These gorgeous snakes are Rafiki and Nyoka, two lovely male ROYAL PYTHONS.  I  chose these names as royal pythons come from Africa where the Swahili language is spoken, and these are Swahili names with Rafiki meaning 'friend' and Nyoka meaning 'snake'.  They have absolutely beautiful scaly skin, which seems to shine with all sorts of different colours when they are in sunlight, and they are also the friendliest snakes I have ever owned!

Rafiki:

Nyoka:

As you can see they have slightly different colours and patters and in fact there are never two royal pythons with the same pattern, each one is unique!

In late November 2007 I acquired a beautiful new baby royal python from some good friends of mine who successfully bred two of the royal pythons in their large collection.  I have named him Aziza as this is a Swahili name meaning gorgeous, which I personally think seems very appropriate!

The picture above clearly shows why snake keepers in the USA often call these snakes BALL PYTHONS.  A royal python is able to roll itself into a tiny ball, with its head hidden in the coils of its body, which it would usually do in the wild to protect itself from predators.