What do you wish you knew?

Hi everyone - new here. I've spent some time researching BPs and hope to get one pretty soon.

I was just wondering what's the one piece of advice you wish you'd had when you got your first BP? (Other than they're addictive.)

Or what standard advice have you found to be not important?

Just curious and thought it might be a fun topic.

Alicia :D

Build a rack.

Well, you beat me to the only real issue I didn't know beforehand. The addictiveness of them took me totally by surprise, and I still see new combos everyday that amaze me.

Housing as already mentioned.
Also it would have been nice to know you will always need another one......

I looked a lot into them before getting one. And knew about fasts. It wasn't until mine went 4 months without eating that I really worried about them. He had tons of weight, was healthy, everything was perfect, he just wouldn't eat.

I knew that 4 months was nothing, but was getting really worried about him. Then, he finally ate! My little one has done a similar thing an it is just something that you gotta deal with. Might worry at first, but you soon realise that is part of the joys of owning a ball python haha!

As Darkbird said, the addictiveness is very apparent! I got one with the intention of owning him alone for a few years. Within 6 months I had another :D

Hell I wish I knew about Thermostats!! I went years and year and years without one luckily without incident and didn't find out about them until I started to visit this site. Just get a thermostat now lol [emoji4] it's the most important thing you will need when caring for your snake.


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I wish I went straight to a rack although I love my animal plastics t8 it's not practical for a larger collection, and wish I knew to skip glass tanks all together.

Also wish I knew how impatient I would be waiting for my girls to grow up lol 2-3 years is a long time! I just keep telling myself there's no rush

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Originally Posted by Csondra

I was just wondering what's the one piece of advice you wish you'd had when you got your first BP?

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For me, I didn't realize how much you worry about them! My BP is my first "grown up" pet and I am constantly fretting. To the point that little Gloria looks at me like "Mom, I'm fat and happy! I sleep during the day and hunt for rats at night. I eat, shed, and poop. What more do you want from me?!" (Except... you know... she's a snake and can't really make expressions... or higher-level thoughts.)

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Originally Posted by Csondra

What standard advice have you found to be not important?

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While not necessarily unimportant, I've found there's a lot of misinformation and heated debate about feeding inside vs. a separate enclosure. I personally feed in the tub because it's convenient, what she was used to, and I didn't want to risk hunger strikes. I honestly feel feeding in the tub is better. BUT, above all else, people should do what works for them and their snake! If your BP only eats in a separate box, do that. Just make sure you put lots of careful thought into your husbandry decisions!

1) make a snake fund, and try not to spend beyond it.
2) set a limit at reptile shows and stick to it.
3) remember that that really expensive morph you've been eyeballing will be cheaper next year, then cheaper the next. Recessive genes drop slower than co-Dom or dom.
4) learn genetics, if you see a really wild gene combo, consider making it yourself.
5) there is no rehab I know of for python addiction.


Of course, these steps come after building a rack.

I wish I had known that sometimes they pee blood when they shed. Sometimes they don't eat it the right way, and I wish I had known that it's not all that hard to find a pissy ball 😂

Racks aren't for everyone, some people like to display their snakes and watch them; racks can really limit the fun of observing them and just peaking in on them. I would say mix it up; there are a lot of pythons and boas that stay on the smaller side that you may really enjoy keeping, like: common boas, dumeril's boas, woma pythons, carpet pythons, blood pythons, and if you can handle the size...burmese pythons are all fantastic pets. For the money you can spend on Ball morphs, you could buy any of the ones I listed and have a nice diverse collection.

Well, I have and will enjoy just one BP. She/he has an amazing personality, and we just adore this BP as a family pet. I read ALOT so made few mistakes. There are two things that I found the most valuable: One is raising the humidity to 65/70% during shed. I have never had a bad shed. In fact, it always come off in one piece. She will just push against her hide and it rolls of into what looks like a condom. (sorry but it is true :). The other is my heating system. I use Hydro Farm, which is actually made for plants but is awesome for under tank heating. (I found the advice on this site) One single probe just under the aspen regulates the surface temp perfectly and you can set it digitally to the average temp you want. I have terrariums, which I love for having a single snake.

I wish I had been a bit less impulsive with my purchase (although no regrets ultimately). :) I should have set up my enclosure and made sure that all the husbandry was correct BEFORE getting Atticus, rather than rushing to catch up. I also agree that having a tank has been a huge pain, but I think I've finally found a setup that works and is consistent.

Housing: wish I'd known about boaphile or AP tanks instead of getting a glass tank...


Molly & Steve
0.1 Normal BP. PRECIOUCESS
0.1 Normal Columbian BCI. LUNA

I wish I had researched the morphs I wanted more and picked up at minimum all 2 gene animals to cut down on rack space.... :sarcasm: (There's no such thing as cutting down on rack space) Serious about the research though...

I'm a new bp owner, and I wish I knew that they wag their tails when they are about to pee....




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Originally Posted by thejennabird

For me, I didn't realize how much you worry about them! My BP is my first "grown up" pet and I am constantly fretting. To the point that little Gloria looks at me like "Mom, I'm fat and happy! I sleep during the day and hunt for rats at night. I eat, shed, and poop. What more do you want from me?!" (Except... you know... she's a snake and can't really make expressions... or higher-level thoughts.)



While not necessarily unimportant, I've found there's a lot of misinformation and heated debate about feeding inside vs. a separate enclosure. I personally feed in the tub because it's convenient, what she was used to, and I didn't want to risk hunger strikes. I honestly feel feeding in the tub is better. BUT, above all else, people should do what works for them and their snake! If your BP only eats in a separate box, do that. Just make sure you put lots of careful thought into your husbandry decisions!

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Definitely agree! I've worried about Marshall to the point of tears! Lol, he's fine though.

Also wanted to add a piece of advice: what works for one snake will not work for another. Trial and error. I think this applies to all reptiles.


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1. The lack of sleep when you worry about them will eventually subside (Whether it takes sleeping meds or not).
2. Covering the screen on a glass tank with aluminum foil will save so many humidity headaches
3. Along with #2, creating moist hides will also save so many humidity headaches
4. It's addictive
5. Snakes have their own personality, and they can have COMPLETELY different preferences than another snake
6. It's really okay for snakes to eat live
7. If a snake won't eat, try the opposite of what they eat
8. GET A THERMOSTAT

What is the ONE thing I wish I knew from the beginning? Stay away from glass tanks.

I never thought I'd hear those words out of my mouth, but there it is. I always thought people who used "tupperware" for snakes were cruel, heartless people who had no business owning a snake. Period. Not in a million years did I think one day I would BE one of those people. And even less would I have thought I would encourage other people to use "tupperware". But after months spent fighting with humidity and temps and feeding refusals and headaches I gritted my teeth and made the switch. Then I could just beat my head into a wall I didn't do it sooner.

And "misinformation"? Don't feed your ball in it's enclosure, it will become aggressive. I've heard a lot of inaccurate statements, but that one is one of the most common and most frustrating. It makes new owners and potential owners scared of their pets and worse, scared to feed their pets.

Gale

I wish I didn't underestimate the Humidity issue with tanks. I bought a giant exo terra tank for my Bp and it cannot hold humidity at all! specially in this dry province I live in.
So to fix that I now cover most of the top mesh with tin foil to keep heat and humidity in, and also Sphagnum moss!, put it all over inside the tank, create a humid hide as well and humidity percentage are great and actually holds!.
Before I had to boil a pot of water in the room to keep humidity up in the tank, it was stressfull as hell because it heat up the room and opening the window or door killed humidity instantly. Ambient humidity where I live is 20 percent!, terrible for Bp.

Hope that helps.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Build a rack.

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I agree with this completely. Build a rack and get a good thermostat.
Also I would of loved to know how weird eaters they are.

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Originally Posted by gameonpython

I'm a new bp owner, and I wish I knew that they wag their tails when they are about to pee....

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This made me laugh. I also learned this the hard way.

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Originally Posted by salt

This made me laugh. I also learned this the hard way.

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Me as well haha


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