Range: Western and central Africa (to the western provinces of Uganda, the Sudan west of the Nile, and south to Bahr-el-Ghazal and Nuba.
Habitat: Subsaharan grasslands and open scrub forests. Rarely encountered in the closed tropical rainforested regions.
Description: One of the smallest of all python species, it is up to 5 feet in length (3-5 feet range). The pattern on body is species specific and consists of dark brown body color with light brown oblong patterns starting on head. This pattern branches out on sides of body to resemble the repeated pattern of the hood of a cobra, complete with eye spots. Males are generally smaller than females and usually have longer spurs on either side of their cloaca. Mature females have larger and thicker bodies, thinner, shorter, tapered tails, and generally shorter spurs.
Adaptations/Habitat: Gets its name from tendency to curl up in a ball when resting. A terrestrial species, though it can both actively climb branches and swim, it is found in empty rodent burrows and other subterranean tretreats. The python bites its prey and throws coils of the body around the prey's body at the same time. Further coils are wound around, and the prey suffocates. As the python swallows its prey, the snake's skin stretches enormously.
