Your Ball Python Fascination

Why did I buy Fang?

I've always loved snakes, but never actually thought about owning one. I'm a sucker for low-maintenance pets, though, and a few weeks ago when I was in the pet shop, it dawned on me that maybe it was time to get a snake. I was looking at a King, but the sales guy talked me into buying Fang, a normal BP. Really glad I did. He's just so mellow, and seems to really enjoy being taken out of his tank and handled.

I'm going to resist the urge to buy a bunch of snakes. But I know that the first time I attend a reptile expo, I'll probably come home with a morph of some kind.

(Darn it!)

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Originally Posted by Animals As Leaders

You know I remember you telling me you were done with breeding, and being like how can she resist to not doING it again? I wish I could, but I just can't. lol

Looks like the itch just got itchier ehhh???

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DEFINITELY! The problem is, bp's are so easy to take care of - I mean, they don't chew the furniture, pee on your grass, bark incessantly, if you forget to pet them, they could care less, and if you go on a week's vacation you don't need to take them to the kennel. They can live in a small corner of the home office, no problem. So... having 7 of them is not much different than having 4!

I've always been fascinated by snakes & reptiles, but until 2 years ago I'd only owned a few lizards (iguanas & leos). Then I was managing a library, and we hired somebody from the East Bay Vivarium for a children's program... that re-ignited my interest in snakes, and I went to the viv a few weeks later "just to look around." I had actually been researching in those weeks, and it was suggested that I get a Rosy Boa - not sure why, but the people I'd asked thought they were a good fit. :confuzd:

So I walked into East Bay Viv, and asked to see the Rosy Boas for sale. The manager brought out a few, and could tell I wasn't all that impressed... he thought I might like something a bit stockier, and showed me a Ball Python instead. Needless to say, it was love at first sight! I knew this was the snake for me, and picked out my beautiful girl Delilah. :) Funny thing is, as I was leaving the manager said "I've been in this business for 20+ years, and pride myself on picking the right snake for each customer; and I knew immediately you'd go home with a Ball." If only he knew what that first snake led to, LOL!

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Originally Posted by anatess

DEFINITELY! The problem is, bp's are so easy to take care of - I mean, they don't chew the furniture, pee on your grass, bark incessantly, if you forget to pet them, they could care less, and if you go on a week's vacation you don't need to take them to the kennel. They can live in a small corner of the home office, no problem. So... having 7 of them is not much different than having 4!

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That is very true, and probably why people end up with so many... I never in a million years thought I'd have 29 snakes, but now it really doesn't seem like a big deal. :oops: I have one dog and three cats, who are MUCH harder to care for than my snake collection!

Exactly!

And that mentality is what fuels my obsession lol. But then 4 turns into 8, 8 turns into 16, and then before you know its your in the triple digits and buried!

My sister in law met a guy with a bunch of balls and she invited me over. He showed me his collection and also showed me some babies that he was selling. I have always loved snakes and my mom would not let me have a snake in her house when I was a kid. My daughter and I begged and begged my wife for weeks and she finally gave in so i bought a normal male.. After about 6 months, I asked to get a female and she said I can only get more if I keep them in the basement as she never goes down there so I built a snake room and after 13 months since my first one, I now have 7!

Well at first, I wanted a dog when I moved to Texas, so I was looking around for one. My parents said since we travel a lot, we can't get a dog because we will be leaving it alone. So, I look for alternatives and found a ball python. I wanted it sooo bad, and I asked my mom and dad and they gave me the "OK" sign. BUT, unfortunately, my mom told her co-workers her predicament with me, and her co-workers told her horror stories of snakes smelling and when killing the rodents the rodents scream their heads off... then it was an immediate NO. It took me 1 year of trying to get my mom to let me get a snake, and then one day, me and my family were out grocery shopping and I ask to stop by the pet store. I then see the ball python that eventually becomes mine, and I begged my mom to let me get it. The worker at the time really convinced my mom in less than 10 minutes with the same info I have been telling her for 1 full year. Messed up right? But it doesn't matter, I got Al and I love him:D

I've always been fascinated with snakes in general.

I used to see a beautiful python of some kind in a pet shop near my then boyfriend's home. To my shame I cannot remember what it was. I do know it was at least 5 feet long and very pretty browns and I think blacks. Eventually I got the chance to hold it, I was so thrilled.

My specific thing for ball pythons came about in the lid to late '90's when I worked for Fancy Publications, the people who publish Reptiles magazine. On the front cover of one of the many magazines I sold, was a Piebald ball, the first in this country. I was hopelessly in love. Of course, way back then I couldn't even begin to afford the outrageous pricetag, but I told myself, somehow, someway, someday I'd have one of those magnificent snakes.

Today there are a dozen snakes in my collection so far, and one is my long hoped for pied. A lovely little low-white boy. And with him, I hope one day soon to produce my dream pied, a perfect 50/50.

Gale

My obsesssion with snakes started with a common garter snake as a pet. I then noticed BP's at the pet store and I just had to have one. After many months of research I acquired my first ball python in October of 2008. I have been addicted ever since and I plan on getting more! I think they are just beautiful creatures and I love them!

My mother swears it was when I was about 10 years old, and she sent my brother and I to the local Nature Science Center who had a summer day camp. She has a photo of us helping to weigh a large bumese, a bunch of kids each standing on a scale with part of the snake in our arms (and adults at the head, tail and middle of the snake).

I remember Helen the Hognose, a jet black hognose that I loved, who sadly got out of her enclosure and the kingsnake had a suspicious lump and a satisfied smile on his face.

Fast forward to my 30's, and my boyfriend had a 20 gallon tall tank that he decided he wanted to turn into a terrarium and add a green lizard to it. The lovely local pet store had JUST the green lizard he was looking for, for ONLY $25! What a deal!

:mad::mad::mad:

It was a baby iguana. I started researching them, and I'm getting more and more distressed about it, because we live in a one bedroom apartment, and this kiddo is going to need much more than we can give him. Well, sadly, he was not a healthy iguana, and he didn't live very long.

So, before my boyfriend could put any more pretty green lizards in that tank, I asked him if I could get a snake instead, and he agreed. I loved the shape of the ball python's head, and their face. I started researching and ended up buying my first ball python online.

Started reseraching more and more, and found this forum as well as all the different color mutations out there and the rest is history! I now have ~50 combined snakes (between all the species).

My mother still curses the day she decided to enroll us in that summer camp! LOL "I should have never taken you to the Nature Science Center summer camp!"