Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How long will my ball python live? I've heard that they can live for 40 years. But i have also heard that a old snake is 5 years old.

my guess is 20-40 years, but like people some may or maynot live as long. I have one girl that is almost 11 and another I would guess to be older, but who knows.

The record is a Ball python that lived 49 years & I forget how many months, at the Philadelphia Zoo. I know a guy that has had one as a hatchling since 1970, and it is in perfect health. 20-30 years is probably a good average.
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Chad Bachman

Ball pythons SHOULD live well into their 30's and beyond. I currently have one 35 year old and several 25 year olds in my collection who are the pictures of perfect health and show no signs of slowing down. If you give them the basic and follow good husbandry measures, you should expect a bp to live a LONG, LONG life. Rob Carmichael, Curator of the Wildlife Discovery Center, Lake Forest, IL

I agree, and I'm curious to see if all the Balls that are power fed will do as well. Most people will say it doesn't hurt them, but it will take 20-30 years to see I guess.
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Chad Bachman

Several times I've seen people try to say that the morphs don't live as long. The oldest captive bred morphs should only be about 12 years old and that’s just a very few albinos so unless there is a huge difference I don't think we could possibly know yet.

Maybe the comment that 5 is old was along the lines that most captive bred animals (morphs and otherwise) are 5 or less. We breed more and more of them every year and going back 5 years or more there wasn't much captive breeding.

Rob, that's great that you have so many old balls... How large are they? Got any pics to share?

my largest ball is a male (go figure); he's huge and I'd be happy to post a pic when I get a chance (in between running a wildlife center, teaching college ecology classes, and having a family)...i'll get to it asap. Rob

Would you mind sharing what their feeding regime has been like?
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Check Out My Albums

1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa "Frodo"
0.1 Rough-Scale Sand Boa "Arwen"
1.0 San Felipe Rosy Boa "Legalos"
0.1 California Kingsnake "Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Indigo"
1.0 Snow Corn snake "Chile"
0.1 Okeetee Corn snake "Amazon"
1.0 Crested Gecko "Willow"
0.0.1 Irian Jaya BlueTongued Skink
0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer "Kira"

There is currently an adult female at the St. Louis Zoo that is 46 years and counting. I got a behind the scenes tour of the herps and saw the data card. If I remember correctly, she was also an import and still a picture of great health.

Brandon Osborne