It’s easy to confuse a African Rock Python with a Southern African Python. These two species look very similar and only have a few differences. The main thing to look at is their distribution – this hardly overlaps throughout their respective ranges.

The African Rock Python (Python sebae) has two prominent light lines from the nose, over the eye to the back of the head (these lines are much duller in the Southern African Python) and it has fewer, larger head scales than the Southern African Python. The African Rock Python has two white lines below the eye, which the Southern African Python does not have. The African Rock Python can reach 6.5 m long, whereas the Southern African python reaches 5.5 m long.

The graphic below illustrates these the key differences between the two species.