Royal Python care
Description:
Royal Pythons (Python regius) are also known as Ball Pythons due to their defensive behaviour of putting themselves into a tight ball when they feel threatened.
On average, females will tend to reach around 3-5ft, whereas males generally reach around 2-3ft .
The wild type royal python are shades of brown, with black, white & even yellows, however there are now many colour & pattern morphs available in the Pet Trade. Some of these include Pastel, Fire, Albino, Pied, Clown, Desert Ghost, Puzzle, Axanthic, Red Stripe, Confusion, Spotnose, Leopard…the list goes on.
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Lifespan:
Pet royal pythons have the potential to live up to 20-30 years old, although 40 years has been known.
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Origin & Habitat:
Royal Pythons are found in Western, Eastern & Central Africa.
They are a terrestrial species spending the majority of their time on the ground of forest floors & the grassy savannahs in their natural habitat, however, if given branches or similar inside their enclosure, they will also appreciate the opportunity to climb low levels.
Active at night, they tend to spend most of the day hidden away.
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Temperament:
With the odd exception, royal pythons are calm, docile & placid snakes that are hardy & thrive very well in captivity. They are usually a good choice for a beginner.
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Housing:
There are several ways to house royal pythons, from a simple plastic tub, professional racking systems, to a wooden terrarium or vivarium.
In the wild, royal pythons hide themselves away in burrows & tight spaces, so this needs to be considered with their captive housing requirements… very often, if you give a royal python a very large enclosure compared to their size, it can cause them to become stressed which often leads to them not feeding.
The size of the required housing depends on the size of the snake. Hatchlings are often started off in plastic tubs or wooden terrariums/vivariums approx 18-24” in length. Popular plastic tub examples used for hatchlings are the Vision V18 tubs seen in professional racking systems & the 4ltr Really Useful Boxes with lockable lids.
Again there are a few options for the housing of adults depending on whether you wanted to choose a wooden vivarium or plastic tub/racking system. For wooden vivariums, we would advise a 3-4ft vivarium with enough height that heating from above can be installed (usually between 18-24”). Alternatively if plastic housing or a racking system is the choice of enclosure, popular adult tub sizes include the Vision V70, Freedom Breeder FB70 & Really Useful Boxes 33ltr, 50ltr & 70ltr.
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Heating:
Royal Pythons require a warm & a cool side to their enclosure in order for them to thermoregulate their body temperature.
Heat can be provided by means of a Heat Mat, Ceramic Heat Emitter or Deep Heat Projector. Heat mats should cover between a third & half of the floor area (As Royal Pythons are heavy bodied snakes, they should never come into contact with a heat mat as prolonged periods on a heat mat can lead to thermal blocking which causes a build up of heat & in turn can lead to burns to your snake. If using a heat mat with plastic tub housing or racking systems, the heat mat would be placed under the plastic tub. In a vivarium, a heat mat should be placed in a heat mat holder or a false floor installed allowing a couple millimetres gap of air flow. NB: The heat source should be controlled by a suitable thermostat & the temperature checked regularly with thermometers. If you choose to use a Ceramic Heat Emitter or Deep Heat Projector, a suitable Heat Guard Cage will be required to fit over the heat source to stop the snake from coming into direct contact with it & potentially burning itself (Ceramics can be run on a Pulse stat, a deep heat projector on a dimming thermostat. Neither heat option produces any visible light).
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Temperature:
The ideal temperature gradient for your royal pythons enclosure is 26-33°C (79-92°F). Basking Temperature should be between 31-33°C (88-92°F).
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Light & UVB:
Royal Pythons should have a distinct day/night cycle.
If you are providing vivarium safe lighting in your snakes enclosure, it is recommended to do a 12 hour on, 12 hour off cycle.
Although UVB is not essential for your Royal Python, more recent studies have shown that it is beneficial for the snakes health. Royal Pythons inhabit Ferguson Zone 1, meaning they are Crepuscular or Shade Dwellers, a UV index ranging from 0-1.4.
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Water:
Water should be given in a reasonable sized bowl. It is advisable to use a fairly heavy bowl to prevent your snake tipping it over. The bowl should be placed in the cool side of the vivarium. If it is placed on the warm side this could create too much humidity which could lead to a respiratory infection & also the bowl could dry out quickly.
Water can also help your snake during shedding. Whilst in shed it is not uncommon to find your snake bathing in the water.
If the snake defecates in its water bowl, the bowl must be cleaned and disinfected immediately.
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Hides:
Royal Pythons require a place to hide otherwise they can get stressed. If possible, provide two hides, one on the warm side & one on the cooler side so they have a choice (In racking systems a hide may not be necessary as the back of the rack is often shaded giving the snake the feel of being in a burrow).
Hides can be made from anything such as a toilet roll tube, cardboard box or the specifically made resin/wood/ceramic reptile hides which can be found in store.
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Shedding:
All snakes go through the shedding process, sometimes also referred to as sloughing of the skin. The shedding process will happen periodically throughout the year, with hatchlings & younger snakes going through it more often as they are growing.
Throughout the shedding process your snake will exhibit different changes to its normal appearance. This will include a dulling of your snakes skin colour, general inactivity often staying in a hide and their eyes will turn a bluish grey colour. At this time your Royal Python may refuse a feed. Whilst your snake is in shed it is advisable to not handle it as their vision is obscured by the bluish grey membrane covering its eyes and they may feel more insecure than usual, therefore more likely to be defensive.
Royal Pythons generally need a little higher humidity whilst going through the shedding process. One thing that can be done to help is by placing a larger water bowl in the vivarium so that your snake has the opportunity to soak itself if desired. Another is by lightly misting the enclosure 1-2 times a day with water to help raise the humidity. And lastly is to provide a moist box in the enclosure. This can be a plastic box with a hole cut in the top filled with damp sphagnum moss. Your Royal Python should appreciate the extra humidity and it will make the process of removing its skin a lot easier.
When a snake starts to shed its skin it usually starts by rubbing its head on hides, décor or the water bowl to loosen the skin. Once it has worked its head free it will continue to crawl its way out of the old skin by rolling it inside out as it moves until it is completely free of the skin. The skin usually comes off in one piece but it is not unusual to have breaks in it or find it in a few pieces. Once your snake has shed its skin, the skin should be removed from the enclosure along with any faeces that usually accompanies the shedding process. You should check your snake to ensure that the shed skin has successfully been removed, taking particular notice that the eye caps and tail end have not been retained. If necessary bathe your snake and remove any patches of skin that have not been shed, to avoid infection or death of the tissue below it. If you are worried about removing any retained skin, please contact us so that we can help get this off for you.
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Feeding:
Hatchling Royal Pythons will generally start off on Mice Fluffs/Hoppers or Rat Pups/Fluffs every 5-7 days gradually moving up in sizes as the snake grows. We try to get our royal pythons on rats as soon as possible due to rats growing larger than mice & it will make it easier for feeding larger royal pythons on just one rat food item rather than trying to get it to take several smaller mice to grow/maintain its weight.
The size of the rodent should be roughly the same or a little smaller in thickness to that of the thickest part of the snakes body. If you are unsure, please contact us for advice.
Frozen rodents should be defrosted either at room temperature or in luke warm water. Never defrost rodents in boiling water or the microwave as it is likely to start cooking the rodent which could put your snake off of feeding on it or you will end up with a horrible mess when the snake attempts to eat it.
We recommend not handling your snake the same day that you are going to feed it as this can sometimes put them off of feeding. Likewise, you should not handle your snake for a minimum of 48 hours after feeding in order to reduce the chance of it regurgitating its meal.
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Sexing:
There are two ways that are most accurate for sexing snakes which are Popping or Probing. Popping is usually done in Hatchlings whereas Probing is done in grown on/adult snakes. Either technique should only be done by an experienced snake keeper or specialist reptile shop that know what they are doing as injury can be caused to your snake if not done correctly.