The ball python is one of about 26 python species placed in the subfamily Pythoninae, within the family Boidae, in the order Squamata and the class Reptilia. Two of the subfamilies of boids differ mostly in their reproduction. Boas give birth to their young alive, by incubating their shell-less eggs internally.
Pythons lay eggs with leathery shells.
Ball pythons range from Senegal to Togo in west Africa, and eastward to the Nile River in southern Sudan. They are found in dry grassland, savanna and forest edges. Like most pythons, they are good climbers, but are usually seen on the ground. A ball python's head is flat on top, with no brows above its round eyes. It has a square, boxy snout, and heavy jaw muscles that make the sides of its head, behind the eyes, bulge outwards.