Where'd yah start...where are ya now?

So I'm curious to the responces to this question. Everyone has to start somewheres with something or another, but this is a BP forum so let's talk about that.

The questions:
1.) When starting with bps what did you have?
2.) Where are you now/feel you are now (what's your collection like, do you know more than you did, what do you see in the future?)


I will start since I'm beginning this thread.

I started with a 2011 pastel after months of looking into it, I then proceeded to get a Mojave pos het for OG in the hopes of breeding. I just recently had to let them go, but as soon as I have a place that allows them I will be back into them. I feel I have come a long way knowledge wise in the short time I had them, from keeping my temp and humidty levels right to keeping records of everything they did or didn't do. After my christmas shopping is over and I get my cat neutered I will be saving for when I can have them. I won't be starting out with the normal morphs this time, but the more high end base morphs. I plan to start my new collection with a pastel phantom female and a pastel spector male, along with a leopard, tiger, and het puma if I can find one for under $5k. I also like the idea of crystals and mystics so those are on the list as well.

So guys and gals.....answer away! :)

i stated in may with a week of research and a normal from the pet store. he was in a 10 gal aquarium with a heat pad on bottom and a heat lamp above and temps/humidity that went all over the place constantly. now i have 10 bps and a boa in a rack with temps/humidity that stays rite where they should be. i have definitely learned a lot and 95% of it from this forum and i think all my snakes would be happy to say thnx bp.net!

I started with my male 2010 normal Julius. I've always loved reptiles but was never allowed to have them growing up, then I got married young and my EX husband never allowed it. It took me almost a year to recooperate after my divorce, where I finally realized there was nothing stopping me from getting a ball python. I only intended to get one, so I got a normal male, and it escalated from there. Now I have 9 ball pythons, a boa, 2 pet rats, a leopard gecko, a crested gecko, a tortoise, and two tarantulas lol. I am planning on getting more, I am expecting a female pinstripe from Patrick (Action Reptiles) and am hoping to add a yellow belly pair and a female fire, and hopefully a lesser (either sex) in the near future. I am also expecting more Ts ;)

I've learned a ton. I thought I knew a lot before, but I had no idea. I've since signed up at URI to go to school for zoology, and I want to work with reptiles for a living :)

The start of it all...
http://i40.tinypic.com/nv1dtf.jpg

My first (and only, FOR NOW) is my Female Pinstripe. I am quite happy with her alone, and since I know that more than 1 BP will be a burden for now, I plan to keep her alone for a couple more months (maybe a bit more).

However, once I get settled in, I plan on buying a male Bumblebee (nice possibilities on that pair) and maybe an Orange Ghost or a Pied or a couple of Black Pastels, or something like that...

I don't dream of High end morphs (like the banana /drool) because I'm realistic and I acknowledge that most of my money (try +/- 60%) goes to my guitars/amps and also I have other expenses (like an expensive Girlfriend >.<). To be more real, I really doubt I could feel ok with parting of anywhere from 3k dollars on a snake for now (however I can spend it in guitars :rofl:)

But, yea, I do visualize myself in a couple of years with a presentable collection






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Those sound like awesome projects, are you gonna be able to afford them though? Also, do you have any breeding experience? I am a new snake owner too and I will be investing in some mid-end single gene females and double gene males to start off breeding. All of them will be hatchlings so I really get the hang of ball pythons before I fully dive into breeding. Another thing to think about, after calculating every cost per year of owning it, plus the cost of the snake and possible medical bills, it really adds up. I really dont know how some people afford to keep 30+ snakes, but it sounds like the dream to me. If you have the money to start up already, then dont mind me :P Either way, good luck! It sounds like youre super stoked!

PS: oops forgot to answer the question, I have a normal female now who is what started my love for ball pythons. I have no plans on breeding her because shes really small for a 3 year old because of her previous owner. In the near future, I plan to pick up a Lesser, Pastel and possibly Albino females. The males can wait another year before I make that investment. hope that answered it heh

I haven't been doing this very long. I got my first BP in October of last year. I had wanted one for a long time and I ended up getting a normal from a pet store. They said they couldn't sex it for me and it certainly wasn't a hatchling. It turned out to be a small female.

I've come a long way in terms of husbandry. For about 4-5 months I didn't take very good care of her until I stopped to re-evaluate everything. Now, while I still can't say everything is perfect, it's a lot better. I have a rack setup, thermostats, proper heating and humidity and I'm actually feeding correctly. The thing I'm still working on is my documentation. Paper doesn't work so well with 30 snakes. :rolleyes:

As for my collection, I think it's almost complete for a while. I have 2 more males I have to add to my collection and probably another female or 2. I'm really happy with my collection and I have most of the morphs I want to work with. I hope in the future to get some nice hold backs and make trades for other morphs I want to work with. :)

Pythons in general have come many years after my first experiences as a reptile keeper.

But since you're focusing on BPs

1) It started in 2008 with a normal. I was out of college and could finally have pets again without worrying about travelling across the country every 10 weeks.

2) I never dove in head-first into ball pythons specifically. Right now we only have a pair of morphs that will hopefully score us a SPOG in the 2012-2013 season.


If you asked me about where I started with herps and where I am now, the answer is more complex:

1) It started with catching anoles in my backyard as a 5 year old, however my first 'pet' was a corn snake at 7.

2) In the past 18 years, I have kept over 20 species of snake, lizard, gecko, and tortoise. My girlfriend and I currently keep about a dozen species of animals (mostly snakes) that includes one fish species and two mammalians. I have active breeding projects that have produced animals for multiple years in a row, though the majority of my interests are in slower-growing animals that are all about a year or two away from their first breeding seasons. In 2012, projects that may come to fruition are:
- albino to 400+g normal w. hognose
- POG bp to pastel het OG
- rainbow boas
- ambilobe panther chams
- REALLY hoping I can get my bullheads to breed in captivity.. that's going to be the trickiest one. No broods are quite as cool as a thousand tiny catfish in a big bait ball :D

My addiction started when I took my son to a reptile show to buy a lizard. I was walking around looking at all the snakes and realized I just had to have one. I went home, bought all the stuff "I thought" I needed and went back to the next show and purchased my first normal bp.

She was kept in a 29 gallon aquarium with a heat mat and dome light. What a nightmare that set up was to keep accurate temps and humidity. I quickly purchased her a RBI cage with an RHP and she was styling then.

Since then, I now have 6 bp's and 1 milksnake all kept in RBI racks. I have a designated snake room in my house - I love to spend time with my snakes.

My first girl - the normal bp is still with me and went from 175 grams all the way to 1,800 grams. She is my first baby and will always hold a spot in my heart.

Owing a snake was always a dream for me. I was never allowed to have one as a child, and my mom was terrified. So the years passed, I volunteered at pet stores and worked with snakes on and off, anything from balls to boas and even a yellow anaconda.. but shortly after culinary school I came home, still trapped and unable to leave beneath all my schools bills I began looking around. One day after work I went to PetSmart.. I looked Down in to the Aquarium with the ball pythons and made eye contact with one.. It started at me, for what seemed like eternity. I looked at it and said, "you want a home don't you?" And it just tilted It head to the side like it was answering me. After this.. I knew it had to be my first. I picked him up and took him home. Not even 3 days later I got my second. A mean one.. a Super Black Pastel, a gorgeous girl.. shortly after I went to the NARBC in Tinley park and bought 3 snakes, a Burmese, a Super Pastel and a normal. I started with 1, and in onlly 6 months have 5. (Well six...our first Burmese passed...) it's an obsession that I can't stop. I love my Pythons. :)

Great posts everyone! Keep them coming!

In responce to my high end list. The short answer is no, I won't be able to afford them all at once....but they will end up in my pocession at some point. I will be a LPN by this time next year which where I live makes decent starting money $13-15/hr....compared to my $8/hr I make now. I am then going on to get my RN which makes even more to start. I may eventually become a Dr.....not sure yet, but it would be nice to have the title and paycheck. :p

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I got my first Normal BP a long time ago... About 10 years ago! A really nice normal from a local pet store! Still have him today! Lol! I started getting into breeding about 8 years ago... I was breeding normals that had interesting patterns and hatching out more odd stuff... Which was great, but then I came across Pastels, HAD to have them... I had reduced my collection from 5 adults to 2 at the time. Then I was offered a pair of pastels. Snatched that up right quick! Made a couple supers, and the rest was history. In 2009 I got VERY serious into it seeing what BHB and NERD we're doing. In January of 09 I met Brian, and later that year I met Kevin as well! Since then I've become friends with both of them, and have learned insane amounts of info about BPs... Now owning almost 40: including Spinner Blast, Super Phantom, Pied, Pins, Spider, Cinnies, YBs, Lesser, etc!


Jeremy T.
J and D Reptiles
www.janddreptiles.com

I started out with my first BP in October of 2008. I had a male normal and that is what got me addicted. I now have a 2010 male normal, a 2010 100% het orange ghost female and a 2011 male pastel. The pastel is my first ever morph. I plan on getting a male spider next year and a nice reduced pattern female normal also. I would like to breed within the next few years, but for now I am learning all that I can about that.

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Originally Posted by JandDReptiles

I got my first Normal BP a long time ago... About 10 years ago! A really nice normal from a local pet store! Still have him today! Lol! I started getting into breeding about 8 years ago... I was breeding normals that had interesting patterns and hatching out more odd stuff... Which was great, but then I came across Pastels, HAD to have them... I had reduced my collection from 5 adults to 2 at the time. Then I was offered a pair of pastels. Snatched that up right quick! Made a couple supers, and the rest was history. In 2009 I got VERY serious into it seeing what BHB and NERD we're doing. In January of 09 I met Brian, and later that year I met Kevin as well! Since then I've become friends with both of them, and have learned insane amounts of info about BPs... Now owning almost 40: including Spinner Blast, Super Phantom, Pied, Pins, Spider, Cinnies, YBs, Lesser, etc!


Jeremy T.
J and D Reptiles
www.janddreptiles.com

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I've been watching a lot of videos from you on yt. Very nice stock! I'm especially envious of the super phantom.

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Originally Posted by kevinb

I've been watching a lot of videos from you on yt. Very nice stock! I'm especially envious of the super phantom.

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Hehe! Thanks! :)


Jeremy T.
J and D Reptiles
www.janddreptiles.com

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Originally Posted by kevinb

1.) When starting with bps what did you have?

2.) Where are you now/feel you are now (what's your collection like, do you know more than you did, what do you see in the future?)

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1) I've been keeping snakes for a year now (time flys) and it started with my first ever BP (had a king when I was younger) that I got from Petco. Still have her and she's a lovely reduced normal. From there I got a corn, another king (had a Flordia, now have a California), then got into boas and more balls. So a year later I now have 10 snakes :)

2) I love my collection: I wanted to expand out and work with different species besides just balls and hope to add a pit (a bullsnake, I love the snows!) to the collection as well as get into bloods and angolans. I want more experience with different species but also to get into breeding balls down the road when I gain more experience. I know I know a TON more than when I owned my first king back when I was younger and hope to continue to learn and grow as a herp owner. I hope to open my own exotic pet store eventually as well.

1.) When starting with bps what did you have? My first ball was a male Mojave. However at the time I wasn't really feeling ball pythons, and I passed him on to someone else, apparently he is a daddy and doing well now.

2.) Where are you now/feel you are now (what's your collection like, do you know more than you did, what do you see in the future?) Now I have 6 ball pythons, you can see them in my signature. I might breed my big normal girl next year (i'm not ready this year), let her get some more size to her. But I might not, right now these are my pets. I started out wanting to breed, but right now I would rather just focus on keeping them as pets. I've learned what my limit in numbers is, no more than 10 snakes right now. I have two young children and work full time. I have only so much time left over in a day.

I started keeping a pet Leopard gecko back in 2003 then in 2004 I got a ball python as a pet. Then in 2006 Adam Wysocki posted pics of this "Pied" and a about pooped. I had to have one so in the middle of getting married, buying a house and all I bought a 2005 het Pied male :D. After talking my dad into going into business with me we bought 1.1 pastel's 0.1 mojo and 1.0 spider's in 2006 big money back then.

Now with my first snake and still my Leo + 160 ball python's we are still having fun messing around with all the snakes..

Got my first ball in May of 2010, he was a Pastel hatchling. He was more of an impulse buy but he was beautiful. I then picked up a female pastel and a spider. Traded the female pastel for a female cinny. Bought 2 female normals, a hatchling and a full grown female. Like an idiot I traded the pastel male, cinny female and I forgot what else for a beautiful male Lesser that unfortunately died. I sold off both normals. Then I started my collection from the ground up again. Since I didn't have money to splurge, I'd buy a snake here, buy another there, and then trade them for somethign better.

And today my collection sits like my sig states. A bunch of what I've traded, I wish I still had. And a lot of what I had would have been more valuable to me now, than what I've currently got, but I'm happy with what I've got and and becoming more patient when it comes to acquiring new snakes. No more impulse trading or buying lol.

I can honestly say that I know what I know today thanks to this site and every day I continue to learn more.

1.) When starting with bps what did you have?
my first bp way back in 1999 was a normal i believe.

2.) Where are you now/feel you are now (what's your collection like, do you know more than you did, what do you see in the future?)
I've grown SOOO much since then, lol. I learned a valuable lesson from that poor snake paying a terrible price for my ignorance. I did not kill it or abuse it but the impulse buy coupled with my lack of knowledge at the time in the care of these wonderful creatures led to completely inaccurate husbandry & it met a sad end as a result. I take that experience as a lesson well learned & although it pains me to admit such a terrible mistake, in which an animal paid a heavy price i am willing to share so that other bp newbies may learn from it & hopefully will not repeat such errors.
so my collection now, 12 years later, is only 1 female mojave bp & i've got a couple other morphs on my "future hopefuls" list.

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Originally Posted by Daybreaker

I hope to open my own exotic pet store eventually as well.

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I hope too end up with a collection/facility like NERD, BHB, VPI, TSK, etc. :)

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I got my first ball python late 1995. A little normal female. My first pet. Definitely didn't have the best set-up or record keeping. She only lived around 8 years. I didn't get any more ball pythons up until November of last year. I happened to go on the ball python section on fauna....I saw the most beautiful spider and it was instant love. I HAD to have him. A year later and almost 40 bps, tons of rats, lots of cleaning/work later...here I am. And I absolutely do not see myself going any time soon. I'm here to stay.
I know I have learned a TON since my first bp. And a lot of the thanks for that have to go to this site.

Got my first ball python in July 2011 --about 4 months ago. She was a normal female from a reptile expo. Since then I've gotten some morphs locally; my Pastel Lesser, Bumblebee, Pinstripe, Spider, etc. And ordered the other the others online from breeders; Lesser, Spider, & Mojave.

I'm only 17 years old, and the only reason how I am able to feed, buy, take care of these snakes is because of my dad! He has helped me a lot, and he himself used to hate snakes but now he likes ball pythons. His favorite morph is bumblebees! (reason for getting mine :P!)

Looking forward to adding some new ones, and breeding for fun. :)

about 30 years ago i started catching snakes in the yard. had a few turtles and had to sneak wild caught snakes into the house. i'd keep them for a couple days then let them go and catch some more.

my first bp was around 1990. had him for a few years till my mom found out. :rolleyes:

freshmen year in college i got a normal bp and a hogg island boa. a couple years later i was working part time and breaks at a reptile zoo. worked there for a few years caring for all sorts of reptiles and weird critters. some experience with hots but not enough to keep one...enough to know i SHOULDNT keep one without more experience.

i have also worked with animal shelters around pittsburgh, philly and now at my local shelter.

now i have a pair of pastel bps (poss. het for piebald), a male bumblee and a huge normal "dinker" female... and i'm currently caring for a rescue burmese python.

who knows what the future will bring? :D

I love reading these. Keep them coming!
I can't wait till I can get more.....it kills me that I don't have mine anymore....I was developing such a bond with my frisky little pastel. ;p

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Originally Posted by kevinb

1.) When starting with bps what did you have?

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The first Ball python I acquired is a normal female from Petsmart. Didn't acquire my second Ball python until a year after. Meant to get the little male Ball in hopes for breeding and for another Ball to add to the growing collection as they were and still are my favorite species of snake.

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2.) Where are you now/feel you are now (what's your collection like, do you know more than you did, what do you see in the future?)

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I have acquired another normal female who is being bred this season along with my first normal female (who also bred last season), a Pastel female, a Spider male (first morph I acquired), and a Mojave male. I did have a female Pinstripe a year ago but passed away due to being extremely picky with eating. I will be picking up a new female morph this weekend, and maybe one more but we'll see.

Ever since I acquired my first Ball my knowledge has expanded greatly than I could have ever imagined. I have gone so in depth with Ball python husbandry, breeding, and genetics than I could even THINK was possible.

In the future I definitely see myself breeding Ball pythons without a doubt. I see a HUGE amount of them too :D.

The obsession started when I met a friend of a friend who had a pair of ball pythons at her house. Loved the bold patterning, calm nature, and the medium size of them. She suggested I do some online research if I ever decided to get one of my own, and that led to finding out about morphs, other species, basically the whole reptile hobby :D at the time I was still in high school and lived with my mother, so I wasn't allowed to get any of my own. Simply dedicated all my free time to learning everything I could, about everything I could!

I finally got my first ball pythons in October last year, a female pastel and male mojave. Glad to say that I was armed with all the research I'd gathered here, and on top of that they're fantastic feeders. I had promised myself I wouldn't get any more until I produced from the original pair, but caved after a year (at least it took that long! Haha) and now have a fire female in the collection

It's not the biggest in the world, and I actually only plan to breed for interest's sake (don't care about making money, I'm having fun), work up to superfly mojaves, pick up one last trio of morphs for a recessive project I'm interested in, but I really want to get into other species of reptiles. I've got a pair of crested geckos and a tarantula now, and the wishlist changes daily on what I want to get next (Dominican Red Mountain boas look sweet!). Can only see the hobby growing as a part of my life in the future. Who knows? Still trying to figure out what I want to do college wise, the zoology course is looking mighty tempting

Angolans are next on my list of non BPs.

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Originally Posted by cecilbturtle

about 30 years ago i started catching snakes in the yard. had a few turtles and had to sneak wild caught snakes into the house. i'd keep them for a couple days then let them go and catch some more.

my first bp was around 1990. had him for a few years till my mom found out. :rolleyes:

freshmen year in college i got a normal bp and a hogg island boa. a couple years later i was working part time and breaks at a reptile zoo. worked there for a few years caring for all sorts of reptiles and weird critters. some experience with hots but not enough to keep one...enough to know i SHOULDNT keep one without more experience.

i have also worked with animal shelters around pittsburgh, philly and now at my local shelter.

now i have a pair of pastel bps (poss. het for piebald), a male bumblee and a huge normal "dinker" female... and i'm currently caring for a rescue burmese python.

who knows what the future will bring? :D

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You don't live to far away from me. I live about 45 mins away from Wilke-Barre or about 5 miles away from Bloomsburg University.

It all started with me when I was a kid, catching wild snakes. Then a good friend of mine, her parents had a few balls and a huge burm. I use to always have one of the balls around my neck while romping around the neighborhood :rolleyes: Of course my mother was deathly afraid of snakes and wasn't allowed to ever have one. Lmao she wouldn't even let me on our driveway with one in my hands!

Fast forward to when I actually purchased a snake. My husband already had the male redtail when we met and I talked A LOT about ball pythons. He bought me one of those grab bags of 10 babies sent from Africa. ( I still have 3 of them :) )

Now, as you can see in my signature, I have over 30 balls, a gtp and leos. My husband has all the burms, retics, boas and hots. Of course we know a crap load more now than we did then! This will be his third year breeding his stuff and my second year breeding my balls and third with my leos.

I have a couple more leos I'd like to add to my collection ( ok, too many to list lol ), definitely hypo, clown, fire and pied stuff to my balls. I'm trying to get my husband to get a white phase albino retic because I think they are gorgeous. I love what we do, I love my animals and we've talked about making it an official business. I've already got the name picked out. I know we won't be Ralph Davis, Ben Siegel and Constrictors Unlimited big, and I'm cool with that, but I'd like a name for us, quality animals, quality customer service and anything we can do to make this industry better, is what I'm striving for :)

Oh, anything non bp related that I want to get into is more gtps and Brazilian rainbow boas. I did have a pair of tokays at one point that I had intentions of breeding but the female died :(

I started back in 2003... Got a normal female from a lady who couldn't take care of it any more. Looked into the care of the critter, fell in love with the ease of it, and ended up within a year having 25. A year later, it doubled.....

And now? I have over 300, and still looking to expand.

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Originally Posted by CLSpider

A year later and almost 40 bps, tons of rats, lots of cleaning/work later...here I am.

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And people think I'm crazy to have collected 10 snakes within a single year! I wish I had the means to add so many to my collection, I envy :)

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Originally Posted by kevinb

Angolans are next on my list of non BPs.

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A little Angolan male or female is on my wishlist too, I really want to work with the species.

Reading these stories (and numbers) makes me feel better... thought I was crazy for acquiring so many in such a short time, but some of you put me to shame! :D

I had a few lizards and turtles when I was younger, but didn't get my first snake until April '09 - a baby normal female, from East Bay Vivarium in Berkeley. I'd always wanted a snake, but it took me 30+ years to finally get one! And like Pringles, once you pop you can't stop, so I now have 32 including the new babies (5 from a recent clutch). You can see the full collection listed in my sig, and there are still many snakes on my wish list... just can't afford or make room for any more right now. :cool:

P.S. You know what's funny? I had to stop and count my own signature, just to come up with the total number of snakes... that's a good sign you have too many, LOL. :oops:

Loving the replies. Keep them coming! :)

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I started back in 1985-6 with a red ribbon racer and over the years have owned everything from yellow rat snakes to balls to burmese. However I was a free spirited young person and traveled quite a bit so my enjoyment of these animals was always short lived. I was responsable enough to know when it was time for me to move on and time to find another good home for whichever animal I had at the time.
I've since settled down and had a family and 2 years ago my wife and son decided to buy me a normal ball python as a Christmas present. Within 2 months it was up to 5, and within 2 years I'm somewhere around 20 now. Expecting 6-8 clutches this year. I own mostly base morphs and try to refrain buying the combos that I want. In doing so I make it that much more exciting as I pair for said combos and that much more rewarding when I hit them.
That being said the desicion I now face is either to maintain a small collection and hold back my combos or to invest heavily and purchase breeder size females in the next few years. I'm still weighing the pros and cons of each path and will make a desicion based on that. I personally don't think I will pass 30 snakes in my breeding collection (although don't mind exceding that until I can move some offspring), at that point it can become less fun and more work then I desire. I want peace and relaxtion when dealing with my animals, and I get that when caring for both my snakes and my rodents. So when it stops becoming fun and starts to become a chore I will reevaluate my options.