Your Ball Python Fascination

I am curious to see what made all of you delve into the BP craze. I personally never intended on making an obsession out of them at all. I was in my local mall, and they had sales people walking around with one. I couldn't resist handling the little guy. He seemed so gentle and so nonchalant. I wanted to take him home so bad, but was a broke joke at the time. I slowly researched them and decided to take the plunge at the White Plains expo with just a normal girl. After about of month of her I realized what I just got myself into, and at the next White Plains show I bought a pastel male. Now I got 11 BP's and counting with no plan on stopping the collection anytime soon(Had more but traded babies I hatched out). I think the fact that theres what seems to be an endless amount of color variation in them is whats amazing. And the fact that there docile to boot!! Some of them are truly works of art, and one of a kind animals too. Ahhh so addicting lol

My kids have been bringing home all kinds of critters from the backyard. My husband finds snakes in the yard and puts them in a jar to show the kids. All the time.

So then this Reptile Store opened a few miles from our house. There's this one kid there - must not have been more than 6 years old - that was holding a ball python. The snake was definitely "chill". Completely different from the racer snakes my husband brings home from the yard. And the snake was this pretty yellow - looked like candy. All the others next to her were muddy brown. So, I forked out lots of money that very moment to get the snake plus everything that comes with it.

So now my husband has a snake, and my kids are begging to have their own - I found a ball python on craigslist but it was a different color - a pretty brown. I went to look at the snake and he was "chill" too! So, I got him for my kids.

Found out about "morphs" a few months later when I got introduced to this site. As it so happens - our first snake was a pastel and our second snake was a spider and they just happen to be male and female. I just thought they looked cute. 2 years later we have bumblebees.

Now, I'm thinking, hey, breeding was kinda cool. Maybe I should try it again. LOL.

Well A friend of mine had a normal ball python and he lived on the next block from me. I was a teenager at the time. I asked my mom can he bring the snake to the crib. She told me HELL NO. NO snake is coming in her house. So i played with it outside. Shortly after that I saw a Albino Ball Python in the Pet Shop and I was so amazed at that snake. I said I got to have a Ball Python. MY moms said when you pay the cost to be the boss, then you can bring home what you want. I started off with a RedTail Boa that i bought from Petco around 2006. It was stolen in a home invasion! I moved with a room mate/Friend. He had plenty of snakes and gave me my first BP. Normal Male Named Otis. Hes cool as a fan in the window on a hot summer day. Once my moms found out even though I'm 30yrs old and have my own apartment 2 1/2 hrs away. She got mad but she got over it until she came to visit and threaten to throw Otis outside in the rain. To make a long story short. I have 3 BP's now and I look forward to getting more. I also want to become a breeder so i'm taking my time and thinking about what projects I want to work on. Thanks for listening to my story. BALL-PYTHONS.NET THANKS FOR GIVING ME A PLACE TO LEARN ABOUT BP'S FROM A BUNCH OF GREAT OWNERS! :D:D:D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by anatess

My kids have been bringing home all kinds of critters from the backyard. My husband finds snakes in the yard and puts them in a jar to show the kids. All the time.

So then this Reptile Store opened a few miles from our house. There's this one kid there - must not have been more than 6 years old - that was holding a ball python. The snake was definitely "chill". Completely different from the racer snakes my husband brings home from the yard. And the snake was this pretty yellow - looked like candy. All the others next to her were muddy brown. So, I forked out lots of money that very moment to get the snake plus everything that comes with it.

So now my husband has a snake, and my kids are begging to have their own - I found a ball python on craigslist but it was a different color - a pretty brown. I went to look at the snake and he was "chill" too! So, I got him for my kids.

Found out about "morphs" a few months later when I got introduced to this site. As it so happens - our first snake was a pastel and our second snake was a spider and they just happen to be male and female. I just thought they looked cute. 2 years later we have bumblebees.

Now, I'm thinking, hey, breeding was kinda cool. Maybe I should try it again. LOL.

---

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???

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BEasy119

Well A friend of mine had a normal ball python and he lived on the next block from me. I was a teenager at the time. I asked my mom can he bring the snake to the crib. She told me HELL NO. NO snake is coming in her house. So i played with it outside. Shortly after that I saw a Albino Ball Python in the Pet Shop and I was so amazed at that snake. I said I got to have a Ball Python. MY moms said when you pay the cost to be the boss, then you can bring home what you want. I started off with a RedTail Boa that i bought from Petco around 2006. It was stolen in a home invasion! I moved with a room mate/Friend. He had plenty of snakes and gave me my first BP. Normal Male Named Otis. Hes cool as a fan in the window on a hot summer day. Once my moms found out even though I'm 30yrs old and have my own apartment 2 1/2 hrs away. She got mad but she got over it until she came to visit and threaten to throw Otis outside in the rain. To make a long story short. I have 3 BP's now and I look forward to getting more. I also want to become a breeder so i'm taking my time and thinking about what projects I want to work on. Thanks for listening to my story. BALL-PYTHONS.NET THANKS FOR GIVING ME A PLACE TO LEARN ABOUT BP'S FROM A BUNCH OF GREAT OWNERS! :D:D:D

---

Thanks for posting! Great story, and trust me if you want to learn from the pro's (I'm newb status) this is the place!!

IF YOUR READING THIS AND GOT A MINUTE PLEASE POST YOUR STORY AS WELL!! THESE ARE A FUN TO READ!! IS THAT SLIGHTLY DORKY? IF IT IS I DONT CARE KEEP EM' COMING!

My story really started in 3rd grade when we had a "snake guy" come to school and I held my first snake. Then when I was about 15 I came home from school and the neighbor kids had a Prairie Kingsnake that they had caught in a jar! I knew I had to save him from them so I bought a cage, named the little one fluffy and took him with me everywhere! He managed to escape though and for my 16th birthday my dad bought me a small ball python, but it died within a week. We took him back to the pet store and traded him for an adult rescue that I named Spike. I had him til I was 24 when he passed away. I'm not sure how old he was at the time.

Then, for Valentines day this year my boyfriend surprised me with a baby normal ball!!! He wasn't much of a snake guy but knew how much I loved them and now, well he's obsessed like I am!! We have Chumley, our normal unsexed, Stewie, a gorgeous Mojo male and a pastel female that will be arriving Wednesday!! We also have a RTB, Oswald Cobblepot, who is a cranky little sucker!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jbean7916

My story really started in 3rd grade when we had a "snake guy" come to school and I held my first snake. Then when I was about 15 I came home from school and the neighbor kids had a Prairie Kingsnake that they had caught in a jar! I knew I had to save him from them so I bought a cage, named the little one fluffy and took him with me everywhere! He managed to escape though and for my 16th birthday my dad bought me a small ball python, but it died within a week. We took him back to the pet store and traded him for an adult rescue that I named Spike. I had him til I was 24 when he passed away. I'm not sure how old he was at the time.

Then, for Valentines day this year my boyfriend surprised me with a baby normal ball!!! He wasn't much of a snake guy but knew how much I loved them and now, well he's obsessed like I am!! We have Chumley, our normal unsexed, Stewie, a gorgeous Mojo male and a pastel female that will be arriving Wednesday!! We also have a RTB, Oswald Cobblepot, who is a cranky little sucker!!

---

Thanks for posting, and I love the names!!

Well, actually it started with a red tailed boa. I used to have TONS of animals when I was younger (at one point I had 24 guinea pigs, 30 lovebirds, 80 betta fish, 3 dogs a horse, a giant rabbit, and 2 pet rats) and when I moved to Arizona I had to give up all of my pets except for 6 birds. The birds eventually all found new homes after a couple years of living here as I had to move to an apartment that allowed no pets. Then I moved to another apartment that did allow pets (err..well...dogs) and I adopted a dog. Then I was in Petco one day and our local herp association was having an adoption day and I fell in love with a little 3' red tail. I built him a HUGE custom cage and had him for about a year and a half until one day the apartments got a new maintenence man who told on me :(

Anyway, while I had him though I started researching other snakes and fell in LOVE with pied ball pythons. (back when they were about 4 grand lol)... I was bound and determined to own and/or breed them one day. So time went by and I finally bought a house and a year later I decided it was about time for me to get a new hobby...what hobby did I get into? Ball pythons of course! :)

I still don't have my pied yet, but maybe next year :)

Mine started when I held a boa when on a family vacation in Montana.
She was so sweet, and calm--I didn't know snakes were like that!
So when we got home, my fiance and I immediately purchased a corn snake after finding a local breeder online.
We LOVED her.
But my fiance had heard about ball pythons and wanted one, and that month Petco was having them on sale from $80 to $15...of course we had to get one. :)
That's where Nergal came in!
We were hooked on how calm he was compared to Cheesecake, the corn snake--he'd sit still and let you touch him, he was BIG, and cute, and friendly. It was everything about him.
(Still love corn snakes, though!) :gj:

My fascination started around 2 years ago when one of my neighbors got 2 BP's; I was enthralled by how amazing they were . Up until that point, I had no idea that ANY snake could be that calm and cool. I wanted one immediately but my wife at the time wasn't having it so I left her and got one! Well...that wasn't the reason we split, but it sounded good!:gj:

So last year I got my first normal BP and I loved him so much I went the very next weekend and bought one of his brothers. I wish I would have researched the proper care a little more prior to getting one because my first experience was kind of a trial and error type of deal but I think I have a really good grasp on snake care now and most of that has to do with constantly being on this site. I LOVE BP.NET!!!

Earlier this year I added a corn snake and a Cal King to my collection and at the upcoming NARBC show in Chiacgo I will be adding my first BP morph, so needless to say, I am hooked and also convinced that snakes, BP's in particular, are the best pets you can have!