Python Smell

[BlueSilver]

I've been trying to convince my wife to let me get a Ball Python. She refuses to allow it becuase she says that they smell bad. I know that leaving a cage unkept can result in bad smells, but do Ball Pythons really have much odor?
Are there ways to combat this? How can I talk the old lady into this?


:

Thanks!

[Freakie_frog]

I have 50+ balls and unless there is poo or pee in the tank there's no smell

[herpguy311]

The only time I have observed a smell is if there is urates or feces, but other than that, no worries on the smell

[chimpkin]

One or two isn't bad. You can keep the odor down, low but once you get a room full it can have a certain funk. I usually prepare people by saying it smells a little "earthy" in there.

A single ball python won't have much smell at all.

[Inknsteel]

I don't have the number of snakes that others on this site do, but I echo the frog... As long as you keep the enclosure clean, there is no smell...

[RobbinRN]

Same here! Very clean animals

Robbin

[mischevious21]

Yea, as long as you spot clean when needed and do your regular cleaning too, they wont smell. My snakes don't smell at all and never have, and I have 8. She's probably thinking of like the kind of musky smell gardner (sp?) snakes have.. Yea, not too pleasant. But Those are in the wild- not domesticated where they have a controlled enviorment and such.

[chimpkin]

I guess what I notice more than anything is the smell of the bedding. Cypress smells a little like dirt. Thats why I call it an earthy smell.

[RoyalGuardian]

Unless your wifey has the sniffer of a bloodhound then I think that you'll be good. Ball Pythons do smell but I don't think they smell bad. They smell like reptiles and to actually smell them you have to put your nose to their scales. As for like a smell that radiates their urates and poo can smell kinda funky but its never like IN YOUR FACE smell. Urates( pee) smell alot like ammonia and poo... well it smells like digested mouse... But as for odor they are WONDERFUL! They smell better in every aspect than any animal I have ever owned! they are docile and gentle and as a snake they only poo once ever 1-2 weeks! They are such great pets I cannot begin to explain the joy it is be a ball python owner! I know! Take your wife to a pet store and have her get a wiff of how they smell. take that and put it into account that there wont be 5 snakes in your enclosure and you'll see that even with 5 snakes it isn't bad at all! unless they don't take care of their ball pythons at all...... But I assure her that Ball Pythons do not smell bad! they smell as someone else put "Earthy".

[anendeloflorien]

Agreed, I have my BP rack just a couple feet away from my bed and I can't smell anything from them except when the cage needs to be spot-cleaned. Now colubrids (corn snakes, kings etc...) are a different story all together as anyone on here who owns them can tell you