Hi all

At Rplank's invitation, I made my way over here from the Kingsnake.com forums.

By way of introductions, my name is Rick, I'll turn 44 here in a few weeks, happily married for nearly 24 years now, and have two grown kids. I'm an electronic technician by trade and a flute student by hobby.

I've had my Ball Python, Phil, for about a month and a half now, having bought him from the local Herp Society's show here in Tucson. He's a captive bred, normal colored male, almost 4 months old now. I have him residing in a 20 g Long terrarium on my desk, using newspaper for the substrate, an inverted flower pot saucer with a hole knocked in one side for a hiding spot, a ceramic dish for water, and a mesquite branch for him to crawl on (he seems to really like the mesquite branch). I have a red "heat" lamp shining into the terrarium for him to bask on, and since our nights are starting to cool off, I'll be installing a 7 watt heat mat under his tank for additional warmth (and likely changing to a slightly thicker substrate that will make it less likely he can get directly against the glass above the heater).

Phil has been readily accepting F/T mice about once a week, and while I've fed him an adult mouse once, the hoppers seem to be a better size for him right now.

That's the introduction in a nutshell. I look forward to some interesting reading in these forums, and hope to be able to contribute something of value from time to time myself.

4 months old eh? Should be able to take jumbo adults no problem.

So by desk do you mean office desk? Man, never thought about that. That must be awsome if thats what you mean. I've seen people with fish and all at their desks, but never thought about keeping a ball python in the office. Thats pretty cool to think about.

Welcome to the site Hoomi.

Well, it might be fun to have him at work, but I doubt the Company would allow it. I think they tolerate the few plants I have, but a snake, or even a fish, would likely be taboo.

I have a very nice desk here in my home where my computer and a lot of my books reside. He gets some prime real estate there, too.

Do you have a digi cam by any chance?

Yep... I'll post some pics soon.

Hi, Rick. Glad you decided to check us out!
I don't know why, but when I read that you named your BP Phil, it struck me as funny, and I can't stop laughing! I love it!
Welcome, and great to have you here.

Would you like an album here Hoomi?

Please. I think an album would be useful, even though I probably won't have a lot of pictures to post.

When I first got my Ball Python, I joked about calling him "Phil", sort of derived from "Phullaco Serpent", a rather dangerous monster in the internet game we play (Ultima Online). It just kind of stuck for lack of anything that sounded like a better name. Besides, it's easy to spell.

My wife picked up a young Bearded Dragon the same day I bought Phil, and she finally named him Kilroy, after seeing him pop his head and feet up over the top of the "log" hideaway she has in his terrarium. She thought he looked like the old "Kilroy was here" graffitti.

I think Phil is a great name, keep it :)

I'll go hook up the gallery for you. You should find it easy to upload.