I want one so bad!

Yeah, I want a BP so, so bad. I can taste it. Not the BP of course :P But I have a rat that I love very much, and I dont know how having a rat and a snake in the same room would work. I would totally save up for the snake and the supplies, just am a little unsure on some stuff. Like the feeding :| Its a little disturbing. But I understand that its natural... Well if anyone can offer and support, or help with the basics it would be much apri****ated. :)

First off, welcome to the site!! Start reading up on this site and asking questions and trust me you will learn ALOT!! I learn something new every day by visiting this site.
If you are talking about watching a snake kill a mouse being disturbing, actually it is recommended to feed f/k (fresh killed) or f/t (frozen thawed) mice or rats anyway. One thing you will have to be careful about is since you have a rat any time you handle the rat you should wash your hands and change your clothes if the rat was on you at all. The snake could smell the rat on you and think it's feeding time!!

Welcome my friend! very good advuce lucky, also make sure that you really want a BP because as geat as they are as pets they are a lot of work. Don't get me wrong you could't pay me enough money to take nyxx(my baby girl) from me but for them to live a happy a healthy life they need to have a very precise envirnment and habbitat. But if you really want one all that won't matter and ti will be all worth it, thats how i feel.

Ball pythons require very little work for a pet. Even among snakes, they are among the easiest to care for (some colubrids obviously topping them). The most important thing is to have a good setup; even someone like me who knows absolutely nothing about tools or building stuff can drill a few holes into a rubbermaid or sterilite. Aside from that, some substrate (just pick up a bag at a pet or home & garden store and dump some in), setup two hides (grab two clay pot saucers and take 1 whack to each with a hammer and you're set), a human heat pad (that you can find a local drug store), a water bowl (I just use the plastic casing from blank CD spindles), and a thermometer and you're set. Doesn't get much cheaper and easier than that.

You feed once a week or so when they're young, every two weeks or so when they're older (and not at all in the winter if you want), and clean their cages once a month (with a little spot cleaning here and there of course). I find myself spending way more time and effort on my feeder rat colony than my actual ball pythons.

Oh, thank you all for this wonderful information. Yeah, I sorta thought that I would have to wash my hands and all. I think I might wait until Tara passes on before I get a BP. It will give me time to save up for the BP and the supplies, and also give me time to learn. Keep the advice coming. :D

Does anyone here have just one BP? Or are you all like breeders, and have like 100? :P

You only need two to be a breeder. :lol:

Oh, I have a question. Do BP's feel? I mean emotionaly. I know that if I cant tell what somthing is feeling it sorta erks me. Makes it feel less human. I want to feel love from my pets :D But if thats just not a BP thing to do, then I will have to get use to it... :)

Ok, its just alot of the people that are on here have quite alot of them. :|

I have 2 BP's. I hope to get more though 8-)

Cool :) I think one will be enough for me... At least in the beginning.

The snake is my power animals, so I will hopfully be using her/him in my magick. :D

Welcome!
Ball pythons make great pets. They are not capeable of emotions just basic natural instinct im afraid. That does not make them any less special though!

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Originally Posted by reptilian~witch

Oh, I have a question. Do BP's feel? I mean emotionaly. I know that if I cant tell what somthing is feeling it sorta erks me. Makes it feel less human. I want to feel love from my pets :D But if thats just not a BP thing to do, then I will have to get use to it... :)

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The debate is still going. Some folks swear up and down that thier snake knows who they are, and will come when called. Others like myself have a hard time believing that that little brain can hold much more info. than eat, sleep, poop, breed.

Don't feel bad though giving human charactoristics to animals is very natural.

Well its sort of like having a robot as a pet... There isnt anything there. I am sort of a empath, and not being able to feel somthings or somones emotions or whatever unnerves me... But oh well, it will be a new experince for me...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by reptilian~witch

The snake is my power animals, so I will hopfully be using her/him in my magick. :D

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Wicca?


I'm a born again Pagan!

Not Wicca, yet. I am undecided on a religious path, I just know it will be a magickal one. :P

born again...? I just caught that. I dont think I have heard of that. What is it?

Wanna be my friend...? :P

Born again Pagan is a little inside joke. According to the Christian belief all men are born into sin, and Jesus is the man who paid for those sins. Meaning that you are to live up to his expectations and still fail. Only to be givin forgivness by the "Lord". Therfore, you will be permitted into heaven. Yada, Yada, Yada.


Of corse I'll be your friend.

I personally think our cats think of us as "the food supplier", and their instincts are hunt, eat, poop, sleep and mark territory. So I don't think you'll feel less from your BP than you do from your feline/canine buddies.

You probably feel a certain amount of power from your Athamae or chalice and they're "inanimate" right?

Yeah, thats cool...

Cats love, I know they do. lol. They may think of us as the ones that give them food, but they are thankful for it. Do you know why a cat somtimes brings a mouse they caught to there owners? They are trying to teach you how to hunt mice. :P They feel bad for us, they dont think we know how to hunt so they think bringing us what they hunt we will learn. Prety cute actully...

HHW, im sure there are a lot of reptiles that are harde to take care of then a BP, but would you really call them easy to take care of? I myself think they can be very difficult at times when things in their cage are not right or they are just stresed. You have to be very carful not to stress your BP or they will not eat. Also if the conditions in the take are not right all the time they can develop sheeding problems, get skin disorders, mouth rot ect. Im not saying they are really comlicated, but i think calling them an easy per to have is a little too much.

Yes, snakes ARE rather robotic in nature. I tend to view them as being rather simple mechanisms mostly controlled thru instinct and response to stimuli.Face it, they arent exactly mental giants. But I still like observing them go about their lives ( mostly sleeping ) and they appeal to me as being very simple animals to care for - once you get the basics of general snake husbandry down they become no brainers to work with. I personally am not into animals that are constantly bugging you to pet them. I recommend to anyone that is getting into the snake hobby to do some general reading on snake biology to familiarize yourself with these fascinating animals - it will assist you when you actually begin keeping snakes.Good luck to you.
EyeLashViper

They might not be able to sense how you feel but each snake definately has it's own personality which might make it seem a little less like a robot..
I only have 1 snake by the way.