Things you wish you knew before getting a ball python

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Originally Posted by Godzilla78

Maybe get a job and buy your own? :P (I'm a parent, lol)

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I do have a job actually. On the weekends only though so it dosent take away from my school work. I make enough money to buy the rack myself I just need to have moms approval and consent :D I also pay for my Beeps food by myself

I wish I knew about the different housing options. I researched for 6 mo and never knew there were racks or ap available. I thought racks were only available to breeders.

I wish I had known all that I now now about enclosures, heating, humidity and hides. There are many, many ways to skin a cut, but most of those ways are INEFFICIENT! If I could go back in time, I would never have bought all the crap I bought for my glass tank (wasted hides, heat pads, lights, a crappy Zoomed thermostat, bags of crappy aspen), and instead I would have bought ONE, read ONE very nice pre-made rack with digital thermostat and heat tape, (see vivarium electronics VE-6 model for example) and been DONE, and would have a much nicer setup for probably the same money I spent and wasted TINKERING around trying to perfect my glass tank!:rolleye2:

In the end, it was worth it, because I learned SO MUCH from trial and error and research AND I have a really nice display tank now, that I have invested a lot in, and I will probably use it for a more DISPLAY type of snake in the future.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

150 grams does not mean is it underweight here is a new thing for you to learn, it's not about weight it's about proper body proportion.

Weight vary greatly from one individual to another I have animal that are a year and weight in at 1200 grams some that are 400 grams.

There are many things that affect weight, size out of the egg, how fast fast the animal get stated some may take 2 months (that means other can get that much of a head start, prey size, feeding frequency, skipped meal, fast and most importantly genetics, some animals are predisposed to be BIG.

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he doesn't feed his snakes properly. a reptile is not like a mammal and there are not going to be significant health ramifications if an animal is congenitally underfed. the reptile is simply going to be tiny and grow at a much slower rate. you really want to take the position that virtually all of his snakes being 12-14 months old and weighing 150-250 grams is normal or ok?

Price: $550
Weight: 240g
Sex: male
Hatch-Date: 8/13/16
Morph: Bamboo


Price: $200
Weight: 172g
Sex: male
Hatch-Date: 8/31/16
Morph: Banana




Price: $200
Weight: 165g
Sex: male
Hatch-Date: 8/21/16
Morph: Banana




Price: $150
Weight: 95g ???????????
Sex: male
Hatch-Date: 1/12/17 ??????????????
Morph: Black Pastel Woma Pinstripe




Price: $225
Weight: 375g
Sex: male
Hatch-Date: 12/16/15
Morph: Emperor Pinstripe nearly 2 years old and 375 grams

Price: $200
Weight: 420g
Sex: male
Hatch-Date: 8/15/15
Morph: Fire Pinstripe Possible Orange Dream 26 months old 420 grams

that is just randomly clicking on snakes on the first page of his for sale. I didn't even have to look for egregious examples and I found some by randomly clicking 5 snakes. so yeah his snakes are undersized 100%. this is an exact mirroring of my experience with purchasing 2 of his snakes. it isn't genetics and it isn't poor feeding response. it's his feeding methodology. he doesn't care about the growth of snakes that he isn't holding back for a future project so he saves himself space and money by keeping them small, feeding them smaller prey items and doing it less often

I wish I had avoided glass and gone with a tub system right away. In my geographic region (northern Canada) it is was too hard to keep proper heat in glass.

Btw I use Aspen specifically to dry out my tub a bit because I have to have fewer holes to retain heat, high humidity is the side effect of this. Easy cleanup tip, line the bottom with paper towel and then put a light Aspen layer down. When you go to clean, remove ornaments and roll the Aspen up in the paper towel. Clean up remainder with mini broom and dust pan.

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Originally Posted by Zach_este93

I wish I had avoided glass and gone with a tub system right away. In my geographic region (northern Canada) it is was too hard to keep proper heat in glass.

Btw I use Aspen specifically to dry out my tub a bit because I have to have fewer holes to retain heat, high humidity is the side effect of this. Easy cleanup tip, line the bottom with paper towel and then put a light Aspen layer down. When you go to clean, remove ornaments and roll the Aspen up in the paper towel. Clean up remainder with mini broom and dust pan.

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I'm glad you said the thing about the paper towels under the bedding. I am receiving my first rack on Tuesday and I'm definitely going to have to do this for easier cleaning.