The following are my personal observations after almost a decade of keeping ball pythons. My comments are in no way intended to be scientific.
When you consider that a BP's brain is about the size of a green pea, it shouldn't be suprising that they don't do much higher cognitive thinking. It's pretty obvious to me that they're almost purely instinctual in nature. Having said that I do believe they recognize their keepers, both by smell, which I believe to be highly developed, and by sight to a lesser degree.
I've also come to believe that BP's live in the moment, and in modes such as sleeping mode, hunting mode, eating mode, breeding mode, stress mode, being handled mode, etc. As keepers I belive it's important to recognize these modes and understand the behavior that goes with each one.
It's also obvious to me that while not classically intelligent, every BP has a distinct personality. I think it's human nature to belive that the ones who are more adventurous and outgoing are the most intelligent.
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