Who says they don't appreciate height?!

[Skiploder]

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.

Oh noes!

Not more facts!

Make it stop!

[majorleaguereptiles]

The more and more ball pythons I get and the more I see (I've seen as many as 20,000 ball pythons at one time in rack systems), with temperatures ranging from 86 on the hot side and 80 on the cool side, I would say 90% or more rest on the cool side. This has me believe most captive temperatures are actually warmer than they probably need to be on a given basis. I do believe ball pythons need access to heat for certain reasons, and its probably better to air on the safe side when people cant regulate room temperatures to avoid the cold. As I said before, if one is perched in a log in a aquarium, I really believe it's either to escape the heat of a heat pad or to gain heat from a heat lamp. I don't think they are scoping out their surroundings or hoping a bird comes by. I just don't but I'm definitely going to ask people who have caught thousands of ball pythons to share any info on arboreal bps.

[TessadasExotics]

The geographical range of ball pythons.

[Mike41793]

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?

My iphone was bugging out and not loading the last page. Yes, i see where it said it now.

I find this to be pretty interesting. Ball pythons being found in "one of the wettest areas in the world". So if they can survive there, that tells me that scale rot and RI's are over dramatized by a lot of keepers. Possibly to just scare new owners or because they really don't know the hardiness of the snakes? Though I'm sure the immune systems of the ball pythons we keep aren't quite as strong as the wild ones, so maybe not.

[majorleaguereptiles]

The geographical range of ball pythons.

Crazy to think only 3 of those countries routinely export ball pythons too. So many untouched specimens out there. Maybe some are truly arboreal as I have firmly argued. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but I would love to see more data if Skiploader has more studies to share. This is always a learning experience!

[Mike41793]

Crazy to think only 3 of those countries routinely export ball pythons too. So many untouched specimens out there. Maybe some are truly arboreal as I have firmly argued. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but I would love to see more data if Skiploader has more studies to share. This is always a learning experience!

x2! I'm loving this thread.

I would think Ball pythons living in a tropical rainforest would be really different than the balls living in the savannah/scrub lands of ghana/benin/togo. If you asked me an hour ago if ball pythons could live in a swampy rainforest i would have said no. Limited access to rodent dens, RI's due to high humidity, scale rot from being kept too wet.

[TessadasExotics]

My iphone was bugging out and not loading the last page. Yes, i see where it said it now.

I find this to be pretty interesting. Ball pythons being found in "one of the wettest areas in the world". So if they can survive there, that tells me that scale rot and RI's are over dramatized by a lot of keepers. Possibly to just scare new owners or because they really don't know the hardiness of the snakes? Though I'm sure the immune systems of the ball pythons we keep aren't quite as strong as the wild ones, so maybe not.

Belly/scale rot and RI's are serious issues. Even though they may live in tropical areas they can NOT stay in wet living conditions. Living in confined dirty tubs/tanks can and will cause detrimental issues. It is not a dramatization.

[Mike41793]

Belly/scale rot and RI's are serious issues. Even though they may live in tropical areas they can NOT stay in wet living conditions. Living in confined dirty tubs/tanks can and will cause detrimental issues. It is not a dramatization.

Don't worry, I'm not drowning them or anything lol. I was just raising a point. A dirty wet tub is different from a clean wet tub though, right? How do they stay dry in a rainforest?

[TessadasExotics]

x2! I'm loving this thread.

I would think Ball pythons living in a tropical rainforest would be really different than the balls living in the savannah/scrub lands of ghana/benin/togo.

Ghana, Benin, and Togo are not just scrub lands. They are composed of mountainous ranges, forests, hills and scrub plains.

Ghana alone has 4 different areas: The low plains, Ashanti uplands, Volta basin and the high plains.

Don't worry, I'm not drowning them or anything lol. I was just raising a point. A dirty wet tub is different from a clean wet tub though, right? How do they stay dry in a rainforest?

They dont live in swamps. lol

[Mike41793]

They dont live in swamps. lol

Thats not what that study says.