Feeling overwhelmed

Greetings all,

So I have been feeling quite torn lately. I currently have 7 ball pythons and just don't have the passion I had when it was only a couple. I am debating on looking for new homes for them and keeping one of them. Between family, school, (working full time on Software Development Bachelor's degree), aggressive job hunting, and my somewhat neglected woodturning business as of late something has to give. Im not asking for pity or to get bashed on. I am hoping for some honest advice if rehoming is a good idea or maybe it just a rough patch.

List of snakes
Charlotte - Female Spider
Delilah - Female Yellowbelly
Leo - Male Pastel
Whiskey - Mohave
No Name - Male Bumblebee
Monty - Male Normal
Monda - Male Normal

Dan

I went through a very similar situation with my parrots. I hadnt lost any passion but the amount of time and energy that went into them was running my life. I never had time for friends or family. Between the diet, the exercise, and the training I was spending all my free time with the birds. I did love it, dont get me wrong, but if I decided I was gonna go out with friends after work, that meant that the birds didnt get out of the cage for that night. So then I would feel bad. Ulitimatley I decided to rehome them. I feel it was the best decision I could have made. All of them were taken to the same facility and evaluated. My favorite girl was put into the breeding program. From what I understand she fell right into place and was very happy being a mama. I think you need to ask your self how you will feel about your decision down the road. IMO if the passion is gone then it wount be long before you start to, and i use this word loosley, resent them for taking up time that you feel is better spent else were. If you decide to rehome them dont be afriad to ask the new potential owner even the dumbest of question. make sure you are confident that they will be taken care of properly. There is nothing worse than wondering. best of luck with your desicion.

I would be inclined to tell you to wait it out, to be honest. They're not dogs; they're not going to suffer if they don't get handled and individual attention. As long as you can keep their enclosures clean, refresh their water and give them food once a week they'll be okay.

That said, if you're really struggling and not only are they not fun but they're stress for you rehoming would not be a bad idea. I would suggest letting them go in order of desirability - from most to least. You'll have an easier time placing females and morphs than you will male normals.

I went through a phase/period of about 2-4 years(estimated) where I hardly touched my snakes and turtles. There was a lack of joy and interest with them for a time. But they were mine and I wasn't just going to give them up cause I knew I'd regret it, I stayed dedicated to my animals. I Kept up with the weekly routine of cleaning/feeding/watering. In the last 2 years, I jumped from 5 to 12 snakes and the love/interest/fascination for my reptile kids has returned stronger than before.

One nice thing about reptiles is that they are a hobby pet and don't need the attention, as CptJack said. So you can, in a sense, put them down and pick them back up later. But by no means neglect them as they are animals.

There is nothing wrong with looking at your life and your priorities, and realizing that something has to give.

Do your family/kids help with them at all, or do you do everything? I combine family/kid time with cleaning time after dinner, my daughter holds the snakes while I clean the tubs.

Also, you have seven listed... are they in a rack or do you house them in tanks? Tanks take a lot more time for maintenance, where I have 22 BP's now spread over three racks, and can keep them cleaned and watered each day with just a few minutes work.

I vote in favor of waiting it out! You care enough about them too come here and ask for advice and it shows even more through the fact you'd let them go to friends and family instead of shipping them off to strangers. That being said only you know what the right thing to do is, follow your gut.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

There is nothing wrong with looking at your life and your priorities, and realizing that something has to give.

Do your family/kids help with them at all, or do you do everything? I combine family/kid time with cleaning time after dinner, my daughter holds the snakes while I clean the tubs.

Also, you have seven listed... are they in a rack or do you house them in tanks? Tanks take a lot more time for maintenance, where I have 22 BP's now spread over three racks, and can keep them cleaned and watered each day with just a few minutes work.

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They are all in tanks... which is annoying personally and a constant fight with humidity and such. I want to build custom enclosures that I believe would provide better housing for them but have been receiving plenty of flak from the HCINC (House Commander in Chief aka wife) about changing things up even though it would take up less space then all these 40 breeders. Overall I think i just really need to downsize the amount that I have.

Go for some racks! The snakes don't care about how pretty the tub looks as long as they are fed and feel secure in a clean safe home. It will take so much less of your time that you may just want to keep all of them. The ease is ridiculous especially if you get more tubs than you need. Then cleaning can take seconds. Frees up a lot of fun time vs cleaning time.

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Originally Posted by Expensive hobby

Go for some racks! The snakes don't care about how pretty the tub looks as long as they are fed and feel secure in a clean safe home. It will take so much less of your time that you may just want to keep all of them. The ease is ridiculous especially if you get more tubs than you need. Then cleaning can take seconds. Frees up a lot of fun time vs cleaning time.

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I have only seen pictures of rack systems. If I remember correctly the heat comes from flexwatt typically and use of a thermostat. I currently use a two light system which is annoying to say the least. Everytime I need to open the tanks I have to turn off the lights move them out of the way (typically onto the tank next to it) do what I need to do then move the light back. Which of course for some dumb reason these bulbs hate being moved, can and will go out when the store is closed and I am conveniently out of replacement bulbs. I like the look of the animal plastics housing but those get quite pricey really fast. Suggestions?

AP economy rack?

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Actually, this is a good post on all fronts!

I can see where owning several could become more of a "farming" situation rather than an enjoyable pet experience, but on the other hand, snakes are pretty hands off and especially BP's as far as handling and often feeding goes.

I'd be willing to bet if you changed your caging and went with an efficiency setup you'd get your mojo again.

Explain to your wife the true feelings you have, and see if you could work into the caging other folks here have mentioned.

BP's aren't like a collection of boas or large pythons that need a lot of space.

Just my opinion here but I'd wait a bit as well. Once they are gone, you may not get them back and I often hear people say they are kicking themselves for getting rid of such and such snake.

That being said, you may have been thinking long and hard about this and don't foresee the future with all seven as being enjoyable.

You will make a well thought out decision when the time comes, but really consider the shift in caging and see if simplicity makes things enjoyable again.

Good luck!

I started with tanks. My wife was very much opposed to racks. I found some used boaphile racks on craigslist at a great price and I bought them. I brought them home and set them up in the corner of my snake area. My wife quickly realized the racks took up much less space, made it much easier for me to take care of the snakes, and they didn't look nearly as bad as she had envisioned. Now there is no way she would let me go back to tanks even if I wanted to, which I don't. Racks are the way to go. Heat, humidity, and cleaning are so much easier with racks.

A rack is ABSOLUTELY the smartest investment you can make. I had 4 BP's all in seperate tanks and it was more to maintain than was necessary. If interested I have a rack system I built for LESS than 50 bucks I can PM you the measurements for.

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It's now less work for me to maintain almost 40 snakes, a lot of which are retics burms and anscondas, and about half of my snakes are adults, and it's easier to maintain than when I had only 6 snakes in 6 glass tanks.

Try it out and don't look back

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