Buying a Baby Ball Python

Hi everyone! as you may have seen i just registered in this forum! After having a bunch of leopard geckos and watching every snakebytes.tv video! Ive been doing my research and decided to buy a baby ball python! I live in spain, what decreases a lot my selection of morphs... but a simple pastel can run you in euros the equivalent to 400$ and a normal ball 54$ so im kinda thinking on a pastel because after every cool morph ive seen online a plain normal just doesnt look fancy enough... Anyways i intend to keep it in a tub... and i have seen many people not even providing a heat source to them... bare in mind climate at spain tends to be hot...although i keep my leos in racks with a heat cable... would that do to the ball? or do i have to get into some sort of heat mat? if so will the heat mat melt the tub? In spain ball python sizes are kinda hard to find an intermediate level... or either they are hatchlings that havent had their first meal or they are subadults.... i was looking more into the hatchling because im really excited on seeing the snake grow as well as the smaller the size of the snake when its introduced home the better for my parents! I've kinda heard many stories of having to introduce a pinky mice in the hatchlings mouth and slowly try to push it in for a bit until they actually bite firmly and start eating it... is this true? please tell me any tips you guys know! thanks!:)

Welcome! It's an addiction so I don't see were it matters what you get normal or morph. :) I don't use tubs so I can't answer those questions for you. Good luck with which ever you choose.

Keep in mind there are some great breeders in Europe that have a nice selection!

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I've kinda heard many stories of having to introduce a pinky mice in the hatchlings mouth and slowly try to push it in for a bit until they actually bite firmly and start eating it... is this true? please tell me any tips you guys know! thanks!

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No, unless of course there is an issue and the animal is a non feeder.

Do not buy a non feeder make sure to buy an animal that is well started, and to make sure you are successful with your future animal read and understand their needs http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

:welcome: to the forum for starters! Lot of people with good info on here.
Most people, and myself use Flexwatt heat tape under the tubs. Its thin and comes in several widths and wattages. Some use UTH , but what ever you go with, you will need a thermostat of some kind to control the level of heat. Most tape the thermostats probe right onto the Flexwatt(or other heat source if possible) and place a thermometer probe on the bottom of the tub right over the heat source. The hot spot should be around 90-94 degrees and the cool side 78-83. But a thermostat is the 2nd most important thing besides the heats source.

Welcome to the site! You have already been directed to the stickies and care sheets, so I'll just add a few comments.

Like Deb said, don't get a non feeder. That's a headache you do NOT need! It is true that you have to assist fed=put the pinky in the bps mouth, but that's only if the bp won't eat. You should be able to find a hatchling that is eating, there aren't that many that refuse to eat. One thing to look for is a baby that looks chubby, if it's skinny, look the other way. BPs should not be skinny unless they are super young hatchlings or not eating, you don't want either of those.

As for the heat cable, it depends on how hot it gets. You need it to get no hotter than 95 on the hot spot inside the tank. If your cable is hotter than that you will need something else. Also, I assume you heat cable is under the tubs and not inside of them?

of course! the heat cable is NOT inside the tubs! So how many meals should the ball python have had for me to buy it? what is the average weight it should be on?

Three meals is good! Make sure you do your homework on prices as well! You don't want to pay more than you have to and more than what the snake is worth! Good luck and welcome!

Check out www.UnitedHerps.com

Yup,

I would be more inclined to purchase a hatchling from a breeder who displays healthy, quality animals which have all had a minimum of 5 - 10 defrost feeds.

There are far too many folks producing stock - no matter the species - where they believe it's o.k. to, actually, sell animals which are non-feeders. This is very prevalent in the Pantherophis guttatus & I suspect those very people will go on to produce Python regius with the same 'cavalier' attitude towards their stock & potential customers.

Regards. Lex

The thing is that in Spain, the chances of finding a wide variety of breeders such as the US or maybe other countries is quite hard! So you kind of have to stick to what there is. Not to mention that shipping a snake for the US to Spain may be even more expensive than the actual snake... plus the animal controls and stuff!