The Royal python has been synonymous with pet snakes for years, often described as the ideal first snake. Unfortunately royal pythons are annually exported out of Africa in the tens of thousands. By the time many of them reach their final destination they are malnourished and dehydrated, it is also very difficult to get wild caught animals to become accustomed to life in captivity. Problems arising from this often include refusing to feed. As the interest in royal python has increased over the past decade, so has the availability of captive bred royal pythons. Many breeders now offer true captive bred royal pythons instead of captive hatched or wild caught animals. Many of these will already be feeding on defrosted rodents of the appropriate size, and will have the distinct advantage of being well-established captives.

The term ‘normal’ or ‘wild-type’ is used to describe a royal python that does not carry any known genetics for a mutation, and has the visual appearance of a normally coloured/patterned royal python.

Normal royal pythons are extremely variable in both colour and pattern; this is what makes them so appealing. Their colours can range from high gold to dull tan markings, jet-black to light brown or burgundy markings. Some are outlined in white, some have connecting dorsal patterns leading to a ‘banded’ appearance, and some can also have reduced markings.

db Reptiles will annually be producing large numbers of captive born and bred royal pythons.