Ddraig Gwyn - Hobbyist Python Breeder

Basic Information

Common Name: Ball or Royal Python

Scientific Name: Python regius

Native Habitat: Western & Central Africa

Lifespan: With proper care, your snake will live on average 35 years, but it is possible for them to live longer.

Adult Size: They will grow from 3-6ft. Females get larger than males, generally in weight and girth, but also in length.

Experience Level: Excellent for all levels from those new to reptiles through to the experienced keeper.

Husbandry

Below we cover the major points of owning, keeping and caring for your snake.

Temperament

Hatchlings are often very shy, and can be nippy this is often a feeding response not aggression. As they mature your ball/royal python will, generally, become more confident and less flighty. They are inclined to slither away, or roll into a ball more often than bite, this does not mean you are not going to get bitten. Getting bitten is more of a case of when not if, but rest assured even a bite from a large female is nothing to be too concerned about, there will be a little blood but they rarely do they need medical attention. Bites are more often due to the keepers lack of attention than the snake really wanting to eat them.

Snakes do have different personalities, so you will have some snakes that are overly aggressive, or defensive where others are scared of everything, but on the whole Royals are pretty laid back.

Handling

When you first bring home your snake, please put them into their enclosure and leave them alone for at least a week, this is for them to get used to their new home. After this ensure to keep handling to a minimum but do handle on on a regular basis, this is so they get used to human contact and for them to learn you aren’t going to hurt them.

The Enclosure

There are a lot of different ways to keep a your Royal/Ball python, each option has people who will argue and defend their way of keeping their snakes to the death. You will even find differences on the most recommended ways between countries. In the UK the best options for you are either Vivariums or snake racks, if you only keep one snake or a few, vivariums are ideal, you can make them look pleasing to your eye, and they can be a focal point of your room. There are claims that you need to keep the snakes in small setups and increase the enclosure size as they grow, if you put them in a big vivarium from the get go the snake will be spooked and not feed. I’m here to tell you that’s not true, providing you give the right environment with enough hides your snake should do fine. However, if you wish to keep them in a smaller enclosure to start with you can do, find what works for you and your snakes. We keep our snakes in both Vivariums and RUBs (Really Useful Boxes) in a rack system.

An adult would do well in a 48x18x15” vivarium or larger.

This article is not about becoming a breeder, so we wont be covering any points on breeding your snakes here.

Placing items in the enclosure

Hides:
When keeping your snake in a vivarium we advise at least two hides, one either end of the setup, one on the cool end and one in the warm end. Your snake will be able to thermoregulate (manage their temperature) better with a hide on both ends.

Water Dish:
Water is very important for your python, they should access to drinking water at all times. If you are unsure if your tap water is safe then use bottled water, but you can also use a reptile dechlorinator (removes chloramines and chlorine, detoxifies ammonia and nitrites),

Substrate:
There are plenty of substrates you can choose from, but your python needs to have a constant humidity, we’ll talk about that more later on, so substrates that help maintain both moisture and humidity levels are great. We suggest using Orchid bark (if you’re not allergic to it), or Coconut husk such as ReptiChip. You could also use paper towels, Blitz seems to be a good option, for younger snakes and hatchlings, some people like paper. We use Reptichip for our snakes and paper towels for hatchlings when they are first out of the egg, but move them to Reptichip once shed out.

DO NOT USE sand or cedar substrate, cedar is toxic to your snake.

Other Decor:
Royal/Ball Pythons are very shy animals and like enclosures with a lot of hiding places and clutter they can hide amongst, against popular belief they do climb, not very high and they are not that great at it so providing branches and sticks they can climb on makes for good enrichment. Decoration is mostly for your benefit not the snakes. The snake doesn’t care if your plants are pink or green, but we think that a natural looking habitat is much better.

Lighting:
These pythons do not strictly need special or UV lighting and will do just fine with the natural day light cycle in your home, but you can provide if you wish, a UV light of 5% or less. There are possible benefits to having UV but nothing has been scientifically proven.

Feeding

All our snakes are fed on frozen/thawed rats and african soft furs (also known as Multis or ASFs). We start out hatchlings off on rat pups or rat fluffs if they are big enough to take them, if not they get rat pinkies or mouse hoppers. Once they get bigger we start larger meals again of rats and/or ASFs, we do not feed live.

Live feeding is not illegal in the UK as some believe, however causing unnecessary harm and stress to animals is. With our snakes there will be no need for you to use live prey items.

Feeding schedule

Hatchlings and young snakes get fed every 5-7 days, adults get fed every 7-14 days, depending on the prey item taken. If they take a smaller meal we may feed them 7 days later, if its a larger meal we wont feed again for 14 days. Your snakes gain weight fast, but lose weight slowly, try to not over feed you python.

Ball pythons can be fussy eaters, its not uncommon for them to become “hooked” on single type of meal, mice, rats or ASFs, find what works for your snake.

In the wild they will eat rodents and small birds if they can get them, but birds such as chicks and quails give the snakes lose bowls and it’s horrible to clean up. There appears to be more waste from rats than ASFs. ASFs are closer to the rodents they will eat in the wild, but they are more expensive.

Be aware it is also very common for your snake to go on a feeding strike, they can do this if their enclosure or prey item isn’t to their liking. Adults will also go on feeding strikes during their ‘breeding season’ males will stop altogether for long periods, sometimes months, and females tend to want to feed more and then stop while they build their follicles.

Hydration

You should have clean drinking water and bathing water available to your snake at all times. Signs of dehydration can be retained sheds, and “crinkled” looking eyes and/or skin.

Humidity

Royal pythons need their humidity to be around 50-60% in their enclosure. During a shedding phase you should maintain it higher around 70%, this can be done with a humidity hide and by spraying the enclosure down with water.

Hygrometer

A hygrometer allows you to measure the humidity in an enclosure, they are very cheap as well.

Temperature

Hot side should be between 29-33°C (85-91°F) and should not exceed 33°C (93°F), the cool side should be about 26°C (80°F). In a vivarium we suggest using a CHE (Ceramic Heater Emitter), the wattage depends ont he size of the enclosure. If you are using a plastic enclosure the a heat mat is a better option, both should be connected to a thermostat. A mat should be connected to a Reptile Heat Mat thermostat and a CHE should be connected to a Reptile Pulse Thermostat.

Thermometers

In order to make sure that your temperatures are correct in the enclosure, we would suggest you purchase a Digital Infrared thermometer for quick temperature readings, these tend to be more accurate than analogue ones.

DO NOT match your heat stat to the required temperatures, use the temp gun and adjust your stat to the readings on the gun.

Shedding

Snakes will shed their skin in its entirety, unlike use, we shed small bits here and there. Younger pythons shed more often than adults, as the grow faster.

When your python is ready to shed, their scales will look dull and their eyes will start to look milky, this is referred to as “going into blue”. During this shed period your snakes may refuse to eat, this is nothing to worry about, just offer food and if they don’t take it, dispose of the prey item, and then offer again once they have shed out.# As mentioned earlier to help your snake successfully shed, raise the humidity to 70%. If the humidity is correct and your python has no shedding issues you should see your snake shed it skin in a single piece, or close to that.

Cleaning

Cleaning of the enclosure should be done regularly, cleaning and disinfecting with a spray like F10 disinfectant spray is wise. Also daily spot cleaning of poop, and urates. There are no hard and fast rules with complete substrate replacing but we change when a snake leaves a large deposit in the enclosure as it normally means its had a big pee as well.

Problems

Regurgitation

If your Royal/Ball python regurgitates their meal, be sure to wait a couple of feed cycles before offering food again, you can also offer a smaller meal. If your your animal regurgitates again, its time for a vet visit as there could be an underlying problem.

Respiratory Infections (RI)

Respiratory infections need to be treated by a vet, ensure you take your snake to a vet sooner rather than later to diagnose the issue and prescribe antibiotics to treat the infection. The sooner that you get the vet the faster to look at the problem, the sooner it will clear up and run less risk of killing your snake. If your snake develops a respiratory infection, speak to your your vet and other experienced keepers about your setup and regime to ensure you’re doing the best you can.

A bad shed

If your Ball python has stuck shed, first thing to do it check that your humidity is correct in their enclosure. There are a few ways to help remove stuck shed, putting your snake into a damp pillow case for 20-30 minutes, but the preferred method we use is to bathe the snake in warm water in a RUB/TUB with a lid for 30 minutes. Then take the snake out and depending where the stuck shed is you can gently rub the shed until it comes off. If it is around the face, such as a stuck eye cap, you can use a cotton bud or ear bud to gently wipe the skin or eye cap away, this takes time and patience, do not rush it. If the stuck shed becomes infected or your can’t remove it, its another trip to the vets, or to an experienced keeper who can help.

Scale Rot

If your python has a rash or blisters this could be scale rot. If there is a smell of decay and holes in the scales, then your snake may have scale rot. Scale rot is typically due to the humidity being way too high, or the substrate being too wet for long periods. Depending on the extent of the rot you can treat yourself or visit a vet for antibiotics. If treating yourself you need to move your snake to a dry enclosure, use a dry substrate such as paper towels. clean the snake down daily, firstly clean with a saline solution, then rub the effected area with with Tamodine, we have successfully treated a bad case of scale rot using the antiseptic cream Savlon, the active ingredient is chlorhexidine gluconate which is reptile safe. After treating the area with antiseptic cream you then want to provide an antimicrobial spray, we use Vetericyn Wound and Skincare It will take a few weeks to clear up, it can take longer depending on extent of the problem, during this period the snake will shed more often than normal. Also be aware the damage can leave permanent scaring to your animal.

Mites

Mites are a real pain the hobby, you can get them from a new animal, by visiting a pet shop, an expo’ or even another keeper.

Prevention:
Prevention is always better than cure, and getting rid of mites can be a hard, especially if you have a large collection. Try to not wear the same clothing around your animals after visiting one of the places mentioned above. It’s a good idea to remove those clothes when you get home and wash them, also showering before going near your collection can be a wise move.

When you have a new animal coming into your collection, no matter on the source of the animal it is good practice to quarantine the snake away from your collection, if you can.

When you get a new snake home, you can soak the snake in warm water, like you would for stuck shed, this gives them chance to have a drink and will kill some of the mites if they had any. After a 15minute bath, you can add warm water to bring up the temp, add a little dish soap to the water and leave the snake soak for a further 30-45 minutes. The soap breaks the hydrogen bonding in the water and enables the water to get into the nooks and crannies of the snake, and flush out any mites. Now dry your snake with paper towels and look for mites on the towels and in the water. Dispose of the towels outside away from the snakes. We then suggest spraying new snakes down with Beaphar Mite Spray this will kill any remaining mites. Also keep your snake on paper towels when you first get them, you can see if there are any mites coming off the snake much easier.

Signs and Symptoms:
If your snake is spending all their time water bowl a lot and you see black dots floating in the water, or crawling around the snake or enclosure, then you may have a snake with mites. Also, you can check their scales to see if there are any raised scales with mites hiding, it is easier to see them on lighter morphs than darker morphs. Running your hand down the snake and looking for mites on your hands can also help to see if they have mites. The mites like to hang around the head, near the eyes and the fold under the jaw of the snake.

Treatment:
If you do find mites on a snake follow the steps above for a new snake coming into the collection, be sure to also clean down the enclosure, throw away any substrate, and clean all decor, hides and water bowls. A good tip is to also spray down the outside and surrounding area with a mite spray, like HabiStat Callington Mite Spray as mites can and will travel, they can survive for up to three weeks without feeding on a snake, so you may clean every thing and rid your snake of hitch hiking mites, and then get reinfected by a mite that was out for a stroll when you treated the enclosure.