Python Found Chilling In School Pickup Area in Pennsylvania

t’s not the usual type of animal that goes missing. However, the Lower Paxton Township Police Department is seeking the owner of a runaway ball python. A ball python was found in a school pickup area in Pennsylvania hanging out in the student drop-off and pick-up lines at Dauphin County Technical School on Locust Lane on the morning of Wednesday, October 4th.

Police believe the snake must have fallen out of (or slithered away from) a car in the drop-off line Wednesday morning. The police department is asking residents if anyone is missing a ball python or knows someone who is, to call Lower Paxton Township Police at (717) 558-6900.

Do Ball Pythons Make Good Pets?

Yes, ball pythons make good pets for beginning snake owners. In fact, they are the most popular type of snake that is kept as a pet. 

Some of the benefits of keeping the ball python as a pet include:

• They are non-venomous and not aggressive. Rather than attack, they tend to coil into a tight ball and hide their head in the middle when they feel threatened, which is how they came about their name.
• They are well-mannered, calm, easy to handle, and generally do not bite.
• They have a life expectancy of up to 30 years.

Although ball pythons are docile snakes, they can get easily stressed and may exhibit aggressive behavior if they are anxious. They need a comfortable and stimulating environment, and proper care just like a cat or a dog needs. They are also known to be escape artists, and their cages must be kept securely closed.

How Big Do Ball Pythons Get?

Another reason ball pythons are often chosen as pets is that ball pythons don’t grow as large as others in their species can. For example, reticulated pythons are the largest pythons in the world and can grow over 20 feet long and weigh over 150 pounds. Whereas ball pythons are typically around four to five feet in length and weigh only around three to five pounds.

How Many Different Types of Ball Pythons Are There?

There are thousands of different morphs of ball pythons. A “morph” is often selectively bred by breeders for a specific pattern or color. There are currently over 4,000 known morphs of ball pythons, including such types as desert ghost, banana, cinnamon, pastel, piebald, and pinstripe. Some morphs look wildly different from each other but are still in the same species. 

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