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Tropical terrestrial snake

Ball python

Python regius

Kept the same way as the blood python, boa constrictor and Brazilian rainbow boa, so they share one kit: the same heat, light, and humidity, sized to the animal.

Build a ball python setup See the gear
Photograph of a Ball python
Photograph by HCA ( talk ), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Care sheet

What it needs

We have taken these figures from published sources and are still checking them against our own experience. Treat them as a guide, and ask us before you buy.

Basking surface
30 to 33°C Measured on the surface the animal lies on, not in the air.
Daytime air
26 to 31°C The cool end, away from the lamp.
Night air
21 to 26°C
UV index at the basking spot
1.1 to 3 Zones 1 to 2. Crepuscular or shade dweller, thermal conformer
Humidity
50 to 80%
Daylight hours
12 h in summer, 12 h in winter
Winter
Cooling A cooler period: activity and feeding drop, but the animal stays awake.
Where it lives
Forest floor, Grassland or savanna
Adult length
100 to 183 cm
What it eats
Carnivore
When it is active
Nocturnal
How it lives
Terrestrial
Typical captive life
20 years
Longest recorded life
48 years A record from the literature, not what to expect. Most animals live well short of it.

Our reading of the literature, not veterinary advice. Animals vary, and so do rooms, so take these figures, and any setup the builder puts together, as a starting point, and ask a reptile vet about your own animal. Where the figures come from.

From the catalogue

Gear that suits a ball python

Chosen for tropical terrestrial snake. The setup builder puts the whole kit together, sized to the animal, with the reason for each piece.

Build the whole kit

Same care group

Kept the same way

Where it comes from

Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea (Conakry), Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Liberia, Togo, Benin, SW Niger (near the border of Benin), Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, N Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Mali, Uganda, Republic of South Sudan (RSS) (Owen 1956)

Breeding: oviparous or viviparous (Tinkle & Gibbons 1977)

Where the figures come from