I'm brand new!

[Maines4Me]

Hello all! I am brand new to BP's. but have always loved from afar. i've done alot of online reading and youtube watching. and feel fairly ok with the little knowledge i have just brooke the cusp of to get my first BP or even corn snake well i have just come across a BP normal on craigslist for $50.00 (that includes tank,hide,water dish,and Snake) but i'm nervuse becouse i'm new and this snake will be coming with a heat lamp not a under tank mat and they're not sure if the BP is male or female or of his age. the pictures of him look ok granted not cose enough to tell if the snakes underfeed . Sooo I guess what i'm asking is... should a very new handler take on a possibley unproperly cared for BP for a good price? or just let the snake hopefully go to a more expereanced home than mine? any and ALL advice and 2 cents are very welcome like i said I'm new and want all the knowledge i can soak up on BP's and corn snakes. so please bring it on. give this beginer here all the knowledge and tricks of the tread I'm so excited to get my life long snake mate(s)

[Boanerges]

Welcome!!!! If the ball python is in good shape and eating you will be fine IMO as long as you read the care sheet on here and and keep them properly. You have to start some where. Just make sure it looks good, is eating regularly, what it is eating and how often they feed it. If it is coming with a heat lamp make sure you have a temp gun so you can properly measure the surface temp, and a seperate thermometer to measure they air temps.

[Boanerges]

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

[Maines4Me]

Hi nice to hear from my home coast!(I'm from New York) thank you for the vote of confidence and the link. I'm going to e-mail her again asking a few more indepth guestions and for some closer pics. also maybe if she'll be willing to let me see and handle him befor i give a definate yes/no on if I'll take him.

[artgecko]

Welcome! I just got into snakes last summer and have been loving it! I'll be up to 4 soon, so be warned, this hobby is addictive.

That said... Some thoughts on your CL BP..
1. Animals from CL are often not in the best shape, have mites or other illness, or can have feeding issues, so it's "buyer beware". You could get a great deal and a great animal, or you could end up with a "lemon" that is sick or won't eat, etc... So if you go this route, be prepared to pay for a vet visit if need be (of course, that could be said with any snake). I'd check out the stickies on the forum about snake illnesses etc. so you can know what symptoms to look for. If the snake appears to have mites, and RI, etc.. Be prepared to walk away.

2. Feeding: Find out what the snake is eating now, how often, etc. I'd make sure it is on frozen / thawed now or you could have issues switching him over (I'm assuming that as a newbie you don't want to deal with feeding live or pre-killing live rodents). This is one advantage of buying a snake from a good breeder, many will try a potential snake on f/t for you or switch it to f/t before you get it so that you don't have to deal with that.

3. Feeding /caring for a normal BP will take just as much effort and $$ as a morph BP. If you really want a morph (i.e. while doing your research you found that you LOVE pinstripes) and don't care for how normals look, you might want to wait, save up, and buy the morph that would be your first choice. If you like the look of normal BPs, then that is awesome too.

4. Also related to feeding... If you plan on feeding f/t, you may want to line up a source of food before bringing the snake home. Often the f/t rodents you see at chain stores like petco / petsmart are not good (have been thawed and refrozen and will be "bad" when thawed to feed) and are crazy over priced. If you want to do f/t, it'll be best to bulk order online, get from a show, or buy from a local good feeder breeder. Your BP will need to eat every week, so it's best to have some "on hand" for that purpose.

5. Heating: You mentioned that the BP comes with a tank with a heat lamp... I'm assuming that they don't have that connected to a thermostat... You will want to look into UTHs, heat tape, and thermostats before you bring him home. You can get away with using lamp dimmers,etc. But a good thermostat is best.. Herpstats are usually recommended and run about $120+, many also use hydrofarms, which are around $45. If the BP is in a glass aquarium, you will also have to do some modification on the top to keep humidity up.

6. Be aware that if you pass on this snake, you can set up a BP appropriate "tub" enclosure fiarly easily and cheaply (other than the thermostat). Check out this sticky. In the CL transaction, you'll likely only be getting value out of the snake and will end up not using the glass tank or heat lamp later on.. Something to consider if that is the primary reason you're considering the CL snake.

Good luck with whatever route you choose! I have been trolling craiglist too, but even with some experience, I haven't wanted to deal with the possible issues that might occur with a CL find, but if you feel you are up to it, more power to you.

[Maines4Me]

Thank You I wound up getting in better touch with her and getting better pictures. The wife is not sure but apparently the husband was a little better. The Pretty normal with his gold trying to shine through was in the middle of a sheed in one of the new pictures(skin all loose and coming off it's head) I say yeah lol she's in a sheed and the wife goes " no she's in our hous we just have 3 doors" needless to say I'm picking up my first beautifull normal BP this Friday. The husband said she is 1Y to 1 1/2 years old is eating f/t fuzzies once a week and is docile. :-D I think I'm going to relook at tank vs tub see how humidaty stayes in this tank they give me or in a 40 gallon I have. Yeah um no he doesn't have A thermomater or anything just a normal heat lamp the hide and water bowl. So yup I'm goin' to petco later lol. And yes for now petco rats have to do I'm not sure of any local pepole that have feeded rats. This is going to be an adventure! But I can already see me getting a pretty pie bald for my birthday next year if I can wait that long. Lol the more I read and watch the more I fall under their spell lol I LOVE ALL the Morphs! :-D

[thinkbig317]

Welcome aboard! East Coast here as well!!! Good luck with your future purchase! BP's make great first snakes.

[artgecko]

Good luck with him!

I'd suggest a good thermometer (to read temps). I like this one. It has a probe for the hot spot and the unit itself reads the temp on the "cool" end. And, it's pretty cheap for all that and reads humidity. FYI: The "dial" thermometers at pet stores aren't that great.

You will also probably want to put the lamp / UTH you get on a lamp dimmer, and adjust (using the thermometer to see what the temps are) until you get the temps in the range you want. Check out this thread on how to safely use a lamp dimmer.

Also see this thread on how to foil a screen top to hold in humidity better.

I'd suggest investing in a UTH, lamp dimmer, and thermometer to start. The next thing I'd suggest you look at is saving up for a good thermostat, like a herpstat... When I first started I didn't think it was worth it, but soon got tired of adjusting my dimmer 10x a day, once I got the herpstat, it was like heaven. That said, you can buy them off Amazon, so I suggest what I did.. ask people for giftcards to amazon for your birthday / christmas, etc. then use them to buy one. BTW, the herpstat 2 I linked to will regulate 2 heat sources = heating for 2 snakes, not that you'll want a second one or anything crazy like that.

Good luck and feel free to ask for questions.

[Maines4Me]

Yes I went and got her/him? I'm getting a undertank heat pad and i need to get a good digital temp./humidity guage. he/she just ate a FT fuzzie for me today. and I'm impressed... I know the humidity she was kept at be for me was to low and the temp to low just by setting the tank up the way they had it. i couldn't get the tank above 30% & 65 deegres now I'm hovering around 52% & 75 deegres but still nervus I'm not sure if he/she is dehydrated or just to dry a tank still, he came to me in a bad shed (pieces flaking off here and there )& his skin wrinkles up at his curves . trying my best right now and reading anything i can get my hands on hopfully he'll improve over my first month having him

[Maines4Me]

BTW, the herpstat 2 I linked to will regulate 2 heat sources = heating for 2 snakes, not that you'll want a second one or anything crazy like that.

Good luck and feel free to ask for questions

LOL . yeah um my husband is already! after 3 days! looking at bumblbee morphs