The royal python , or spherical python , or python-ball [1] ( lat. Python regius ) is a poisonous snake from the genus of real pythons , common in Africa .
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Content
Description
Appearance
One of the smallest pythons, reaches a length of 1.2-1.5 m. The body is thick, powerful with a short tail. A large, wide head is well delimited from the neck. The pattern on the body consists of alternating irregular light brown and dark brown or almost black spots and stripes, in some places separated by a light border. The belly is white or cream in color, sometimes with scattered small dark spots.
Distribution
Distributed in West and Central Africa . The species range covers Senegal , Mali , Guinea-Bissau , Guinea , Sierra Leone , Liberia , Côte d'Ivoire , Ghana , Benin , Niger , Nigeria , Cameroon , Chad , Central African Republic , Sudan and Uganda .
Lifestyle
It inhabits equatorial forests and savannahs . Mostly nocturnal animal . Spends the day in shelters (burrows, hollows, fallen leaves), and goes hunting at night or at dusk. Swims well and willingly goes into the water. Can climb trees. In case of danger, it turns into a tight ball, hiding its head inside the rings of the body. For this characteristic feature of the royal python is sometimes called "python ball", or "python ball" ( English Ball Python ).
Nutrition
The diet of royal pythons in the wild consists mainly of small mammals such as rats , African striped mice , and shrews . Sometimes it eats birds .
Reproduction
Both males and females of pythons have claws ( rudiments of the hind limbs) on both sides of the cloacal opening, but in males these claws are larger. Females, as a rule, are somewhat larger than males. Mating takes place in June – November. Pregnancy lasts 120-140 days, after which the female lays from 3 to 11 (usually 4-6) eggs 75-80x55-60 mm in size. The female curls up around the masonry and “incubates” it for 68–90 days. When hatching, young pythons reach an average body length of 43 cm and a mass of about 46–47 g.
Captivity
General Information
Today, the royal python for lovers of exotic pets is one of the most popular snakes. Under natural conditions, this species of snake lives in western Africa. His favorite habitat is savannas and open forests near the water, in which snakes escape from the heat, but still they spend most of their time in burrows. The royal python is active in the evening and at night, it is then that it preys on birds, lizards, small mammals.
In captivity with good care, royal pythons feel very comfortable, they are not picky. They can bite, but this is more rare than usual, since this form of protection is resorted to only in emergency cases, usually curled up in a tight ball - a ball, for which the royal python is also called the "ball python".
Life expectancy: in the wild - 10 years, at home they live up to 30-40 years.
Puberty - at the age of 3-5 years.
Benefits
one of the smallest of the representatives of pythons;
- has a beautiful color;
- unpretentious in content;
- non-aggressive, peaceful.
Weaknesses
- pythons are mainly nocturnal animals, so they spend part of the day in shelters.
Description
The royal python has a muscular body, its diameter is from 10 to 15 cm, on the head there is a rather large spot in the form of a triangle, there are lateral eye-eye stripes, between them there is a yellow stripe. The color is dominated by black, beige and yellow, the stripes can be varied, go on the sides. Due to its bright extraordinary color, this species of pythons got its name - royal.
Like many snakes, the royal python has a long, forked tongue. Females differ from males in size, they are slightly longer - from 1.2 to 1.8 m, and males - 1 m. Pythons grow quickly, in the first three years of life they grow 30 cm annually.
Contents
The royal python is one of those who is quite easy to maintain, taking care of it will not be difficult for you. They need a spacious glass or plastic terrarium, at a young age (until they grow to 90 cm) can be kept in a 35-liter terrarium, and then, when they grow up, it is worth increasing their place of residence. The perimeter of their "apartment" should exceed the length of the residents at least twice, so that was where to turn around.
A prerequisite for keeping this snake at home is having a lid on the terrarium, because you don’t want your pet to go for a walk around the room. In addition, the cover must have openings for ventilation. For bedding, you can use paper towels, a newspaper, an artificial substrate, but wood sawdust will definitely not suit you for this purpose.
Since in nature the royal python loves to hide, but even in captivity it is necessary to create such secluded places for him. The optimum temperature for the life of the python is 25-29 ° C during the day and at night - 20-23 ° C. Heating mats can be used for heating. To bathe a pet, you need to make a small pond in his dwelling; make sure that the water in it is always clean.
Feeding
A special moment in the care of royal pythons is nutrition. They can be fed with frozen mice, rats, chickens, hamsters, live animals can be fed, provided they are previously stunned to avoid injuries. The frequency of feeding depends on the age and size of the python. For young people - once every five days, for adults only 1 time in 10 days is enough. And do not forget about vitamin supplements so that your pet receives all the substances necessary for health.
Security
Royal pythons are so calm that even small children can easily and safely contain them as pets.
- Royal python morphs
Royal python of natural coloring ("normal")
Royal python albino ("albino")
Royal python's mottled colors include a pure white skin surface (Pied ball morph)
"Platinum morphism" of the royal python
Royal python — Hypomelanist (orange ghost morph)
Royal python, spider morph
Royal python, woma morph
See also
- Real pythons
- Pythons
- Tiger python
- Light tiger python
- Ceylon Tiger Python
Notes
- ↑ Ananyeva N. B. , Borkin L. Ya. , Darevsky I.S. , Orlov N.L. The five-language dictionary of animal names. Amphibians and reptiles. Latin, Russian, English, German, French. / edited by Acad. V. E. Sokolova . - M .: Rus. Yaz., 1988 .-- S. 276. - 10,500 copies. - ISBN 5-200-00232-X .
Literature
- Darevsky I.S., Orlov N.L. Rare and endangered animals. Amphibians and reptiles: Ref. allowance. - M .: Higher. Shk., 1988 .-- S. 322-323.
- The life of animals in 7 tons / Ch. Editor V.E. Sokolov. T. 5. Amphibians and reptiles. / A. G. Bannikov, I. S. Darevsky, M. N. Denisova and others; under the editorship of A. G. Bannikova - 2nd ed., Rev. - M .: Education, 1985. - S. 268-269.