Our first ball pythons

Hi everyone, I'm so happy to be here and loving my first ball python. He is only about a month and a half and I just picked him up yesterday :w00t: He's a mystic potion named Davenport.

As I was doing research before purchase, my fiancee seemed unsure about ball pythons. We just missed the Portland reptile expo but found someone who breeds them locally so we went to check them out. He fell in love once he held them and that day he brought home a 1 year old kingpin pastel, now named Sal. Here are a few photos of them. They're both settling into their tanks well, pooping, drinking water, hiding. I visited Davenport a few times before buying him and he never bit and hasn't so far.


Here's Sal, the year old kingpin pastel.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ps0xsn0ohp.jpg

And my little Davenport, the mystic potion. They're both due to eat today, so wish us luck!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...psh3fxkxvc.jpg

Welcome! And congrats on the new little babies! They are beautiful, great choices :P My bf was a little skeptical about a ball python at first too but once I started showing him videos and be held one he cane around real fast XD


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great entry into the hobby. Congrats!

Dave

Welcome!!!

You found a great place to learn. Congrats on your two new family members.

Such beautiful babies!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Also nice shirt to whoever is sitting in the first photo lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you Wolf, Dave and Craig for the warm welcome! I know definitely have that brand-new energy that can be annoying to some who have been in hobbies for a long time so thanks for saying hello.

Both snakes had only been fed live... we wanted to try f/t and switching Sal from large mice to small rats.. They told us to be prepared for them not to eat and that we may need to feed live, but both boys ate right away! So proud of them :) Davenport is on small mice and Sal will now be eating small rats! Woohoo. Hopefully they will continue to eat well.

Question - Is it ill advised to offer my young snake the smallest rats I can find? I have heard they are nutritionally superior and snakes should be switched to rats as soon as possible, but wasn't sure if they needed mice for awhile due to digestion differences..

Here are some photos of them eating successfully. Very happy with this as Sal has only been home for 3 days and Davenport got here yesterday.

I have painted the back and sides of Davenports tank black (on the outside, with nontoxic paint) as is my preference, and heard it was good for the snakes to feel secure as well. He's in a 20 gallon long with hot and cold sides, water bowls on both sides and some other things to climb on/hide in as he has seemed to enjoy exploring so far.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...pslteoqq1d.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...pse4y1ytu3.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...psgkmkbtvd.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ebbanflo

Also nice shirt to whoever is sitting in the first photo lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

---

That's my fiancee who's Sals owner. I bought us both that shirt, we are big Rick and Morty fans like most everyone!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GreenTea

That's my fiancee who's Sals owner. I bought us both that shirt, we are big Rick and Morty fans like most everyone!

---

Glad to hear it !


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Welcome and congrats! I also have a mystic potion that just arrived a few days ago, they really are gorgeous morphs! You have good taste! :P Happy to see your BP's eating! Haha glad your fiance has been converted :p

And bonus points for Rick and Morty!

Davenport! :0

You have some pretty snakes there, congrats!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GreenTea

Question - Is it ill advised to offer my young snake the smallest rats I can find? I have heard they are nutritionally superior and snakes should be switched to rats as soon as possible, but wasn't sure if they needed mice for awhile due to digestion differences..

---

You'll get some differing opinions on this but from what I've read, there isn't a huge difference nutrition between rats and mice but the big reason they are prefered is they are larger so when your snake is full grown it will take multiple mice to make the same size meal that one rat will.

I personally fed my boy mice till he reached 200 grams then switched him over to rat pups and that worked for me.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...78bf8de1d7.png

I'm not sure if you've seen this yet but its the chart most people on here go by, myself included. It shows the size of rats you'll been depending on the size of your snake



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BluuWolf

You'll get some differing opinions on this but from what I've read, there isn't a huge difference nutrition between rats and mice but the big reason they are prefered is they are larger so when your snake is full grown it will take multiple mice to make the same size meal that one rat will.

I personally fed my boy mice till he reached 200 grams then switched him over to rat pups and that worked for me.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...78bf8de1d7.png

I'm not sure if you've seen this yet but its the chart most people on here go by, myself included. It shows the size of rats you'll been depending on the size of your snake



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

---

Thank you so much for this resource! I hadn't seen this yet. There seems to be lots of different info so I appreciate this. I will be sure to use the search function in the future as well to find charts like that. Still learning to navigate the forum a bit.

Beautiful babies!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Starscream

Davenport! :0

You have some pretty snakes there, congrats!

---

Do you know what Davenport is from? The Adventure Zone podcast? He was one of their characters I really liked and this sweet little guy just seemed to fit. He's incredibly docile and rests his sweet little head on my hand.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GreenTea

Do you know what Davenport is from? The Adventure Zone podcast? He was one of their characters I really liked and this sweet little guy just seemed to fit. He's incredibly docile and rests his sweet little head on my hand.

---

I am a huge fan TAZ! And that's great to hear; I wasn't able tell mine's temperment when I bought her and just got lucky lmao. Snakes good for holds r so good ;w;.