Who says they don't appreciate height?!

Ive read a caresheet or two that states ball pythons will climb small bushes to search for chicks in nests. Yes my ball python will climb his branch and plants to get closer to the lamp.. But also when the lights go off at night he is always exploring his cage and climbing anything he can because he is hungry.


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Originally Posted by Skiploder

How does that foot of yours taste? Does it taste better than a plate of crow?

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/1...386744#preview

Toodles,

Skip

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It doesn't say in that study they climbed trees to get the birds. It just says they found birds in their stomach. They collected the snakes from traps on the ground. It also said only 11males and 13females (I think those were the numbers) had prey items in them. Thats a pretty small sample size imo. I'd still like to see a picture or video of a ball python climbing a tree to get a bird.

It also says royal pythons found "in the rainforests of south eastern nigeria". Now im no expert on nigeria but when i hear rainforest i think of like the Amazon Rainforest. Very humid. Thats not a ball pythons natural habitat really. From what I know (which isn't much compared to some of you guys who have been playing the game much longer) they like a hot spot and a cool spot and the humidity around 50%-60%. A rainforest, shooting from the hip, probably has an average humidity of 80%-90%.

Idk, I just find that to be a weak study with not a big enough sample size. I also find it fishy that they're catching ball pythons in a rainforest. Now, prove me wrong, Skip... ;)

Brant, it does seem to be a locale thing. Most of the areas we are used to hearing ball pythons coming from are grass lands. Little if any trees are there. I'm thinking this may be a fringe environment where they are located (in the study) and not the norm.

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People looking to catch ball pythons would be more likely to look in burrows, often during the day..... To increase chances of locating a mostly nocturnal species with minimum effort. So as far as those people are concerned BP's only live in holes in the ground and termite mounds etc.
Gathering ball pythons is not necessarily an indication of any indepth understanding of their behaviour, just understanding of a small part of it.
Saying they won't climb except for thermo-regulation is like claiming they "periscope" because their heads are cold/hot.
That these animals use elevation to examine surroundings or obtain food should be no surprise.
With their body type I doubt anyone is making a claim that balls are even near semi-arboreal, just that the can and will climb for reasons which may escape us.

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Originally Posted by Starsnake

Brant, it does seem to be a locale thing. Most of the areas we are used to hearing ball pythons coming from are grass lands. Little if any trees are there. I'm thinking this may be a fringe environment where they are located (in the study) and not the norm.

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x2 It must be on the very outskirts of the rainforest. Im thinking if I kept my ball at 80-90% humidity i'd be scheduling a vet visit for an RI very soon. Maybe not though, waiting on skip to respond lol...

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Originally Posted by Raven01

That these animals use elevation to examine surroundings or obtain food should be no surprise.
With their body type I doubt anyone is making a claim that balls are even near semi-arboreal, just that the can and will climb for reasons which may escape us.

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Examine their surroundings? Um, no lol. Their vision isn't that good.

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Originally Posted by dkspftw

Wasn't expecting this to turn into such a debate!

Pretty sure the temperatures are fine. It was probably right about 86 where she was hanging out, maybe slightly cooler than the ground with the heat pad, but if she wanted she could easily thermoregulate by moving to the other side of the tank. At one point she was sort of hovering her head in the direction of the heating element, but most of where she was hanging out was an area that would pretty much have an average tank temperature, so not really much different from most places.

And there are like 10 different potential hides in there, so there's no lack of that. She's in one now looking pretty normal.

The humidity was a bit high, so maybe it was that?

And regardless of anthropomorphism (no I don't seriously think the snake wanted to be seen--I did say "almost like") I don't think it's unrealistic that if it were in a new environment, exposed to a lot of confusing stimulus, it might look for a place to survey its surroundings from.

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We apparently live in a world of absolutes - did you not get the mem?. There is no way on God's green earth that a ball python would climb a branch unless it was for one specific reason and one reason only. Without knowing one thing about you or your snake I can account for the behavior of that snake. Remember - think in terms of absolutes!

Haven't you learned a darn thing? Only 50 pythons in one area of Nigeria fluctuate from this norm - or so claim those who spend their lives with their heads in warm holes.

Ball pythons live in tupperware drawers in the wild - preferable 41 or 28 quart with undertank heaters set to precisely 88 to 91 degrees. They feed every 7 days on rodents and rodents only. This talk of tree climbing, bird hunting ball pythons is obviously an anomaly and once we talk to the real experts, the record will be set straight.

Ball pythons live in a large range. The Sub Saharan of Africa encompasses flat plains, low hills and scrub, high plains, forested plateau regions and mountainous terrain. The climate ranges from hot and dry to tropical hot and humid. All of these different factors are found relatively close together. Even in Ghana in which the Volta Basin composes most of its central area. There are ball pythons that live in the forests, hills, and scrub plains. In hot dry areas as well as hot and humid tropical areas.


Benin; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Côte d'Ivoire; Gambia; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Liberia; Mali; Niger; Nigeria; Senegal; Sierra Leone; Sudan; Togo; Uganda

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Examine their surroundings? Um, no lol. Their vision isn't that good.

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They have other sensory organs on their heads.
Mine can't be the only ones that do a fair bit of tongue flicking when periscoping can they?
And, to be honest I have absolutely no idea on how effective at a given range their heat pits are. Obviously, good enough to hunt with at close range with poor vision and poor light. But, I can't make an reasonable guess on if they may or may not work over distances that benefit from that behaviour.

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

It doesn't say in that study they climbed trees to get the birds. It just says they found birds in their stomach. They collected the snakes from traps on the ground. It also said only 11males and 13females (I think those were the numbers) had prey items in them. Thats a pretty small sample size imo. I'd still like to see a picture or video of a ball python climbing a tree to get a bird.

It also says royal pythons found "in the rainforests of south eastern nigeria". Now im no expert on nigeria but when i hear rainforest i think of like the Amazon Rainforest. Very humid. Thats not a ball pythons natural habitat really. From what I know (which isn't much compared to some of you guys who have been playing the game much longer) they like a hot spot and a cool spot and the humidity around 50%-60%. A rainforest, shooting from the hip, probably has an average humidity of 80%-90%.

Idk, I just find that to be a weak study with not a big enough sample size. I also find it fishy that they're catching ball pythons in a rainforest. Now, prove me wrong, Skip... ;)

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Read the paper again Young Master Post Whore. They discuss observed climbing behavior. I'd point out the sentence to you but I think reading the paper again may do you some good.;)

Many of you are assuming this is the only study of it's type out there. Wouldn't it be a hoot if you were wrong?