We got a python from some friends of ours back at the end of May. They were sad to give it up, but they wanted to make room for more lizards. The python had come from the wife's cousin, whom I do not know. The people said that it was a ball python, so I am assuming that is what their cousin thought it was, too. His name is "Monty," by the way.



Suspicion #1



A few weeks after I had the snake I weighed and measured it. Then he/she was 1227 grams and about 4.5 feet long. That was around the middle of June. I weighed it today and the scale tipped out at 1710 grams. I am feeding "Monty" large rats once a week, so I do not know if this is normal growth or if the snake was underfed previously? Any thoughts? Even though the weight is in the ball range, the body shape doesn't seem like a ball to me (from the pictures I've seen). I have not remeasured the length, but he/she seems longer (went through one shed so far).



Suspicion #2



I bought a ball python manual and have been perusing websites. I have yet to find a ball python with the same body pattern. With so many morphs I guess I could be wrong, but Monty just doesn't look like a ball to me...at least not a normal ball. Normal balls have more curved patterns, whereas this snake seems to have rectangular blocks.



Suspicion #3



While Monty will coil up like any other snake, I've yet to see him/her do the "defensive coil into a ball thing"...though he/she is quite tame and I suppose that tame balls don't do that unless they feel threatened.



What Is It?



I have my thoughts as to what Monty might be, but I thought I'd get some expert advice here before jumping to any conclusions...well, okay, to be honest with you I think it looks just like the pictures I have seen of Burmese Pythons. So, do you think this is a ball python or some other (perhaps larger) type of python?



Below are several pictures I took this afternoon. That's my 4 year old son in the background of the last couple shots. He weighs around 35 lbs.




















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0.2.0 Emory's Rat Snake (het for amel)

0.0.1 Ball Python (normal)

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