• Reptile Husbandry,  Reptiles,  Research,  Snakes

    Ball Pythons: Terrestrial or Semi-Arboreal?

    A hot debate in the ball python discussion groups as of late is housing, of course, and why they need height because they’re semi-arboreal. Wait… What? Since when? First, let’s discuss these terms. Arboreal means an animal that lives above ground for the majority of its life. This means they eat, sleep, mate, and sometimes even lay eggs above ground. Semi-Arboreal means that animal spends at least 50% of their lives above ground, often sleeping and eating in trees. Terrestrial means the animal spends the majority of their lives at ground level. This is a typical tree snake, a Green Tree Python. They spend the majority of their lives on…

  • Reptiles,  Research,  Snakes

    Pythons in Immunology Research

    We had a visit today by Dr. Lori Newman-Lee from the Arkansas Center for Biodiversity Collections at Arkansas State University. Dr. George Brusch was showing her and graduate student Lindsey Matin-Krikorian how to draw blood from pythons. Apparently you have to go right into their hearts… It was very cool to watch and we’re happy to help with Dr. Newman-Lee’s research on unique immune cells in snakes.