Are ball pythons a domesticated species?

[ZinniaZ]

however I tend to think of animals FOUND in my basement where I have been breeding, feeding and caring for them through many generations to NOT be wild animals.

So if you find a couple of baby foxes, they are domestic if you care for them feed them and breed them in your basement?

I have not heard a reasonable argument on EITHER side of the argument about why they either should or should not be considered domesticated.

Actually, I think there have been several good points, including mine above about the cooperative relationship between domesticated animals and humans. Domestication is not something that happens over the course of fifty years. It is a longer process and it is about the society of each species integrating with each other. Domestication is almost a beneficially parasitic relationship. The domesticated animal cannot thrive without human intervention and the humans depend on the domesticated species.

And I would put forth that this IS a good reason to suspect that they are a domesticated species. You can NOT selectively breed wild animals. Wild animals will choose their own mates. Only a domesticated animal could be forced to mate with another that was not of it's own choosing.

You most certainly can. You can grab a deer out of the wild, grab another and put them together and have them breed. Wild vs domesticated is not as simple as "Does the animal live in the wild or in someoene's house?" It is much more complex than that.