Ball or Burmese python?

Discussion in 'Other Pythons' started by Whitts94, Sep 28, 2014.

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Ball or Burmese python?

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  1. Whitts94

    Whitts94 Embryo

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    hi all im new to this and am after some advice, I have taken this fella on as a friend was moving away hes 3 foot 10 and very nippy (has tried biting me a few times only caught me once lol) im trying to find out what type of python he / she is poss age etc.

    thanks
     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  3. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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    Definitely a ball python (Python regius).

    You won't be able to tell the gender accurately without probing the animal, which is a task best left to someone with experience to prevent harming him/her. I would just name it what you want and arbitrarily assign it a gender, lol.

    As for age, this is hard to tell. Generally speaking, the adult size of a male is smaller than females (males usually 3.5-4.5ft, females usually 4-5.5ft... but there can be exceptions). It's difficult to determine age without knowing how long the previous owner had the animal and what kind of care it was given. A 3yr old snake raised slowly might look like a powerfed 2yr old... And a 5yr old animal might be indistinguishable form a 10yr old. Given the photos and size it looks like a subadult to adult male or subadult female, but this is purely speculation on my part.

    Most importantly, it is a ball python. That gives you the fundamental starting point to start doing research to provide proper care for it. Let it settle into your new home for a couple of weeks before handling again... Stress can sometimes bring out defensive behavior. Provide proper husbandry, keep working with him/her, take baby steps, and make every handling experience as calming and stress-free as possible. It will probably come around and eventually lose some of that nippiness and learn to tolerate handling if it associates your interactions with positive experiences that don't result in harm... Also, be persistent during handling sessions even if it tries to bite. You don't want it to associate striking and displays with you leaving it alone (this is what it ultimately wants, afterall... at least until it learns you mean it no harm).
     

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