When you buy them?

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Originally Posted by Bright202

If your scared of a ball python, you shouldn't have a ball python.. Just my :2cent:

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Were you at least a little apprehensive the first time you held a snake? I was. I think most people are. Learned behavior is sometimes difficult to overcome. Fear of snakes is a strong learned behavior. If nobody got a pet snake if they were afraid of being bitten, very few people would have snakes!

Trumetal96 - As a general rule, ball pythons don't move fast. At least not compared to most colubrids (rat snakes, bull snakes, king snakes, etc). When they do strike, however, chances are you won't react until it is over. Its that quick. A baby ball python's bite will at most bring a few pin pricks of blood. Generally less blood than when you get a shot at the doctor's office, and a lot less painful. Even an adult ball python's bite will be much less serious than a dog bite, or even a rat bite. Rat bites are nasty! Its really nothing to fear. That being said, I still try to avoid being bitten.

Steve

edit - Lets educate people that snakes aren't to be feared. Then maybe the next time they see one on the road, they'll swerve to miss it instead of swerving to hit it! Or if they see one in their yard, they'll run to get a camera instead of a shovel!
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Heck when our 3,200 gram female ball python gave me the evil eye the other day during cage cleaning, I was a tad nervous and we've got 18 of the darn things LOL. Being a bit nervous of a bite is fine as long as it doesn't stop you from doing what you should for the snake or exhibiting so much fear the snake would likely pick up on it. Better to be a bit nervous than to be way over confident and do something stupid in the process, I figure.

Ball pythons aren't known as big biters and tend to be a decent snake to handle. Babies are more nippy but then they are babies, small and scared babies that don't have a clue you aren't some big heat emitting possible predator. Move slow, don't mess around with their heads and learn your snakes cues....respect your snake for what it is and what it isn't.....you'll do fine. :)

I had the guy at the store order it today. It's a baby. Everything together is about $100