Pythons are the world's largest snakes. An adult can grow to be
30 feet long. A more practical pet would be one of the smaller
species. A ball python is named for the fact that it'll curl
itself into a ball when it's nervous. It only gets to be four or
five feet long and makes a good pet. Choose one that was bred in
captivity, rather than caught in the wild. This way, it might
not suffer from the internal parasites that are common among
wild snakes. Pick an enclosure designed especially for snakes; a
30-gallon glass tank with a hinged wire top is a good choice.
For easy-care bedding, get a few pieces of Astroturf cut to fit
the tank. When one gets dirty, clean it with a dilute bleach
solution, rinse, and let it dry. Pythons are nocturnal, so give
your pet a place to curl up and hide during the daytime. A
cardboard box with an entry hole cut in one end works fine, but
your python tank will look more authentic if you get a hollow
half-log from the snake supply store. Finally, pythons are
tropical creatures, so