Albino Ball Python

1 Overview

The albino ball python ranges across central and west Africa, from Senegal to Uganda, in savanna and woodland alike, equally at home in trees and on the ground. It favours dim light and becomes active at dawn and dusk. In Europe it is called the ‘royal python’, and in the United States the ‘ball python’ — named for its habit of curling into a tight ball with the head tucked safely in the centre when nervous. Like many pythons, it is gentle.

Chinese Name: Bai Hua Qiu Mang (Albino Ball Python)

English Name: Albino Ball Python (Royal Python)

Binomial: Python regius (albino morph)

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptilia

Order: Squamata

Family: Pythonidae

Genus: Python

Distribution: west and central Africa, Senegal to Uganda.

2 Captive Habitat

Temperature is the key requirement: ball pythons like warmth and fear cold. The optimum is 25 to 30°C. They prefer dim light and are active at dawn and dusk.

Within 25 to 30°C they feed and grow normally; below 24°C appetite and activity drop; below 15°C they stop eating and become prone to illness; below 10°C death is possible. When stressed they curl into a tight ball with the head hidden in the centre. Like other pythons, they are gentle.

3 Feeding

Its diet is essentially that of the ordinary ball python: mainly small rodents and small birds. In captivity, size the prey to the snake and keep nutrition balanced to raise a healthy animal.

Small individuals take pinkies or slightly larger mice, with prey size increased as they grow. Birds such as chicks or ducklings can be offered, but guard against the beak and claws injuring the python. Always match mouse size to the snake — there are documented cases of an adult mouse killing a juvenile ball python.