what is the purpose of going into a ball

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

It's really very little understood--animals that normally eat stinky, rotted carcasses will leave an animal that is playing dead alone.

Why doesn't a coyote eat an opossum, or a hognose snake, when it will eat 4 day old roadkill? We still aren't sure, but whatever the reason...it actually works.

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exactly and some animals even seem to wait till it smells its worst to eat it.
i dont understand things in nature most times.

Also the ball mechanic is so that they can close off the entrance to the termite mound or hiding place so other unwanted animals can't get in.

They also tighten the muscles making it hard for any animals to eat them.

Food for thought, we're still learning why things are the way they are.

What should be noted is that it works.:gj:

are snakes the biggest predators of ball pythons in their native range?

Ever see a cat play with a mouse?

I imagine a balled up ball python would fare better to being batted around like that and might stand a better chance of survival if the predator gets bored.

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Originally Posted by exotica0095

mark but the venom of those snakes would still kill it

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Not really sure, although I would imagine that being cold blooded with slower metabolisms venom would work more slowly on reptiles then it would on mammels. Here is the source I got that info from.

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/cite...thon_ghana.pdf

From page 10 of this report...

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There were no signs of any obvious predators of royal pythons in the farmlands. Mongooses are known to occur in Ghana, but the trappers and the local people considered them to be absent from the areas that the team visited. Birds of prey were sighted very infrequently, but this may have been due to the dry season. The trappers believe that the black cobras prey on young and medium sized royal pythons, and that the “balling” behaviour of royal pythons is a defence against being swallowed.

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