As substrate I now use newspaper as I believe it is more practical. Although in the photo at the top you can see i used bark chippings. If you do use bark chippings do not use pine or ceder chips as these are toxic to reptiles. When the snake poo's you must pick 'it' up. When using newspaper remove it when it is soiled to prevent scale rot.
I do not think keeping reptiles on their own for their whole lives so I keep two together. I keep a male and a female together and there have been no matings since I got them. This is because two snakes will not mate if they live together. The two snakes will have to seperated before you try to induce matings. There should also be a drop in temperature and some people believe in different light cycles. I have not bred my snakes so this is just what I have heard. For more specific information look onto the links page and you will find more detailed information.
(New research is being put into the use of UV lights with royals as it is thought they cause blindness in royal pythons, more hopefully coming soon!)
A suitable enclosure for a single royal python would be around he size of 3 * 1.5 * 1.5 feet. A sturdy waterbowl is needed for drinking and batheing so it needs to be big enough for the snake to fit in. Those cermaic dog/cat/rabbit bowels are a good choice with all types of snakes just get the right size. A hide is also an essential I did use a half log but they have outgrown that so now use shoe boxes. I still use the half log because it gives the snake something to rub against when it sheds.
Artificial heating is also required, mine is obtained by a heat mat, it should cover nearly half the size of the vivarium. My vivarium for Arwen and Aragorn is 4 foot by 2 foot by 2 foot. But according to the formula my heat mat is too small it is 12 * 25 inches but it works. All heating should be thermostatically controlled. I control my heat mat with a habistat temperature thermostat.
Ceramic Heat Emitters (CHE's) can also be used but these should only be used with large vivs these can become very very hot so they should also be thermostatically controlled and use a reflector. Another method is heat rocks for a basking spot but i would not recomend these as they have localised hot spots so the heat is concentrated in one spot so they can become very hot and seriously burn your reptile.
Feeding, what every sicko wants to see. Royal pythons are carniverous. They will eat mice, rats, gerbils, hamsters, chicks (not recomended as they have little nutritional value.) Royals kill by constriction. This is when they wrap round their prey and squeeze so their prey can't breeth. You should feed your python about every 8 days. They prey size should be about the same thickness as the snake at the thickest part of the body. But try not to overdo it, remember several small items are better then one slightly oversized one. Too big a prey will result in regurgitation.