thinking of getting a ball python. Help!

Hi. I'm new and I was hoping somebody could help me by answering a few questions about Ball Pythons. Please bare with me, I need your help. I have never had a snake before and I am considering owning one. Is a ball python a good beginner snake? Unfortunately my research resources are limited. I do not live anywhere near a big pet store that sells books on snakes, nor is there a book store here. I checked the library for books on snakes, but couldnt find any ball python ones. I live in a very small town, its suprising we even have a pet store. Basically the research I will be doing or have done is through my vet, friends with snakes, the pet store, web sites, and experienced people on the internet. This is where i hope the message board comes in. If I get one it will be from the pet store in town which is a small private owned one and I trust it very much. I personally know the people who run it. Although I dont have many research resources, I intend on gathering as much information as I can, and knowing as much as I can so that I can make a responsible decision, one way or the other. Several of my questions have been answered but there are a few left, hopefully somebody on here can help. My first question was ball is a good first snake? My second question is about water, is it ok to use bottled water? distilled water? Next, How often do ball pythons shed? Is it best not to handle them during that time? If I do decide to buy one, how long should I give it to settle in before trying to handle it? My next few questions are in regards to handling. First of all, I realize that in owning a snake, you can expect to get bit some time or the other. Being bitten of course doesnt sound fun, but its not something that bothers me, and it wouldnt keep me from handling my snake. How does it feel to be bitten by a baby ball? What are their teeth like? Now, if I get the snake, once it has settled in, how often can I handle it? I have heard that it is possible to over handle them, is that true? If I could do what I would like... I would hold it alot, but I would want to do what is best for it. As the snake begins to trust you more, is it ok to keep it out for longer periods of time? If somebody could answer these questions I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

Welsome to the site and good gracious....that's alot of questions! Let's see if I can answer some, and if I miss any let me know.

Ball pythons can be good first snakes. It was mine. But you have to be prepared that fasting is a possiblity. It will be nerve wracking! I've been told if the water is good enough for you to drink then it's ok for snakes. Ball pythons shed more as they are growing so depending on the age you acquire your snake, it will shed approximately every 6 weeks when young and a couple times a year as an adult. When they begin to shed their eyes turn a cloudy blue and you should not handle them during this period. A couple days after their eyes clear they well shed their skin.

If you decide to get a bp you should have the cage setup first and running for awhile to make sure your temps are correct. After getting the snake, leave them in relative quiet for a week. Then attempt to feed. Do not handle a snake for 48 hours after eating, so as not to cause them to reguritate. Then you can start to handle starting with small increments. I've never been bitten so I cannot tell you how that feels.

If you want a book go to www.amazon.com. You should be able to pick up The Ball Python Manual for under $10.

Hope this helps, and good luck. Glad to hear you are doing research before buying. If you have any other questions just let us know.

Sorry for the long post but I forgot to warn you. The caging and heating elements will be more expensive than your snake. You must be prepared for a big investment to startup. It's highly recommended that you get a thermostat, so you don't burn your snake. Here's a good site for thermostats and a lot of other stuff. Matt even has stuff bundled together for intial setup.....

http://www.mgreptiles.com/index.html

Wow! I didnt expect to get a reply so soon, thank you. I have decided to definetly go with a BP. You reminded me of my next question when you mentioned something about fasting. If I do encounter eating problems with it, how long of a time should pass without it eating, before I start to worry? Thanks again for your replies!

I believe that they can fast for several months, but as long as they are not losing weight (a postal scale works for me - ebay) then you don't need to be overly concerned. I haven't had any experience with long periods of fasting, so maybe someone else can chime in. I'm new to ball pythons (only had mine for 6 months) but I found this place to be a wonderful source of help and information.

Here's a link to the bp caresheet

http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules....warticle&id=52

Thanks again! I will check out the link.

Hi Dawn and welcome to this site. We too are brand new owners of our first ball python and found this forum invaluable! We also live in a small town with almost no resources for snake owners and got our ball python from a small local pet store.

May I ask what type of housing you are putting the new snake in? We had thought of using an aquarium but after joining this forum and reading so many threads here and asking a ton of questions we went with a 40 qt/38L #1986 Clear Sterlite blanket box from Wal-mart. It has been perfect! Easier than an aquarium to heat and more importantly to keep humidity to the right levels and very cost effective. Our entire set up (except the cost of the snake) has been about $65.00 and everything was purchased either at Wal-Mart or Home Depot. As Tigerlily advised it's best to get the housing sorted out first and all the levels stablized before the snake is introduced.

One piece of advice we got....for the first while, put papertowels only in the bottom so you can easily see the snake's poop and urate (the white hard stuff that is a snake's urine). There are many choices of substrate. We will eventually go with double-milled cypress.

We've had our snake only 28 days but with the help of the wonderful people in this forum it's been a great experience. Please feel free to ask any questions, I know from our experience here as new owners you will get lots of great information back.

We did not handle our snake (who was 2.5 months old at purchase) at all for the first week. Now we handle "her" each day about 10 minutes or so (sometimes more) but not at all for 2 days after she eats. She eats every Monday and has a great feeding response. What are you planning to feed your new snake?

Some of the advice we were given when purchasing our baby snake was too look for any evidence of mites or ticks on the snake, very lightly pinch the skin of the side of the snake to see if it "tents" as this means dehydration, to check for any retained shed on the snake (especially retained eyecaps), find out if the snake is really captive bred and if it's been eating and shedding as it should, ask to see the snake feed if possible, check for any evidence of bubbling or wheezing as this can be a very serious respitory issue, make sure it's backbone is not pronounced (sort of a triangular shape) which can mean the snake is underweight. Just generally feels fit and athletic in your hands, not wispy light and at all "limp". Hopefully some of the more experienced owners can chime in here with advice on picking a healthy young snake.

Oh and find a vet locally that will see your snake and can sex it if you want that and do a general health check or deal with any emergencies that might come up.

Good luck with your new snake!


~~Joanna~~

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

One piece of advice we got....for the first while, put papertowels only in the bottom so you can easily see the snake's poop and urate (the white hard stuff that is a snake's urine).
[...]
Some of the advice we were given when purchasing our baby snake was too look for any evidence of mites or ticks on the snake, very lightly pinch the skin of the side of the snake to see if it "tents" as this means dehydration, to check for any retained shed on the snake (especially retained eyecaps), find out if the snake is really captive bred and if it's been eating and shedding as it should, ask to see the snake feed if possible, check for any evidence of bubbling or wheezing as this can be a very serious respitory issue, make sure it's backbone is not pronounced (sort of a triangular shape) which can mean the snake is underweight. Just generally feels fit and athletic in your hands, not wispy light and at all "limp". Hopefully some of the more experienced owners can chime in here with advice on picking a healthy young snake.

Oh and find a vet locally that will see your snake and can sex it if you want that and do a general health check or deal with any emergencies that might come up.

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Very good advice, all of that. :) Getting a healthy animal to start with and having the enclosure ready with the right conditions before the animal is in it can make a huge difference in whether a ball python makes a good beginner snake. If you're having to experiment on the snake to get husbandry issues worked out or if it's an overstressed wild caught ball, you may have a lot of problems with feeding, shedding, and temperament, but a well-established feeding captive bred ball of any age with a prepared and alert keeper can be a wonderful experience. I guess like a lot of things it boils down to you get out of it what you put into it.

Welcome to the site, by the way! :)

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Originally Posted by Dawn84

You reminded me of my next question when you mentioned something about fasting.

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Fasting isn't an automatic with ball pythons. Most of the time it's the result of a husbandry issue that can be prevented or corrected. Winters tend to make peoples homes much cooler and drier than the rest of the year. Even with the proper heating in your snakes enclosure, they can sense the difference in the air that is circulating into their enclosure. Instinctively, they respond to this cooler dryer air by naturally slowing their metabolisms in preparation for the "dry" season they think is ahead where normally food is scarce. A fast will follow until the cool/dry conditions in your home start to return to the more favorable conditions of spring, summer, and fall. (You don't hear much about healthy ball pythons fasting in the summer.)

By working to keep your snakes cage a little warmer than the rest of the year and making sure the humidity stays high 24 hours a day, there is almost no reason why your animal has to fast if it is captive bred.

In my shop, I keep all of the rooms climatically controlled and all of my non-breeding ball pythons eat all year long.

-adam

Hey,


If your looking for some great info on ball pythons i would suggest checking out www.Thepythonbreeders.com I am very good friends with Kolleen who is the owner. She has great information on the web site on first timers, feeding, caging, and anything you could possibly want to know. She is one of the biggest breeders in utah where we live and she knows her @@@@. So feel free to check it out and take a look at the site. Also i can answer any questions you may have I have been dealing with ball pyhtons for 4 years now, and have built a very large collection, which i'm planning on getting pictures up soon. So I hope That will help a little.

Thanks,

Mark

Thanks everybody, you've all given great advice. Although I have definetly decided to get a ball python its not something im going to rush into. And I am going to have everything setup, as suggested before going any farther. I havent even started yet. Frankykeno: you asked how I intended on housing the snake. I still havent made my mind up yet, to be honest. I want to do whats best, the way it looks to me isnt something im taking into consideration. I want the snake to be happy and kept correctly, and if that means something other than an aquarium...thats fine. You also asked me what im planning on feeding the snake. The snake I am looking at right now is currently on fuzzies. But that may not be the snake I go with, because as I said, I am taking my time about this. I want to do a little more research first. Out of all I have read, the things I worry about most is proper shedding and feeding. But I realize that if you have the proper setup you shouldnt have to worry about those things. but I guess there could be exceptions. Are there some snakes that are just problem shedders that have problems no matter what?

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Originally Posted by Dawn84

Are there some snakes that are just problem shedders that have problems no matter what?

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Absolutely. In my collection I have a few snakes that just seem to have problems every shed and all of the others do fine. That said, a stuck shed is NO BIG DEAL as long as it's followed with a nice soak to get everything off. Too many new keepers seem to be hung up on the importance of a "good shed" when in reality, there's nothing wrong with a shed that isn't "complete" as long as it's taken care of.

-adam

Welcome to the site, Dawn!

We've got a whole slew of great folks on here with about an aeon of collective experience always willing to answer questions and help - hope you enjoy it. Liek quite a few folks I went from keeping a small number of snakes in glass (and with a little more work than the plastic route they can be well maintained in tanks) to a larger number in tubs. You could make either work as long as you are willing to make the necessary adjustments. My wife still keeps her docile Brown Water Python in a 30g tank (he'll outgrow that eventually - ok SOON at his rate) and he positively thrives there.

Thanks for that reminder about "perfect" sheds Adam. Dawn, when our snake went through it's first shed shortly after we got it I was worried about it coming off in bits and pieces but with advice from this forum I did the soaking and the snake is fine. As Adam says some snakes just never shed perfectly no matter what so I guess in the end as long as it all comes off one way or the other, then it's "perfect"! LOL

Sounds like you're on the right track with research, etc. before getting your first b.p. At first it seemed a lot of work making sure our snake's sterlite tub was just right but now that we're a month into this we are relaxing a lot more and enjoying this wonderful experience.

Personally, I think the hardest part of new snake ownership is leaving them alone that first week. Gawd, but it's tempting to want to handle your snake right away LOL but we went with the experienced advice and it's worked out even better than we expected.

Our snake is about 18.5 inches long (tho seems to be suddenly growing a LOT in girth and length since her shed) and is eating one large pre-killed mouse every Monday. Will you be feeding pre-killed, frozen/thawed or live prey?

~~Jo~~

Thanks again everybody! The snake I told you about, (the one i'm currently looking at) is being fed live fuzzies. Soon that will change to hoppers, so the pet shop says. If I do get this in particular snake, I would like to be able to feed frozen-thawed. They said it shouldnt be too hard to switch him over, but i've read so much on snakes not being interested in f/t after eating live food. If I do get this snake, or any other snake with the same eating patterns, should I expect problems with switching to f/t??? Are there certain tricks that work well or anything I can do ??? The snake I've been talking about is currently shedding. We were in twice this week and I've kinda kept up with it. It started shedding and some of the shed came off really nicely: the whole head and the tail. But there was still skin left on his back. We went back a couple days later and most of the skin on his back had shed too, and now theres just a little left on the back of its neck. They had been soaking him. The other snake in the cage with it shed completely without having to be soaked. My next few questions are in regards to soaking. Can it be dangerous and cause respiratory infections or other problems? How long is safe to do the soaks at a time? How many times a day? Questions just keep popping up in my head that need answering and thats why im taking my time. I dont want to bring the snake home, and then something major pop up, or have a question unanswered. But anyways, if I do go with one of those plastic tubs, what size would you reccommend for a baby ball? Thanks again!

I was going to give ya some info but i don't think there is any left to give lol. So welcome to the site Dawn :) :cool: :party:

Soaking is pretty easy. I just used a small rubbermaid and filled with 1" lukewarm water. Put in snake. Then put rubbermaid back into her enclosure. Let her soak for an hour. I used a washcloth to gently wipe away remaining shed. I haven't any problems with RIs, so if only done a couple times every shed it shouldn't be a big issue.

For tub size I would suggest not getting a huge one, because the large amount of space will stress them out. Something similiar to a 10-20 tank, maybe depending on how big the baby is.

Re: perfect sheds...

I have a female bp who is a complete retard when it comes to shedding. She lives in a posh AP cage where the conditions inside are textbook perfect. Her male counterpart lives in same cage beneath her and sheds fine each time. Like adam said, as long as you take care of the retained shed each time, your fine. Check for eyecaps, thats pretty much the most important thing.

The Sterlite we use (model #1986 with locking style clip top) is about 16 x 24 x 6 (40QT/38L). This gives us enough floor space for two hides made from terracotta planter pans (the bottoms for water overflow sold seperately at WalMart for like $2.00), one large shallow water dish, a rock arch and a decorative rock. This seems to be about right for our snake who is around 18-19 inches long and is big enough for a nice heat gradient from warm to cool hide.


I had to soak our snake for it's first shed and it was easy. You will find advice here about upping your humidity during shed but if the snake still needs help the tupperware container with tepid water worked perfectly for us...we just popped the snake in....put the tub on the warm side of the Sterlite and left the snake for a good hour. All but a tiny area came right off immediately.

Our snake takes pre-killed mice wonderfully well. We just grasp the mouse well back from the head, present it head first and level with the snake, and do the "wiggle" dance in front of the snake and WHAMMO dinner time! We haven't used frozen/thawed yet but a search of this forum should get you tons of advice on properly thawing and warming the mouse or how to get a snake that is used to live prey to take f/t or p/k.

If no one has recommended it yet....WalMart sells the AccuRite indoor/outdoor thermometer which many people use. It's only $14.99 and is great for monitoring both warm and cool side temps plus overall humidity.


~~Joanna~~