Research question.

[Bcycling]

So my daughter is doing a research project and is thinking about doing it on ball pythons. Here is the catch, it has to be a rainforest animal. I didn't think ball pythons were considered rainforest animals, but then she showed me this link. Is that accurate about them living in the rainforest?

http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/Biology/lab...allpython.html

[Trisnake]

They're mostly savannah dwellers but I guess their range does extend into the rainforest. I don't think it would be an accurate representation of their normal living conditions however...

[Bcycling]

That's what I was thinking when I read that. Kinda like a fringe animal

[Trisnake]

She could try boa constrictors if she's interested? Most major species are very much rainforest dwellers

[Coluber42]

She could ask the teacher if that's OK. But one thing to think about is that since ball pythons are such popular pets, it can be hard to dig up good information about their behavior in the wild because you have to sift through so much stuff about how to keep them in captivity. For a research project, "good information" does not consist of people on forums saying "Oh, everyone knows they live in termite mounds in savannahs". It means finding articles about field research in their natural habitats and their role in the ecosystems they live in. That stuff is out there, but for a school kid presumably using Google and the public library, it might be easier to pick an animal like a green tree python or tree boa. People do keep them as pets, but I would guess that a higher percentage of the stuff you find about them will be about their life in the wild and not just about their life in captivity.

[bcr229]

She would probably do better picking BCI over ball pythons for her research project as there does seem to be a lot more information available about them. They're also pretty popular as pets.