RANGE | Ball pythons are found in West and Central Africa, thriving in grasslands and sparse forests.

FUN FACTS | These constrictors are ambush predators that hunt for small prey like mice and other small rodents, as well as lizards and amphibians, birds, and their eggs. They have heat-sensing pits in their upper lips to help locate their prey. Ball pythons are not venomous but, instead, use their powerful muscles to cut off the blood supply or oxygen by squeezing tightly. Unlike human jaws, where only the bottom jaw moves, both the upper and lower jaw move in snakes. Their jaw bones and skull are connected by muscles, tendons, and ligaments to allow significant mobility so snakes can swallow large prey whole, despite having multiple sets and kinds of teeth.

When threatened, ball pythons curl into a tight ball and tuck their heads under the coils of their body. They often den in rodent burrows or abandoned termite mounds.

Ball pythons are one of the most commonly kept pet snakes. These nocturnal reptiles typically reach an average of 5 feet long and have a very docile, calm nature. Most non-venomous snakes can be kept as pets as long as they were hatched in captivity—it is always illegal to remove any animal from the wild, and that includes reptiles.

Originally purchased to be a pet, the person absolutely adored her. He passed away and his wife was not confident about reaching into the tank to feed or clean the snake, so reached out to us. We cannot take in everyone’s unwanted pets but we had the space and agreed to be her new forever home.

Roxanne loves to stretch out in her new enclosure, warming up under the sun as it comes through the windows. She is often found relaxing under her furniture or climbing around on enrichment structures.

For reptiles, it is all about texture. Roxanne enjoys crawling over stuffed and plastic toys, especially appreciating items with openings that she can travel through or crawl in and under. She also really enjoys different toddler toys since they often have different shapes and textures on blocks, beads and balls that move on plastic coated wires or frames that make it even more interesting and challenging to explore.