The history of the Champagne ball python is pretty exciting. Breeders were enthused when the first Champagne ball python morph was discovered in 2005 (and proven genetically) by EB Noah. Consequent to its discovery, specimens were scattered across the world from the United States to Europe, even to Asia, as the exhilaration about the morph peaked.
The Champagne ball python is a lovely morph with an attractive appearance. Their color combines orange, light tan, irregular dorsal stripe, and a white belly. The coloration of the hatchling is quite different, as they typically come with a salmon color. This color fades with consequent aging. Breeders are also endeared with champagnes given the latter’s peculiar effectiveness in creating other morphs. Many breeders find champagnes very helpful in testing co-dominant genes in morphs. These genes may not be produced if they had been combined with different morphs aside from the Champagne.
Despite a previous decline in the global rave about Champagnes, of late, there has been a resurgence in this interest about the Champagne. Indeed, there is a lorry load of fascinating things to learn about the Champagne. You would want to know how befitting a pet it is in terms of its friendliness. You would also like to know how Champagnes cost on an average, how rare they are, and their genetics.
Are Champagne Ball Pythons Dangerous?
No, Champagnes are not dangerous. The Champagne ball python is not venomous; neither is it poisonous. Typically, the Champagne falls under the general category (as common with most pythons) of constrictor snakes.
That means they kill their prey by venom but by constricting them consequent to striking and immobilizing the prey. Well, it is scarce seeing a Champagne attempting to hurt or constrict humans.
In fact, the Champagneball python lacks the capacity to kill an adult or a human child readily. The reason here is that this python is not big enough to pose such a threat to bigger creatures like humans.
Indeed, the Champagne is too small to encircle a grown human and constrict him. However, in sporadic cases, your python could strangle a little kid. This could be circling the neck of the baby.
The baby, being weak and feeble, would be unable to pull the Champagne off its neck as readily as an adult or relatively mature child would. Now, such an unfortunate circumstance has a little as a 3% chance of occurring and would predominantly not be a result of unprovoked aggression from the Champagne.
How Much Do Champagne Ball Pythons Cost?
Champagne ball pythons are not as expensive as some of the most exotic morphs. Nonetheless, you are not readily going to find a Champagne ball python in the cheap cost category of Spiders and Spotnose.
The average cost range within which you could buy a Champagne is somewhere within $150 – $220. Certainly, you should expect combos to sell for $500 or even shooting as far as over $1500. Commonly, you could see pastel champagne for about $200.
The reason for the relative expensiveness of the Champagne is not necessarily the gene (based on breeding needs). Undoubtedly, the uniqueness and charming appearance of the Champagne is well connected to its genetic composition of the Champagne.
How Does a Champagne Ball Python Look?
The Champagne morph stands out for its outlandish beauty. It has a thrilling combination. The color is a mix of its charming white belly, light tan, two-toned head, and discontinuous circles and dorsal stripes. Indeed, the hatchling at first has a color a bit closer to salmon. But as they age, this color speedily fades.
​Given this appearance, if you combine the Champagne morph with another morph, you get a snake with irregularly distributed patterns and a less apparent color.
Of late, there has been a consolidating emergence of a new line of Champagnes called the Pumpkin Line Champagne. Mike Wilbanks discovered this new line. The Pumpkin Line retains the traditional Champagne features but adds purple and orange undertones.
Are Champagne Ball Pythons Good Pets?
Champagnes are famed for their docile temperaments. They are prone to launching an unpremeditated attack on you. They even enjoy being handled since this is done sparingly. More importantly, this handling must be done gently.
You will see an adult Champagne relish wrapping itself around your waist or an arm you offer to it. When you are done interacting with it, you could unwrap it from you.
Such gentility in handling Champagne ball pythons is necessary because the snake is inherently shy and most times keeps to itself in enclosures. Handling is advised when the Champagne has reasonably bonded with you.
Being shy, the Champagne may not be welcoming to sudden movements from you when interacting with it. It may involuntarily interpret such as an attack. Then, it may get into the defensive and strike back in a bid to extricate itself from the supposed invader.
However, this is extremely rare if it has bonded with you or has been sufficiently socialized. When you are done handling your Champagne ball python, ensure you go and wash your hands at once.
Champagne Ball Python Cool Facts
Do You Know a Champagne Ball Python Can Live up to 40 Years?
Yes, the Champagne ball python is one amazing long-living pet whose company and love you will enjoy extensively. The typical lifespan of the Champagne is somewhere around 30 years.
If they are living in captivity, they can live well over to 40 years. If your Champagne was staying out in the wild, it might not live as long as this given its constant exposure to environmental mishaps, dangers, disease, and even malnutrition.
In all, you should be expecting a long-term commitment from this lovable pet.
The Female Champagne Can Have a Litter of 11 Eggs
Typically, you can have an average litter of 5 from your female Champagne. But it can even lay far more than that. There are cases of the Champagne laying up to 11 eggs in one litter alone.
Your female Champagne may breed once every 36 months. So it is not unsurprising that the litter size can be that enormous.
Before the hatching of the eggs, the mother Champagne sits on them in a coiled poise like a ball. Such incubation could span as long as 2 months. For this interval, it is rare to see the mother Champagne leaving the eggs; it also may not eat at all.
If this mother Champagne is in the wild, after a while, she will leave the hatchlings to take care of themselves and fend their way to maturity.
Champagne Ball Python Genetics
There isn’t much complexity around the genetics of Champagnes. Initially, there was the assumption that the Champagne genes were dominant. However, recent revelations now point to the Champagne’s genes being co-dominant.
These co-dominant genes mean that more efficiency can be achieved in breeding morphs. There is a possibility of such breeding resulting in a Super Champagne.
Now the thing is, the Super Champagne morph isn’t sustainable, being that it is homozygous lethal. Such Super Champagne ball python has an extremely high possibility of dying prematurely.
In fact, reports have it that 99% of Super Champagnes never survive more than some meager weeks. There is yet a scarcity of scientific research to prove this anomaly. All in all, you can breed the Champagne with other morphs, but breeding a Champagne with another Champagne is highly discouraged.
How Rare are Champagne Ball Pythons?
First, when the Champagne Ball Python was discovered by EB Noah in Ghana some 15 years, there was an explosion in the excitement surrounding this unique Champagne morph. There was a rapid adoption of this morph in the United States and Europe.
This excitement was because of the rarity and the wealth of breeding prospects that came with the Champagne. Given that patternless pythons were unique in the way they combined with other morphs (and especially their fantastic combos), many breeders were quick to jump on the trend of breeding Champagnes.
Consequently, there was a decline in the interest of breeders in the Champagne morph. A part of this slash in interest can be traced to the relative homogeneity of the offspring, in that they didn’t differ much.
There were intermittent resurgences in the keenness of breeders for champagnes. This was as seen in the creation of morphs like the Enchi Champagne. Eventually, much of this wasn’t sustainable. The present reality is one where the Champagne ball python is majorly used to test for co-dominant genes.
Breeding Champagne Ball Pythons
The Champagne ball python is undoubtedly one upper-end morph with promising possibilities in terms of combinations. Previously, the Champagne was seen as a dominant morph only for it to be scientifically proven as a co-dominant morph.
Of course, considering that it is a co-dominant morph, the Champagne was a tremendous addition for breeders as it bred out faster.
The consequence of this is that breeders could introduce males or females into their morph and harvest champagnes in the first season (even with the possibility of champagne combos). No doubt, this is marvelous!
We discourage the interbreeding of the Spider and the Champagne morph. This could end up a catastrophe given that spiders are notably prone to some issues like Spider wobble. Sometimes the emerging ball python from the Spider-Champagne union dies too early.
Aside from this, you could achieve fantastic results breeding the Champagne with other morphs. One beautiful thing about Champagnes is that due to their co-dominancy, combos from champagnes have a spectacularly unique look.
Champagne Ball Python Shedding
Periodically, your Champagne ball python would shed. The shedding exercise can span 7-14 days. You can tell your Champagne ball python is about to shed when its eyes get cloudier. When you notice this, furnish its cage with a tree branch. This will enable it to rub its skin against the tree branch to facilitate shedding.
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