Angolan python

Submitted by Michael Tufaro

When I came to decide that this article was going to be about a species of python found in Africa, I immediately drifted to Ball Pythons. But there is one similar python just south of the Ball python’s range. This is the Angolan Python, (Python Anchietae Bocage, 1887) and it is native to Angola and Namibia.

The easiest way to tell the difference between the two appears to be that the shape of the scales of the Angolan python are more beaded like (similar to the scales of The beaded lizard or the Gila Monster). They rather superficially resemblance the Australian Carpet Python with their Red coloration, stripes, and beaded scales; which are a great way to keep in moisture from the heat of the desert.

The Angolan python is often overlooked as “just larger ball pythons” but there are a number of differences even before analyzing their DNA. For starters they live in more desert areas, and much further south. They don’t roll into a ball and keepers report a more temperamental behavior in the Angolan Python. Chat GPT says they make decent pets, and because I know the temperament of a ball Python is incredibly placid, I’m inclined to think a snake that is described as “a hissy ball Python” can still make a great captive for classrooms and a great pet for the snake enthusiast.

Just like the ball python, they eat rodents, and get to a similar size.

If you are up to date on current events you may be aware that Angola has had a number of civil wars. The latest resulting in a number of leftover land mines scattered throughout the perilous rocky Namib Desert that threaten would-be hikers with the steep ground and dehydration.

Let’s take a bit of a side quest: While the reptile hobby has been doing wonders for creatures by providing an invisible arc for creatures like the axolotl, we must come to terms with the power we hold and how greed, mixed with the good intentions of conservation can harm a species. This is why Herpetologist Clint Laidlaw stated that most people should not take in the dragon snake of South East Asia yet, or the famously beautiful Mangshan Viper of China.

What does this have to do with the smallish python from Southern Africa?

One must beg the question: What effect has the reptile Hobby had on the Angolan python? Well, for the most part they have had no effect because the land mines leftover from the civil war largely keep poachers out of their range. This also protects them against the witch doctors* and skin trade. A strange thing indeed to have something as objectionably horrible as war and land mines to thank for the preservation of this species

*Many animals including reptiles are subjected to inhumane living and dying conditions in sub- Saharan Western Africa. The corpses are then sold as miracle drugs for this disease and that condition. This is especially apparent in the voodoo markets of Togo (Source: Dav Kaufman: July 23, 2022 Ball Pythons in the Wild (An Original Film, www. YouTube. Com).