Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i was wondering , the ball pythons seem like pretty cool pets , are they very inactive creatures ? Also...i have noticed them to have those small holes near the mouth ... i think from i've read that is call " labial pits" tough i might be completly off track...i think there also used for heat detection ...am i right or wrong ? Do all Boids have that , and if not , why does the ball python have it in particular...?

Most snakes don't do a lot. They'll maybe wander around a bit every day, but that's about it. That pretty much sums up a ball python's activity level, at any rate.
Not all boids have heat pits. Sand boas are missing them completely. I want to say that all pythons have them except for the genus Aspidities (womas). As far as other boas go, most have them except for snakes actually in the genus Boa (redtailed boas, ect). Also, some snakes in the genus Epicrates (rainbow boas) have them and others don't. Whether or not andacondas do escapes me right now.
So it's hit and miss.
I've read that the absence of heat pits in some of these snakes can be traced to the fact that they eat mostly cold blooded prey. That wouldn't go for Boa, though. Sand boas would just get sand in theirs if they had them.
Just as a side note, rattlesnakes and other pitvipers have similar structures, but they only have two pits at the front of their face.
Also, it's said that redtailed boas and some other snakes still have heat sensitive nerves in their faces, so they can feel heat even without pits. I can vouch that sand boas sometimes prefer warm over cold prey, without actually touching it.
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