Can Ball Pythons Kill Cats?

Can Ball Pythons Kill Cats?

Ball Pythons and Cats avoid each other, and they both are afraid of each other at first encounter. Still, if an attack occurs, then snakes usually produce hissing sounds with a wiggling tail.

Can Ball Pythons Kill Cats? Ball Pythons are aggressive in nature and they can kill cats within minutes. If ball pythons are hungry for a long time and are mistreated or feel threatened with their surroundings, no one is kept safe from their attack.

You need to remember that snakes are cats are born enemies, and if you are not paying attention, then one or both of them will end up hurting or killing each other.

Can Ball Pythons Kill Cats?

Ball Pythons are undoubtedly one of the cutest pets that anyone can have inside their house, but keeping this factor aside makes it evident that they are born hunters. 

It might seem cute while your kitten is chasing the wiggling and wrinkling toys, but they are simply playing out of their hunting nature.

On the other hand, the Ball python is a calm animal, but obviously, no one knows when or where a snake can attack or anyone around you.

Usually, people keep them as a pet because it is legal to have a snake at your home, but you need to be extra careful around it. Otherwise, snakes can get aggressive, and then you will see an attack within seconds.

Cats can easily tear a snake’s skin apart with their sharp claws and teeth and can kill them in a few moments. Whereas few snake species that include Green Anaconda and Burmese Python can swallow a cat as a whole, there were few incidents where a wild Python had swallowed a pet cat and later found by the ball python owners.

The reaction during the First Encounter of Python and Cats

Now, as far as the relation between Python and cat is concerned, you must understand that both are born enemies. Snakes are not vegetarian and they always try to eat anything when they are either hungry or threatened by something around them.

Suppose you live with a cat already, and now you have decided to purchase a baby python, in that case, cats usually do not tend to pay any attention to the grey ones because they are not so attractive to them at first glance. However, you can keep the ball pythons together.

How to Introduce Cat and Snake which each other?

If the ball python is small in size and unable to protect himself from such a huge creature. You may find it either dead or eaten because, for your cat, this is just another toy for them to attack.

On the other hand, if the snake is quite huge in size and able to protect himself against the cat, then it will take a few days for both of them to get along. 

Usually, when pet cats meet such a huge and terrifying-looking creature, they get scared and jump around the house.

It will stare at him all the time from a distance and will try to make sure that he remains in her sight all the time. This can be a part of their self-protection, where they make sure that no sudden attack is coming towards them.

It will take a few days for your cat to get normal with the ball pythons, but she will still act weird when the snake is out of his cage. You should use a heat lamp for pet snake.

Instincts of a Ball Python

Similarly, your Python will also try to stay around the cat and sniff her, these pythons are not venomous, and they have no fangs.

So when they bite your cat, then there are only two possibilities that they will try to swallow her all, or if your cat is lucky enough to escape, then she will end up getting injured.

You must understand that they do not have any such ability to make sure that something is safe or unsafe for them.

They act along with their instincts, and if they are comfortable, relaxed, and well-fed, then they are friendly with everyone around them, including your cat as well.

How does Ball Python Attacks?

Ball Python can be as large as around 6”, so they will always try to wrap along your neck. For any such situation, you still need a helping hand to save you.

If it is small in size, then there is a possibility that he will try to wrap your cat in his grip, but as evident, she will not go so easily and fight back.

Even when Python has grabbed on the back limbs of your cat, then she still has her front paws and sharp teeth, which she will use in her defense.

On the other hand, if Ball python has grabbed her from the neck, the cat can do some serious damage suing all four of her paws.

In short, it is not suitable for you to keep both of them in a single place without strict supervision. Python having no other defense strategy except a tight grip, is at a significant disadvantage over here.

Ball pythons are not very aggressive towards cats

Ball pythons are not very aggressive, and they usually stay calm most of the time. So, even if they have no such intention of attacking your feline, they are still considered a threat for them, and cats will easily activate their hunting instincts around them.

Now you might be wondering that is it possible for a ball python to swallow a cat as a whole? There is no such possibility for that if they are not huge, and there is a reason that they are allowing them as pets.

First of all, due to their smaller size, they are not as harmful as any other species of pythons. Secondly, they are non-venomous snakes, and last, but not least, they have no fangs, which makes their bite harmless.

Due to all these reasons, they always come at a major disadvantage if your feline has decided to attack him or if she is defending herself from Python’s attack.

There are many stories where they are usually eaten by cats or killed by them because cats are born enemies to mice and snakes.

Simultaneously, a fully grown Ball Python can only eat a rat because they cannot swallow anything larger than that. So if you have kittens in your house with a fully grown snake, then there is a possibility that it will attack them and swallow them as well.

Ball Python vs. Cat

Several vets and Wildlife Control Researchers also instruct that cats should not stay in the same room as your pet Ball Python.

 Both of them have similar meals, and both of them are born enemies to each other, which no doubt would end up in a fatal accident for one of them.

Your ball python has more chances of getting killed because once a cat starts attacking, then there is no way she will leave her prey to go living.

On the other hand, your cat could get swallowed if she is at an early age, or she could get badly injured or even paralyzed because its grip can easily crush bones.

This is the main reason they usually wrap themselves around their prey’s neck or body; as the grip goes tight, the bones start to crush, and prey will end up dead due to suffocation.