Quote Originally Posted by yl4870 View Post
Would that mean that they have much higher rates of metabolism?
While I do not know if anyone has done a study on the metabolisms of ball pythons (have they??) . . . Based on my own observations, having kept temperate snakes, honestly, the opposite appears to be true.

Ball pythons appear, to me, to have a slower metabolism than the temperate snakes I've kept when using rate of pooping as a measure. I'm mostly out of temperate snakes now, but I still have my old rosy boa -- even eating sparingly, she poops more than the balls. They also poop less frequently than Angolan and carpet pythons. My BPs poop about once a month; Angolans and the rosy (other than in winter), once a week to just over a week; my carpet poops about 2-3 weeks, but is on a 4-week feeding shedule. Carpet python poop, is a lot more BP poop in relation to their body size than what the Angolans and the rosy leave. I don't have any now, but as an example of a really high metabolism, temperate snake, garters I swear go daily.

I know that's not scientific, but digestion is something I can observe at home. Maybe someone else can chime in.