Please help, IM NEW!!!

I did the same thing, read a lot of forums and bought a book before i got my first, lots of great info here,tryhttp://www.reptilesupply.com/index.p...sort=3a&page=2

there's a lot of options, i agree, half logs just suck, i just got the exo-terra cave,Stripe just loves it and it looks good in the cage.

Welcome to the site, can't wait to see the new addition!!!!!

This is how we have our 20L glass vivarium setup for our ball python. Please see the link in my sig for the Glass Viv Guide my fiance "Captain Overkill!" Rick wrote for more details on the setup.

http://www.onlinethingy.com/files/gr...opic13_big.jpg

Welcome Mr. Gorilla!

I bought our first BP from Petco.
not a good experiance. Had parasites, wrong gender, and not eating what they claimed he was. Good Idea to look to breeders for a snake.

I use a half log for Lola and Khan. Eversince khan was put into his larger home with more hides he no longer uses the log, and heck lola never has. she uses a top of a shoe box i have that we cut to fit her steralite container.

If you plan on making your Bp a home where you want people to see it, and you feel like showing it off or displaying it it somewhere then start buying things now. All the neat "natural looking" habitat stuff can get pricey when you want it all at once.

For Khan we went all out and have him in a 55(ish) gallon class viv with plenty of fake plants, hides and water dishes. For Lola we use the plastic set up with two hides and a plastic water dish. Cheap and easy. Both seem to be doing fine.

I love Cassandras set up! Its exactly what you would want to see your ball python climbing around in and it fits all the snakes needs.:gj:

Shelby is right too. if your getting that hatchling start out with something small. This way you can save a little moola, keep your bp secure and take away some of the stress of such an open area of a large cage. Also the larger you go in tank size the trickier it is to heat and maintain. When Khan takes a #2 and I can smell it...finding it becomes the problem.

Good luck and keep us all updated on the progress of your egg/hatchling!

Males and females have the same temperament.. neither is more aggressive. Females are larger.. average 4-5', males 3-4'.

Awesome, just wanted to thank everyone for their help. So why is it that sometimes females of different types are 2 to 3 times more expensive, is it just cause there bigger? Does anyone recommend either or for my first one?

No pictures so far, the only thing i have so far is a stand, which is my old tv stand... sad huh. Dont have too much to spend this week, plus, what is in my savings will be saved just in case, not sure how expensive the vet trips could end up being, hopefully not having to go too much. Anyways, i'll keep everyone posted, oh, NAMES?! If i get a female, im thinkin Crypta, or Atom for the male, sorry, hard to explain!

Andy

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Originally Posted by white_gorilla_x

So why is it that sometimes females of different types are 2 to 3 times more expensive, is it just cause there bigger?

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I'll offer this example... although it doesn't work for all snakes.... (but like you said, "different types"..)

If I were to want to breed Albinos.. (good ole stand-by)... I would have to either get two hets, or two homozygous (visible) animals.... I could breed my male that I bought for $2000 to my normal female that I bought as a hatchling for 80 bucks, and wind up with all hets.... then I raise the females up for three years, and breed the homozygous albino to all of the hets.. and whammo... Albinos... (total time, 6 years, approx 2-4 clutches)

Alternatively, I could buy a hatchling female Albino for $3000, raise it for 3 years, and then breed a het male that I purchased for $150 bucks, raise it up for a year, and whammo, Albinos... (total time, 3 years, 1 clutch, 2 more years to get approx 2 MORE clutches..)

With the Co-Dom traits, you can see results right away... so take this example... I could buy a male Lemon Pastel for $1000, breed it to 5 adult normal females that I purchased for $80ea 3 years ago, and whammo, Lemons! (total time, 3 years.... 5 clutches)

Females are the ones that make the eggies.... so they're more valuable... You can never have enough girls! Adult male normals you can pick up for $50-$150... Adult FEMALES?? $400 bucks... and most are HAPPY to pay it. So when you see people in this forum post that they picked up an adult female for $50 bucks, or for FREE (even better), that's why we all say "what a steal" or "nice find!"

Hope this helps.

I ordered my "natural" looking hides and terarrium plants from thatpetplace.com, and they have great prices and I've never had a problem with them.
I love those vines that suction cup to the glass at in one spot, and then you can spread them out. I have a couple that do a great job of filling in empty spaces.