habitat

[tweets_4611]

Ball pythons origanally come from Africa, right? Now before I get started, I have my tank at 82 on the cool side and 92-96 warm side. I just bumped up her humidity b/c she's getting ready to shed. With that aside, I know it gets considerably hotter than 95 in Africa, and I didn't think it was very humid there. It just seems like a very dry place to me (I've never been but still...). I started thinking about this when my mom started asking me these questions and I didn't know any of the answers. I know they will get burned if it's too hot, but do they burn often in the wild? And what made people start upping the humidity, since it seems so dry where they are actually from?

I'm not going to change any of my settings, but I was just curious as to where these ideals came from. ^_^

[sweety314]

perhaps, but the snake in the wild can self-regulate. If it gets too cold he goes out in the sun, too hot, deeper into the shadows or the termite mounds. Mounds where they live are warm and humid.

[harfieldthethirsty]

Africa is a huge continent with several different climates. Kilaminjaro has snow, while north africa is desert. I think balls are from central and west africa which is the perfect climate for them.

[frankykeno]

I think Shannon that the point is not to duplicate conditions in the wild in Africa. That's basically impossible in a captive environment. I was not around at the beginning of the captive keeping of ball pythons so I can only assume that through trial and error it was determined what temps and humidity work best for them in the enclosed confines of a tub or tank. Personally I feel blessed to have access to the combined wisdom that's been gained by those pioneers of captive keeping of p. regius and thank them for sharing so much with us so that we can watch our own snakes thrive in our care today.