Wild Caught or Captive Hatched?

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Originally Posted by mxrider42

Has anyone done business with Ball Room Pythons?Trey

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Yes, I have three girls from Ballroom Pythons South. Michael Cole is a great guy. Mine are CH, I wasn't aware he was selling any WC though.

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Plus the Atlanta show is only two weeks away. I am trying to hold off to see what they have but it is really hard.

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Print a list of vendors and check them all out on the BOI at FaunaClassifieds.com

I imagine there will only be a handful of vendors there worth purchasing from. The last Atlanta show, there were only two vendors that I would have purchased from if I were planning to buy anything.

I'll be going to the show, but don't plan to pick up any animals (famous last words).

I recently got in 3 LTC from Paul Edwards which are 04 imports to Alan Bosch. I have not tried feeding them yet because I just got them today, but we will see next week.

I have ony purchased CB simply because I have heard too many horror stories about WC. Now, if I saw a CH that was from a breeder I know and trust, I'd jump on it if it was what I wanted/needed (seems that "want" takes over more times than "need" when it comes to ball pythons!).


That being said, I have dealt with Michael Cole with Ballroom Pythons South and one of his partners, Neil Golli, with Neil Golli Reptiles, and would buy anything from them if they said the snake was OK. I trust them completely.

Alice

For me captive hatched from a good dealer like Will Bird versus captive hatched from some pet store is a major difference. I highly doubt most pet stores know how to properly start a snake eating in a captive environment or will take that time, I highly doubt any of them will do much to treat for any internal parasites (perhaps external ones but internal...not likely). I have no problem owning CH's and love the ones we do have but I would be leery of getting one from a pet store without realizing the risks. I do have some in our collection that are likely CH's from a pet store and I've been quite lucky with them but I consider it blind luck more than anything the pet store did or didn't do.

We have one confirmed WC adult female. Before we got her we have verified that she went through wild capture, importing to the States, a least one pet store, then two previous owners (that we can confirm). One of the owners had her treated for external and internal parasite loads. When we got her she was severely underweight (barely over 600 grams as a fully adult female). She had not eaten in at least 8 months though likely far longer. She spent her time curled in a tight, defensive ball. She was also covered in retained shed. One eye had 3 layers of caps, the other had 5 layers of stuck caps. We expected her to be blind under all that mess but thank goodness she seems to have her sight.

It took a huge amount of energy and time, a ton of support and information from Adam Wysocki and a lot of worry that we might have to euthanize her before we saw a turn around for this snake. Well over a year later she is still slowly re-gaining her strength. She is well within a normal weight range for her length but still iffy enough we will not risk breeding her this year. We may never breed her or breed her only every other year. She now accepts handling without immediately balling up.

Basically all this is to tell you that WC adults are tough. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Personally after going through this with Saoirse I'd not run out and buy WC females expecting to breed them right away, unless I was very experienced in working with adult WC's. I might take one in as a rescue to rehab her but I just don't want or need the extra work and stress of multiple WC adult females.

Oh and I didn't even start on the whole issue of strict quarantine to protect your current collection from the stuff WC's can bring in with them. :(

Given the relatively low prices of CBB normals, I would say, your best bet is to buy one from a reputable breeder. I would bet that 9 out of 10 pet stores do not know how to properly sex a BP; therefore, who knows what you will get.. even if you don;t plan on breeding, let's say you have to sell the snake somewhere down the road.. it looks a little unsettling (at least to me) to see an ad stating "sex unknown."
Also, I highly doubt that any reputable breeder is going to put their reputation at stake by selling something that's either diseased, mis-sexed, or not feeding.. believe me, the extra $50.00 or so for shipping, is WELL worth the peace of mind it gives.