Ball Python.. a semi arboreal snake

[Zincubus]

Sorry for a long winded 'cut and paste ' but I found this article to be very interesting and convinced me to put branches in with my Royal pythons - they climb in the branches every evening apart apart from shed time ...


Anyways ..


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As regards climbing, "exploring" and Royal Python habitat use... people seem to have the mistaken assumption that these snakes are nocturnal and fossorial. Neither is entirely true. This idea has been bandied about for a few decades because the snakes aestivate in burrows during the hottest parts of the year, and this is when they are easiest for the trappers to locate. This does not mean they spend their whole lives underground, nor does it mean they are "ambush predators" that sit and wait most of their lives - on the contrary they are surprisingly active "search hunters" that happen to do most of their hunting at night and, in the case of adult females, hunt in burrows for rodents.

Males and smaller animals exhibit a completely different mode of hunting - they climb trees and target a completely different source of food. We know this from a variety of sources:

"Survey of the status and management of the Royal Python (Python regius) in Ghana" lists pythons being found in trees, although points out that the species is very adaptable to the point of being semi-invasive and responds well to anthropogenic disturbance. It also mentions a specimen being found up a tree.

"Food resource partitioning of a community of snakes in a swamp rainforest of south-eastern Nigeria" lists woodpeckers and warblers (both consummately arboreal species that do not spend much if any time on the ground) as among the most numerous prey retrieved from Royal Python stomach (Cisticola warblers were the single prey genus that had the highest number found in Royal Pythons during the survey).

"Why do males and females of Python regius differ in parasite load" points out that males (which are more arboreal) carry different and much higher parasite loads than females, possibly as a result of the differences in habitat use.

"Jebels By Moonlight" lists a first hand observation of a Royal Python hunting in a tree in Sudan.

"Sexual size dimorphism and natural history traits are correlated with intersexual dietary divergence in royal pythons (python regius) from the rainforests of southeastern Nigeria" - half of the male pythons encountered over a two year period were found on trees. The diet of male pythons under a certain size had a huge percentage of birds and arboreal mammals.

"Species trade and conservation: Snake trade and conservation management (Serpentes.spp.)
An assessment of the impact of the pet trade on five CITES-Appendix II case studies" lists the species as being both terrestrial and tree-dwelling animals.

The fact is Royal Pythons are extraordinarily adaptive snakes that can tolerate a wide variety of habitats and are not negatively affected by anthropogenic change to the same extent as many other reptiles are. They can be terrestrial AND semi-arboreal depending on the habitats they inhabit, although according to studies by authors such as Luca Luiselli they reach their highest population densities in forested areas as opposed to grassland.

It is worth noting that males especially seem to have adapted to fit a different niche to the larger females to the point that diet composition is almost totally different in several studies, and includes a significant percentage of birds and arboreal mammals that are most likely being stalked and captured in trees at night. They are also picking up a completely different parasite load because of this!

Within the confines of a terrarium, there is no reason whatsoever to not provide at least one or two branches for the snake to climb on. Nor is there no reason not to provide overhead lighting or UV. It is simply common sense. To quote Frances Baines, "Why, for example, do we have to find a 1961 book on African Reptiles (by G. S. Cansdale) to find that the Royal Python ***8220;in the wild is often encountered sunning in bright light***8221;? (quoted by Sillman, A.J., Carver, J.K. and Loew, E.R., 1999. The photoreceptors and visual pigments in the retina of a boid snake, the ball python (Python regius). Journal of Experimental Biology, 202(14), pp.1931-1938.

(Another good point there - Royal Pythons see UV very well. That is not really something you would expect a nocturnal animal to do).

Personally I think if people like the security and humidity of a tub for their Royals - put one with an access hole inside the vivarium and let the animal decide where it wants to be. That pretty much approximates a burrow with a constant temperature and humidity in a much drier environment. If the snakes like security and confined spaces soooooooo much, they surely would never come out, right?

Having tried this myself, and having seen first hand other people's enclosures offering a choice of places to climb, correct lighting, and an enriched habitat - along with seeing how the snakes themselves respond to it - I simply cannot see how anybody thinks a sterile tub with newspaper compares."




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