Treated Like Royalty: Evidence-Based Care for Royal/Ball Pythons
Royal or ‘ball’ pythons are now considered the most popular pet snakes on the planet. Their docile temperaments, straightforward care requirements and rich morph market have accelerated this growth. Unfortunately, controversy still shrouds the best practice guidelines for royal python husbandry which has led to binary perspectives on their care. Without breeders who prioritise practicality to produce captive-bred snakes, the demand for royal pythons would outweigh their supply, meaning fewer people keeping an arguably excellent pet species and potentially more harvesting from wild populations. Without progressive hobbyists ‘advancing’ the care and keeping of this species, our understanding of royal python husbandry, behaviours and welfare requirements would be far more limited. The correct way to keep a royal python is a hotly debated topic. However, we can turn to science to guide our attempts. As few keepers begin their hobby intending to breed large numbers of snakes, the following feature discusses academic literature aimed at improving husbandry standards for
A wild type ball python lifting its head to view its surroundings
Are royal pythons semi-arboreal?
Easily the most contentious subject regarding royal python care is their ‘semi-arboreal’ behaviours. Several papers dating from the late 90s and early 00s present empirical evidence that these animals will frequently climb trees, eat birds and rest in tree trunks. Observations by keepers who provide extra height in their enclosures will vouch that they at least climb. However, the same could be said for far more fossorial species, such as sand boas (Eryx spp.). Within a captive environment, male Kenyan sand boas (E. colubrinus) will frequently climb logs and branches at least two feet off the ground and eat birds. The extra space may not be fundamental to their basic needs, but it is utilised and appreciated. This point is even more important when we consider the morphology of a royal python.
Snake Biologist, Henry Astley stated: “Coming from my background (snake biomechanics), nothing about the ball python morphology is consistent with an animal which "spends all their time in a termite mound". Their skulls have no reinforcement or digging adaptations, their eyes aren't reduced, they have distinct "necks" (as opposed to the robust "train locomotive" morphology of most burrowers) and have no specialized digging rostral scales.”
Although royal pythons are unlikely to spend all their time in burrows and termite mounds, evidence suggests that they will spend a lot of the breeding season underground. From aestivation and pairing in November, through to eggs hatching in March, royal pythons could theoretically spend half the year occupying burrows most frequently. This may be due to necessity rather than choice. Royal pythons exhibit remarkably dedicated paternal instincts when it comes to incubating their eggs. Fabien Aubret et al write: “Brooding weakly influenced incubation temperature but markedly decreased egg mass loss owing to water loss and associated yolk coagulation. Brooded eggs produced larger, more active, faster swimming and more rapidly developing neonates than did non-brooded eggs.” Finding a secure location with stable temperatures and humidity is therefore a major priority for nesting females and perhaps less important for more active males. This has been supported in several other research papers too which found that the parasitic load of males, differed to that of females. Males typically hosted more arboreal tick species than females (and also ate more birds and bats than their counterparts).
Francis Cosquieri is an experienced snake keeper who explains: “termite mounds are also often refugia for all sorts of other snakes and lizards. I’ve personally observed monitor lizards, mambas, skinks, rock pythons, agamas and other species of reptiles using them. Others have mentioned cobras also make use of this habitat. Monitors and rock pythons have been well documented (including on film) using them as nesting sites. They make great places for any reptile that can get inside because they offer constant temperatures.”
The minimum enclosure size for an adult royal python, based on AAL standards is 4 x 2 x 2 feet. Even though logic dictates that an animal will have more opportunities to enact wild behaviours in a larger enclosure, more space does not directly translate to greater welfare. Many royal python keepers are brand new pet owners following care guides and advice from shops. Adding an extra 2 feet of height to an enclosure without upgrading spot bulbs or testing the efficacy of a UV tube can compromise welfare. If, for example, a spot bulb cannot penetrate the enclosure, the basking spot will be ineffective. It is therefore vitally important that keepers do thorough research before embarking on an ambitious enclosure build. With more people shopping online for their pet supplies, keepers should seriously consider visiting their local specialist shop or investing in a solar meter and reliable thermometer.
Aubrey continues: “Adult females [are] longer than males and reach a greater maximal body size (SVL 5 170 cm, BM 5 3224 g in females vs. 140 cm and 2460 g in males). When gravid females were deleted from analyses, the mean body condition was similar between adult males and females.” Although royal pythons are not enormous snakes, they are heavy and thus require a well-thought-out enclosure design particularly if climbing opportunities are to be provided. Even heavy branches may need to be secured in place with adhesives and sealants.
A Royal Feast
Diet is much less controversial. Stomach purges and faecal analyses have confirmed that royal pythons have a varied diet in the wild consisting of small mammals, birds, and bats. With only a handful of frozen foods available to feed here in the UK, a good diet should incorporate several different-sized rodents and the occasional chick. Note that chicks are very fatty and can cause loose bowels, which is not always nice for the keeper, but should still be offered as a method of enrichment feeding. This should also prevent any selective feeding behaviours, as royal pythons are notoriously fussy. A varied diet will offer other enrichment opportunities such as scent trails, nest-raiding and arboreal feeding which are all excellent ways to stretch the snake’s cognitive abilities and another argument for providing larger vivaria.
Herpetologist Mark Auliya et al recently conducted the first genetic assessment of wild and farmed royal pythons in Togo. He writes: “Despite the relatively large distances between sample locations, no significant genetic population structure was found, either in mtDNA sequence data or in the microsatellite data. Instead, our data indicate considerable gene flow among the locations. The absence of a distinct population subdivision may have resulted from an anthropogenic driven admixture of populations associated with commercial wildlife trade activity in recent decades.” This suggests that any arguments pointing towards disparities between Nigerian, Ghanaian or Togolese populations are negligible. Therefore, the provision of enrichment opportunities is likely to be appreciated by all snakes. In captivity, no population or bloodline is likely to be more arboreal or have specific dietary needs when compared to others. Each snake will, however, have their unique preferences. This can only be fully understood within the context that the keeper provides. For example, one animal may feed more readily on larger-sized prey, or take food from an arboreal ambush position, but unless those provisions are granted, the keeper may never witness this behaviour.
One of these behaviours, which often leaves new pet owners in a panic is their tendency to be fussy eaters. This often comes down to unrealistic expectations of the snake. Over-feeding is a common problem for just about all captive snakes, but robust pythons are sometimes more susceptible to this. If an animal is overfed, it is more likely to fast throughout the dry season when food would typically become scarcer. Even a healthy royal python may go off their food for over 6 months (and might not experience any problems for up to a year without food). Keepers should only become alarmed if their snake is particularly young, appears unhealthy, or is exhibiting signs of stress.
Recent research suggests that royal pythons exhibit a better feeding response towards darker-coloured prey. Temperature also plays a major role in the snake’s ability to see and strike accurately and prey items should be warm when they are fed. As a nocturnal species, hunting often happens after dark and therefore the snakes are more likely to feed a few hours after switching off the lights. New smells from new frozen food suppliers may also discourage them from feeding. A varied diet should help combat this. Young pythons should also be presented with a prey item only momentarily to encourage the notion that feeding is an opportunity rather than a luxury. If the snake understands from a young age that it must act quickly to feed, it will likely develop a better feeding response in older age.
A “Mojave” royal python
Laying the Groundworks
Substrate choice is an integral part of royal python husbandry and one which has advanced steadily over the years. Last year, Youtuber and royal python breeder Dav Kaufman showed the public the sort of terrain that these snakes inhabit. Although the controversial film sparked endless debates on numerous topics, it provided a visual insight into part of their habitat. He recorded humidity upwards of 90% in burrows. However, these were surrounded by dry soil with thick layers of dead grasses and leaf litter. Ambient humidity in Ghana remains around 75% for most of the year, rising to 85% during the rainy season (which usually runs from May to September). It might be shocking to consider a royal python should theoretically be kept at the same humidity as many tropical Amazonian species, but even though large parts of West Africa have been converted to farmland they do maintain a semi-tropical climate. In captivity, however, royal pythons are extremely susceptible to respiratory infections if they do not receive enough air flow or are housed in poorly ventilated enclosures. Many keepers opt for a lower humidity of around 60% and stay vigilant for any excessive moisture. However, a far more naturalistic method would be to maintain a higher humidity and utilise a ventilation fan to ensure constant air movement.
Royal pythons are a widespread species that inhabit a vast range of environmental conditions so the keeper must also ensure the animal can thermoregulate and hydroregulate by moving between microclimates. For the novice keeper, it sounds relatively complex, but it doesn’t have to be. Constructing warm and cool ends, adding a ‘humid’ hide and choosing an appropriate substrate (or several different substrates across a larger enclosure) should create various microclimates. These environmental conditions should be achievable even in the most basic setups. However, the inclusion of live plants can seriously benefit the keeper and the kept. Broad-leaved plants will capture moisture as it evaporates from the substrate and thus forms unique spots of humidity, particularly if they grow against the corners of the enclosure. Creeping plants can add unique textures and ground cover can give young pythons a sense of additional security. Although the animal will likely destroy all but the sturdiest of live plants, it is worth experimenting by fixing potted plants into different areas of the enclosure.
Core substrate choice is a little more complicated. Aspen bedding and lignocel will generally get too wet for a royal python and struggle to hold the correct humidity. Some breeders will still use this substrate as they are often quick to replace anything too damp and can quickly identify issues of scale rot (a broad term used to refer to numerous bacterial diseases and infections associated with damp living conditions). For the new keeper, however, cypress mulch, bark chips, eco-earth, Tortoise Life Bio or a combination of these products is ideal. The composition of ProRep’s Tortoise Life Bio replicates crumbly soil, aimed towards digging tortoises which is perfect for semi-fossorial snakes. Additional moss or coir can be added to one side of the enclosure to retain humidity a little longer, whilst bark chips can be added to areas that are designed to dry out a little quicker. The deeper the substrate, the easier it is to hold steady humidity levels. This allows the surface layer to dry out completely whilst still contributing to humidity, which helps to prevent bacterial infections.
Heating and Lighting
There is some debate regarding the heating and lighting elements of royal python husbandry – primarily, the provision of UV. Interestingly, studies (and a rich history of anecdotal evidence) suggest that royal pythons do not require UV lighting to synthesise vitamin D3 effectively. The justification for denying such UV lighting generally boils down to the species’ nocturnal and semi-fossorial behaviours. A paper by Hedley and Eatwell in The Veterinary Record found “no association between exposure to UV-b radiation and plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 and ionised calcium concentrations in the female ball pythons in [the] study.” However, all animals, including nocturnal animals, will have some sort of relationship with the sun and mimicking this within a snake’s enclosure is only natural (if not entirely necessary). Where possible, new keepers should aim to provide UVB lighting as well as appropriate overhead heating. Emerging research is beginning to discover links between UV-B lighting and reptile vision that suggests that UV may have myriad applications beyond the effective synthesis of D3.
Installing an Eco-T5 and Infrared heat projector into an appropriately sized vivarium is extremely straightforward and will provide a patch of ‘sun’ complete with visible light, UVA, UVB, IR-A and IR-B – several of the primary components of natural sunlight. Even those who opt for the most basic enclosure setups will often still provide UV lighting, even if it is just to help support their animals’ circadian rhythms and initiate breeding cycles. Despite heat mats being gradually phased out of herpetoculture on a whole, many royal python keepers still rely on them. They can provide an excellent backup or supporting heat source, but as they do not provide the deep-penetrating heat of IR-A they are not going to be as effective as other methods of heating. This being said, hundreds of thousands of royal pythons have been kept and bred successfully in rack systems for decades now and there is some justification that there are relatively few reports of ill health directly attributed to the use of heat mats. The heat that can penetrate the epidermis such as infrared-A is proven to aid in the digestion and overall health of most diurnal species. Whilst this may be less effective in nocturnal species, royal pythons can be (and often are) active throughout the day. A study in 1998 by Luca Luisella et al aimed to determine the sexual dimorphism exhibited by royal pythons. In doing so, they discovered 87 animals which were active between 8am and 6pm. Clearly, the sun presents some necessary opportunities for this otherwise nocturnal predator. Our current understanding of reptile physiology suggests these opportunities are likely linked to thermoregulation and the absorption of UV radiation.
A royal python spending some time outside in the sun
Honesty and Transparency
Royal python care is one of the most hotly contested topics in herpetoculture. The two polarising perspectives on the ‘correct’ way to care for royal pythons have created a minefield for new keepers. Whilst some breeders choose to maintain their animals in rack systems and reasonably basic setups for practicality, it would be wrong to encourage new keepers to follow a similar trend. In the wild, royal pythons inhabit regions that will flood for two months of the year, become intensely hot and dry for other months and where anthropogenic change is shifting the availability of foodstuffs each year. Royal pythons have adapted to make use of burrows, swim across flood plains and climb trees in search of parrot chicks. Few captive reptiles exhibit such diverse behavioural repertoire and it is important that all keepers remember this when sourcing their first royal python. Yet, without breeders producing enough animals to meet the national and international demand for royal pythons, other advances in herpetoculture would also stall. Morph breeding (particularly that of royal pythons) generates the greatest amount of revenue within the industry. Rightly or wrongly, the success of rack breeders directly supports the industry that is responsible for the technological advancements and information outlets to improve animal welfare overall. This becomes problematic when the rhetoric around ‘successful’ keeping is miscommunicated to new keepers. A novice herpetoculturist should get more enjoyment from creating an impressive enclosure that they can be proud of, and their animal can thrive in. Basic setups may encourage new keepers into the hobby, but a ‘rose-tinted’ approach can be detrimental to the entire herpetoculture discipline. Royal pythons are currently dominating the discourse from activist groups who oppose the keeping of pets. Any information that lowers the bar on their captive needs should be treated as a threat to all reptile and amphibian keepers and utilising science to advance husbandry methods might just be our best defence.
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