It rolls into a ball
When frightened it coils into a tight ball with its head hidden in the middle. In America it is called the ball python.
Snakes, shells and frogs · Time every day
Royal python
Snake · from West and central Africa
A thick-bodied, dark brown snake with large tan blotches along its sides and a small, neat head.
- Size
- 1 to 1.5m long
- Lives for
- 20 to 30 years
- Suits
- Patient owners: a shy, slow-moving snake
Slides after you, slow and heavy. Move your pointer and see.
Good to know
Six things about the royal python
Worn by royalty
African rulers are said to have worn live pythons as jewellery, which gave it its name.
It can see heat
Pits along its lips sense the warmth of a mouse in total darkness.
The smallest African python
At around a metre and a quarter it is small for a python, and easy to hold.
It goes off its food
A royal python can refuse to eat for months and come to no harm, which worries new owners.
Thirty years
It commonly lives for more than twenty years, and one in a zoo reached sixty.
The real thing
Photos of the royal python
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
Looking after one
It needs a warm, fairly humid tank with snug hiding places, a heat mat or lamp on a thermostat, and a thawed mouse or small rat every week or two.
Before you get one
It is docile and seldom bites, but it can be a fussy eater and is a commitment of thirty years.
Keep going
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