A Newbie’s Guide To Owning A Ball Python - My Journey

[ShaggyRS6]

So I thought I would create a blog like thread that details my journey to Bal Python ownership. I want to details my experience starting from when I was completely afraid of snakes, to the point I am at now, almost ready to own my first BP. The point of this thread is that it might just help some like-minded people along the way.

I am 43 year old male who has lived in the US for almost 3 years. I am originally from England, the South East part, and although we have snakes, one being venomous (the Adder) I have never actually seen one. I guess living in a country where you are not exposed to snakes gives most an instant fear. The fear of the unknown. All I ever knew about snakes was what I saw on the Discovery Channel. Long Slithery things, with big fangs, that generally kill you if you get bitten.

When I moved to the US I already had a passion for hunting, photography, hiking anything outdoors. I quickly fell in love with the area in which I now live and started taking pictures of wildlife. Over the months I started seeing water snakes. I live right next to a nature preserve and they were common sightings. At first I was dubious. Would they bit? Are they poisonous? But after a while I became at ease in their company and started to get closer and closer. I started taking pictures and soon lost my fear. I began to see the beauty in snakes and wanted to find more. I started looking for rattle Snakes and Copper Heads but so far I have had no luck, I think I left it too late this year to find anything in the places I was looking. The thrill of wondering what was under the next log or rock was infectious and about 4 months ago I decided that I would look into getting a snake.

The thing about owning any animal is that you have a responsibility. When you own a dog you want to make sure you’re going to be around for it, that it gets exercise, that you don’t feed it too much and that you give it the attention it needs. There is a criteria that needs to be met before you jump in with two feet and get a dog. No different with snakes, and because they are not a common pet you really to spend time to understand the care they will need and if you have the time and the correct environment to give them the best life possible. Remember this, these snakes can live a long time. I read 25 years plus, so you’re making a commitment to this animal. Don’t take the commitment lightly, I can’t stress this enough. I spent 3-4 months making my decision to get a snake. At this particular point I still don’t have one. I spent the last few months reading books, reading various forums, speaking to people on the phone, watching every you tube video I can find. In fact, when I do a search in YouTube for Ball Python the first 3 pages have all been watched J.

Some resources that I have used so far have been.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/forum.php - Be careful when you listen to advice on forums. This goes for all forums covering any topic. You will get good advice and sometimes you will get some really bad advice. Being new to a hobby will render your ability differentiate between good and bad pretty much useless. Choose the people you listen to carefully, make sure what they are saying is being backed up by others and don’t make trigger happy decisions. The people on this forum have given me great advice, they will steer you in the right direction, listen to their advice, they have been doing this a long time.

I read a couple of books. The first one was awesome, Ball Pythons (Complete Herp Care) I read this all in a 4 hour flight from Newark to San Antonio. Once you start reading it you won’t stop. This gives you a great beginners insight into keeping snakes. Please go buy this and read it before getting your equipment or snake. I also got Ball Pythons in Captivity, it was ok, not anywhere near as good as the first book.

Youtube is your friend. I subscribed to a number of channels. SnakeBytes TV being one I love to watch. The host, Brian, has a passion for snakes, this much is clear. His passion is contagious. I also seemed to have watched every unboxing video on the planet. Look at peoples setups too. This is important. There are lots of options, the setup should be your priority. The setup is what is going to ensure your snake lives in the best environment possible, it will help define its health, its feeding patterns and other attributes. So scrimp on the setup, even if it means waiting until you can afford to buy the snake. Please put your money into its environment first. Worry about the snake later.

4 months ago I envisioned a nice big glass tank, lots of logs, branches, plants, a waterfall and a really happy snake. Well, not all those things necessarily gel together. Not for a ball Python anyhow. Ball Pythons are solitary animals, except when it comes to mating. They, for the most part just want an easy life. They tend not to like large open spaces, they need a specific set of environmental attributes (I am not qualified at this time to give you advice on specifics) so depending on your circumstance at home, a setup like I wanted may not be best for the snake. In my case this was certainly true. I want my snake in the basement. The basement is going to be cold in the winter and will not have a great deal of natural humidity. Using the setup I listed above would make it very difficult for me to be able to adequate control my snakes environment. I was advised by a few people o the forum to get something from animal plastics. At first I hated the idea, but please keep remembering that the snakes best interest comes first. Not the way your setup looks, worry about how it looks down the line. Take a look at this thread. I went from wanting a glass tank to actually going for an Animal Plastics setup. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ironment-Setup You will also find details in here about the size of cage. As mentioned previously, snakes don’t like wide open spaces, so if you have a smaller snake maybe a large cage (to start with) is not the best option. If it’s the only option for you then make sure you cut down on the dead space in the cage by placing hides or other furnishings.

Try and go to a reptile expo. I plan to go to a couple this year. Speak to people, get their advice, handle a snake, ask questions, ask more questions. I kept trying to force myself out of owning a snake. I wanted to make sure this was not a short term thing for me. I kept giving myself excuses why I did not want one I kept countering myself with why I did. Nothing wrong with doing this. Make sure your making the right decision, right up until you pull the trigger.

So what equipment did I settle on? Well, in terms of the main items you need. Cage, Heat and Thermostat, please see below, also see this thread http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-your-thoughts


1.Animal Plastics T8 (48x24x12) with the LED lighting option and door lock http://www.apcages.com/home/terrestrial/T8/T8.htm
2.Pro Heat model PH-12, 300 BTU/h, 88 watt, 12" x 24" x 1" radiant panel http://pro-products.com/
3.Thermostat – Herpstat 1 http://www.spyderrobotics.com/products/herpstat12.html
4. AcuRite Thermometer/Humidity Gauge – You will need 2 of these. One for warm and cool side.

Do not scrimp on this initial setup. Like I said. If your snake purchase needs to wait a few months because you spent you money on the setup, so be it. DO NOT SCRIMP. I would even go as far as to say, if you can’t afford the setup above as a minimum. Don’t do it at all. I know I am treading a thin line here, especially being new to the hobby, but this is my opinion. I don’t expect everyone to agree.

Speak to Animal Plastics. Call them. I called them multiple times asking questions that they had probably heard a million times. Don’t worry about that, do it. Same with Pro Products. Speak with Bob, tell him about your situation, where the cage will be. He will ensure you choose the best option. Double check with your new forum friends, ask for their advice. When your finally sure this is something you want to do. BOOM! Welcome to keeping snakes!!!!

I wanted to include a piece of advice Bob from Pro Products gave me. Its important and can save you money. See below:

“Even if the cage is not directly on the floor, due to the physics of heat loss, you will still have appreciable losses from the cage bottom to your floor. "The greater the difference between the temperatures of the surfaces, the greater the rate of heat transfer from the warmer surface to the cooler one, even if not touching." Concrete has very little "R" value, so you are losing quite a bit of energy through it. If you place a piece of high density insulation that has aluminum foil installed on the surface directly under the cage, it will significantly reduce this loss, resulting in warmer cage floors and less electricity required to heat the cage. This type of insulation can be found at almost all home centers or insulation suppliers. I recommend at least a thickness of 1". This is an inexpensive investment that will pay for itself many times over.”

So the stage I am at today 10/92015 is that the equipment listed above is ordered. I have to still get some accessories. Feeding tongs, furniture for cage, substrate. I can’t advise on any of these items yet as this is the next part of my journey. Oh , I need a snake too!!

So I hope you have enjoyed this first part of this blog thread. Please feel free to chip in with comments. If you have any advice please make it constructive. I am not an expert, I am not here to threaten anyone, I am here to learn, I know very little at this stage but hope to use this thread as a record of my journey. The ups the downs, the do’s and don’ts

Thanks!

[JoshSloane]

Hey great job! Looks like you have a bead on responsible reptile ownership! It definitely is true that there can be some completely awful information on forums. One bit I can advise you on is to take extreme caution when looking for poisonous species of snakes. It takes experts many years to safely engage with these animals. They also have support teams and antivenom with them usually. You don't want to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere with a poisonous bite.

[ShaggyRS6]

Hey great job! Looks like you have a bead on responsible reptile ownership! It definitely is true that there can be some completely awful information on forums. One bit I can advise you on is to take extreme caution when looking for poisonous species of snakes. It takes experts many years to safely engage with these animals. They also have support teams and antivenom with them usually. You don't want to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere with a poisonous bite.

I agree Josh. Venomous snakes are not to be messed with. I would never consider picking one up and would never get anywhere near its strike range. I snake stick (not a real one) an actual stick that's about 5 feet long and has a natural hook on the end. I take this with me only to turn over rocks and old logs. I also always were loose fitting pants. No shorts, NEVER..

[ShaggyRS6]

My Thermostat arrived today. So how do you use this in conjunction with the radiant heat panel?

[ShaggyRS6]

Just a quick update on things that have happened this week. I called Pro Products and Animal Plastics just to get an update on my cage. Hopefully.. And I say HOPEFULLY I should be seeing something at my doorstep on or around the 21^st of this month.

In terms of the locationof the tank I am still somewhat undecided. Its definitely going in my basement, I ordered a heat pad man enough of keeping the temps right in the winter. I have couple of benches I use for cleaning my guns, I might use one of those temporarily, I also have one closer to where my PC so that might be the better option. Maybe I will take a picture tonight to show you what I mean.

In other news I called into Petco on the way home from work last Friday. I was surprised to see they had a Spider and Pastel at reasonable prices. I also looked at furniture for the cage and again it seems well prices. I wont actually buy from Petco. I will go to a dealer. Was just surprised to see something other than a normal standard BP. I will start to get a few bits over the coming days. I want to make sure I initially pack that cage out so the little fella does not feel overwhelmed in its new home.

More to come..

[ShaggyRS6]

Got some furniture in Petco today. 12 bucks each. Not too bad.

[Ax01]

great start.

i saw your other thread on the pinstripe. be sure to assemble your enclosure with all the hides, plants, substrate, heating/regulators, etc. and get husbandry correct before u introduce your new snake. u want if comfortable and temps/humidity ready for your snake move-in.

[ShaggyRS6]

Yes I will do AX01 - I wont buy the animal before I have everything running as it needs to be. FYI - What's the best Substrate? Cedar?

[Ax01]

Yes I will do AX01 - I wont buy the animal before I have everything running as it needs to be. FYI - What's the best Substrate? Cedar?

the best in terms of:

holding moisture - cypress mulch
easy to clean-up - paper towel/newspaper

personally i use a mixture of chipped and shredded aspen with moss. i not worried about humidity as i spray often and cleanliness b/c i clean often. (it also gives me a chance to interact with and peep my snakes.)

[ShaggyRS6]

Thanks Buddy. I'm going to try that Cypress Mulch first and see how we go!