons to inhabit a similar range of diverse habitats as the Carpet Python complex I'm wondering if there are any similar books or websites on the habitats of Ball Pythons. Any websites, books or studies or videos I should check out on this?

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I'm not going to be any help here because I don't know....but "The Complete Carpet Python" is an AWESOME book. I read it cover to cover and it's worth it's weight in gold. Just had to say that.

Here are some clips of field herping wild BP's in Africa however

The first one (and best one) is in German, so Zina won't have a problem but the rest of us will have to click "CC" in the title bar at the bottom of the video for English subtitles. It's AMAZING how calm they are even in the wild. They are field collecting in Ghana which produces a LOT of morphs and wild BP's including the Enchi morph which originated from a village in Ghana by the name of....you guessed it....Enchi.

Second video is the buying process of wild specimens collected....looks like the one they're holding is a calico of some sorts.

Last one is a clip of the termite mounds that wild BP's actually live in and some wild caught eggs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZqZGHtizeI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmGpMdtZVBc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpRMdOOJW8Q

I'll try and locate those accounts from Royal python hunters who supply the trade -- very interesting and quite eye opening for all those who are adamant that they spend 24/7 ...365 asleep down a rabbit hole ...


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I'm watching the first video now, and am really enjoying seeing how beeps live in the wild (and the narrator's sense of humor :rofl:). It's shocking how tame they really are- almost like they're just resigning themselves to whatever fate awaits them, even if that includes being eaten. Easy to see why they became such popular pets!

Just found this interesting little snippet ..

Excuse copy and pasting !!

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

I have a friend who has been living in Ghana for a few months and befriended some snake people involved in catching wild ball pythons, among other native snake species! Exciting stuff, he got deets on where ball pythons are found, straight from the trapper/exporter (named Gyasi) himself… I told him to ask for more exact percentages on where they're mostly found in Africa:
55% in “the bushes/branches” near ponds
25% under rocks
10% under trees when they are well fed/full
10% around trash areas (like literally in piles of trash apparently LOL)
No mention of termite mounds or “hiding in holes their whole life”, at least from this trapper. Go figure?
My friend also hasn’t seen very many grassland areas or open areas in Ghana at least where he is, even the drier areas have a lot of low-growing trees.
He went with his trapper group on a short expedition lately too, and that sounded exciting, getting to see the native range and habitat of these animals.
In conclusion: ball pythons have a very wide natural habitat range! They are not solely ambush predators like gaboons, and definitely not living in holes and hiding their whole life. Funny thing, the trapper mentioned nothing of holes or termite mounds himself haha. I think my friend brought up the "holes and termite mounds" thing, since I asked specifically about how this is always preached in the states, and Gyasi was just like "?????" If the holes thing is from other trappers, it must be only one very small part of how ball pythons live!
My friend is on this forum, but he never posted before. I'm trying to get him to eventually post a short journal and pics of the habitat and the various wild caught snakes there, it would be fun! (I've seen the pics already bahah)
Anyway, I think these are exciting and interesting details, because I personally believe at this point that the average keeper/breeder's knowledge that is constantly preached in the states on their natural habitat and living conditions are apparently quite skewed. And it's always nice to be more informed about the animals we are keeping and the way they are kept. The more knowledge, the better!

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Also this one ..
excuse copy ~paste

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I would however like to address some of the points others have made on here simply to put the other side of the debate up and let people decide for themselves. I am aware however that this is apparently a sensitive issue capable of triggering people mightily so I will make one and only one post here...

Firstly on climbing, "exploring" and Royal Python habitat use... people seem to have the mistaken assumption that these snakes are nocturnal and fossorial. Neither is entirely true. This idea has been bandied about for a few decades because the snakes aestivate in burrows during the hottest parts of the year, and this is when they are easiest for the trappers to locate. This does not mean they spend their whole lives underground, nor does it mean they are "ambush predators" that sit and wait most of their lives - on the contrary they are surprisingly active "search hunters" that happen to do most of their hunting at night and, in the case of adult females, hunt in burrows for rodents.

Males and smaller animals exhibit a completely different mode of hunting - they climb trees and target a completely different source of food. We know this from a variety of sources:

"Survey of the status and management of the Royal Python (Python regius) in Ghana" lists pythons being found in trees, although points out that the species is very adaptable to the point of being semi-invasive and responds well to anthropogenic disturbance. It also mentions a specimen being found up a tree.

"Food resource partitioning of a community of snakes in a swamp rainforest of south-eastern Nigeria" lists woodpeckers and warblers (both consummately arboreal species that do not spend much if any time on the ground) as among the most numerous prey retrieved from Royal Python stomach (Cisticola warblers were the single prey genus that had the highest number found in Royal Pythons during the survey).

"Why do males and females of Python regius differ in parasite load" points out that males (which are more arboreal) carry different and much higher parasite loads than females, possibly as a result of the differences in habitat use.

"Jebels By Moonlight" lists a first hand observation of a Royal Python hunting in a tree in Sudan.

"Sexual size dimorphism and natural history traits are correlated with intersexual dietary divergence in royal pythons (python regius) from the rainforests of southeastern Nigeria" - half of the male pythons encountered over a two year period were found on trees. The diet of male pythons under a certain size had a huge percentage of birds and arboreal mammals.

"Species trade and conservation: Snake trade and conservation management (Serpentes.spp.)
An assessment of the impact of the pet trade on five CITES-Appendix II case studies" lists the species as being both terrestrial and tree-dwelling animals.

The fact is Royal Pythons are extraordinarily adaptive snakes that can tolerate a wide variety of habitats and are not negatively affected by anthropogenic change to the same extent as many other reptiles are. They can be terrestrial AND semi-arboreal depending on the habitats they inhabit, although according to studies by authors such as Luca Luiselli they reach their highest population densities in forested areas as opposed to grassland.

It is worth noting that males especially seem to have adapted to fit a different niche to the larger females to the point that diet composition is almost totally different in several studies, and includes a significant percentage of birds and arboreal mammals that are most likely being stalked and captured in trees at night. They are also picking up a completely different parasite load because of this!

Within the confines of a terrarium, there is no reason whatsoever to not provide at least one or two branches for the snake to climb on. Nor is there no reason not to provide overhead lighting or UV. It is simply common sense. To quote Frances Baines, "Why, for example, do we have to find a 1961 book on African Reptiles (by G. S. Cansdale) to find that the Royal Python ***8220;in the wild is often encountered sunning in bright light***8221;? (quoted by Sillman, A.J., Carver, J.K. and Loew, E.R., 1999. The photoreceptors and visual pigments in the retina of a boid snake, the ball python (Python regius). Journal of Experimental Biology, 202(14), pp.1931-1938.

(Another good point there - Royal Pythons see UV very well. That is not really something you would expect a nocturnal animal to do).

Personally I think if people like the security and humidity of a tub for their Royals - put one with an access hole inside the vivarium and let the animal decide where it wants to be. That pretty much approximates a burrow with a constant temperature and humidity in a much drier environment. If the snakes like security and confined spaces soooooooo much, they surely would never come out, right?

Having tried this myself, and having seen first hand other people's enclosures offering a choice of places to climb, correct lighting, and an enriched habitat - along with seeing how the snakes themselves respond to it - I simply cannot see how anybody thinks a sterile tub with newspaper compares. "




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