Advice

So,

Today I am buying a 100% Het Albino Male. The person who is selling it to me, was selling it as a pair, 100% Het. Albino Male + Female. I was contemplating buying them as a pair, and now I can afford them, I was just curious if you guys think I should.

As it stands, the snake itself is $150, and the pair is $300 all together. I understand the female wouldnt be able to breed for quite awhile, but I'm just unsure if this is a good idea, because I'm not overly experienced with ball pythons.

But I find it hard to turn down two 100% Het. Albino pairs.

So what do you guys think I should do?

wait until your comfortable. you can buy big het females now for 250 and in a year they will only go down. only get them if u have the knowledge and the ability to properly house them. so ya, im saying dont but them

I would recommend just getting the one. ( I voted on the poll, but hate to say something negative about your experience with ball pythons.) I think that if you aren't sure you should wait. There will be other het females out there. You may, as time goes on, get more experience and make a better buying choice if you wait. Best of luck!

Is there an option of getting the female rather than the male? that may be a good compromise; females are always good to have.

Yeah, originally I was going to go with just the one. As me and my girlfriend are still having trouble with our normal, that we keep at her house. But I think, my house is a little more suttle and a calmer environment to house a ball python, and since I'm not there as frequently, he will be able to acclimate better.

I was merely curious, cause the breeder was hesitant to seperate the two.

I am curious, as Albino is a recessive trait, does that mean if I breed my male, with her female when she is ready, her clutch will be normals, with 50% het. albino?

Or if I breed him with an albino, does that mean her clutch would remain 100% Het. or would it become 75% as He is still normal.

As an individual he is selling the female for $250. My girlfriend has a female normal atm.

Few things here

Do you plan on breeding to get an Albino?

You can find male albinos for around $350 which is what the breeder is asking for a that het pair and sometimes time plus effort might not be worth the small difference in price.

How big are those hets? Because $150 for a lone male is pretty steep if it is an hatchling.

Finally do you trust that breeder does he guarantee those het?

Well, he was asking 125. I felt bad cause he was hesitant to separate them so I offered 150.
Dont judge me... I'm Canadian! xD

He took down the picture of the male as he is sold(to me), but here is his female.

http://img1.classistatic.com/cps/kj/...604669_20.jpeg So they're not tiny. I will have to do the switch from live to f/t personally.

Yes, I do plan on breeding.
I trust him quite a bit, he seems fairly mature and is starting up his own company.

This is his Het. Ghost that he is also selling
http://img1.classistatic.com/cps/kj/...250826_20.jpeg

If it is just the male, I would not give more then $50. I would personally go with the female, because of the breeding potential and size. Females get a bit larger than males. Het males are usually pretty hard to sell, and some breeders sell their hets as normals just to get rid of them.

Its not that you're saying anything negative about my experience haha. Its just the truth, I'd rather have the honesty than not.

If I did end up getting both of them, is there any specific way they should be handled..? I'm assuming it would be only handle them individually, but am I gonna get in trouble if it is one after the other.

I'm not saying I will end up buying both, I am just curious, all in all.

Personally, I would just get the female for now, so you can start raising her up. (If you haven't already bought the male, no big deal if you have) So if you do plan to breed later on. It's a lot faster to raise a male than it would be for a female.

IMO, it's be better to get the female and leave the male behind. I could see where the breeder would be hesitant to sell the female alone since male hets are a little harder to sell.

As far as handling goes, you'll want to quarantine the new addition for ~3 months and not handle them back to back without at least using hand sanitizer (Some people go as far as changing clothes too). Just in case one has mites or a different health condition, it would prevent the other snake from getting it.

What signs should I look for in terms of mites and such?

At the moment, I was requesting to purchase the male. The question was wether to get both.
I am not sure yet, but I am going to go in to talk to him in about an hour and half or so.. hopefully.

For mights you would see small black bugs about the size of a poppy seed either on the snake, in the water bowl, or on the substrate. For this reason I highly suggest you use something like light news paper or paper towels to start out for substrate because it makes it a lot easier to spot possible mights.

Okay,

Well just an update. I have decided to get both of them.

He only had one tank set up for me, so I went out and got a second one for the Male.
I have a small hide, and a small humid hide, astroturf, dish and a light. I went and looked at these ones today, for about an hour and they look like they're in great shape. I got to meet the male's father snake aswell, which is an albino.

The Male, is born Nov 6th, 2010. Female is June 10th, 2010. Seperate blood lines. As for the pictures, I dont have a picture of the male yet, but the second picture I posted before is the female.

The other tank is a similar setup, which I will be housing the female. It is a medium hide, w/ humid hide, dish, and aspen. The main difference is the tank for the male is a 10G and the female has a 20G.

I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow before I put them in and leave em alone for a week.

is the light the only way ur providing heat for them?

So I started with a het pied male. And I paid a good $150 with shipping for him--partly because I knew I wanted to work with pieds, but I was scared to invest in a het pied female (they were running ~$400 then) before I knew for sure I could keep these guys alive.

I think $150 is fine for your first snake. The set-up will cost at least that much anyway--and then the mice, and then sooner or later you'll go to the vet. It's comforting to me, way over here across the continent, to know that you've got the money, and are willing to spend it when you need to. And that you're taking your first ball python seriously.

And if the little guy is still doing well in 6 months, you can buy a het female. Maybe you can find one that's a year old and has some size.

Good luck! Hopefully he won't be a nippy baby like Mr. Nibbles.

I voted, both and together. If you notice them not doing the greatest together, i suggest you seperate them then.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by B-fish

I voted, both and together. If you notice them not doing the greatest together, i suggest you seperate them then.

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http://www.constricted.us/images/omfg.gif

To the original poster: don't forget you need under tank heaters for both of the tanks and a thermostat to control them. Good luck with your new additions.

I have them both setup in individual tanks right now, if you guys suggest UTH's I will get some asap.. It's just that the breeder was saying he prefers lights. I dont know what else to use. With our other ball, I find that a UTH doesnt get the tank warm enough, anywhere that it isnt touching.

But both lights are on individual thermostats. I'm curious though, is it hotter in the basking spot cave, or outside of it? Cause right now I have the probe for the thermostat in the hide, that is in the basking spot.

bumpalump

I went to my house to check on them today, (I'm staying at my girlfriends, and trying to interact with them as little as possible) They seem like they're settling in pretty good.

The female was in her basking hide, just poking her head out to watch me when I took her water and cleaned / filled it.

The male was bundled up on the cool side, behind his humid hide. I'm hoping this suggests that he is comfortable, as he is not in a hide. I was a little worried at first, he likes to move as little as possible when I'm around so I kinda had to give him a gentle nudge to make sure he was breathing xD.

In terms of cages, they're both on a wooden shelf in my room, behind my giant Iron Maiden flag, from their tour last summer.

I was curious though, I've read a lot of different opinions on this. Should a humid hide be on the hot side, or the cool side? Right now both are on the cool side.