As shown this revealing documentary and the report more than 3 million Ball pythons have been exported from Benin, Ghana and Togo over the past 45 years. They are reported to experience severe stress, injuries and sometimes death inflicted during the cruel wild capture methods while those that are bread for trade purposes face terrible welfare conditions. 

Although a large number of pythons today are bread in the market countries, these animals are sentenced to a lifetime of misery as an exotic pet. As one of the most popular species in the UK exotic pet trade they are widely regarded as being a good ‘starter pet’ because of mis-perceptions they require little specialized care.