Best place to get BP's

Hey everyone,
I am thinking about getting a BP this fall, and this forum has been really helpful in getting everything straight so far. I am curious as to where is the best way to buy a BP. I have heard that finding breeders online or going to reptile shows/expos is a good way, but I am just wanting to get some more input.

I live in Michigan, so if anyone knows of any breeders or good shows, that would be nice. I know the show in Taylor is this weekend, I can't go, and I probably wont be looking to go to one until at least May or June. I wont be buying the BP until probably August either way. Also, about how much should a BP cost (not looking for any particular morph, the normal one looks cool to me), and what should I expect as far as documentation for health etc when I am ready to buy?

Thanks

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Originally Posted by ThyTempest

Hey everyone,
I am thinking about getting a BP this fall, and this forum has been really helpful in getting everything straight so far. I am curious as to where is the best way to buy a BP. I have heard that finding breeders online or going to reptile shows/expos is a good way, but I am just wanting to get some more input.

I live in Michigan, so if anyone knows of any breeders or good shows, that would be nice. I know the show in Taylor is this weekend, I can't go, and I probably wont be looking to go to one until at least May or June. I wont be buying the BP until probably August either way. Also, about how much should a BP cost (not looking for any particular morph, the normal one looks cool to me), and what should I expect as far as documentation for health etc when I am ready to buy?

Thanks

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I recommend BHB Reptiles in Michigan. Brian is a stand up guy and a total pleasure to work with. Passionate about his animals and isn't trying to rip you off.

Check out a couple of his sites -

http://www.bhbreptiles.com
http://snakebytes.tv

A local breeder is generally a good way to go for you "first" normal ball Python. If you place a want add in the for sale section you will probably get lots of bites. As far as documentation that comes with a normal, I doubt you will get much. Generally you will find normals from breeders cost around the same or less than the actual cost of a vet visit. Now this does not say it isn't a good idea to take your new ball python to the vet for a check out! All of our ball pythons have went to the vet. At first while we are still learning about some of the problems ball pythons can have we will probably take our clutches in for vet visits as most will give some sort of discount for taking in groups of snakes. If we ever feel we are getting comfortable enough seeing the signs of something we may change this, but that will be several years in the future. I just can't see a lot of the major breeders paying to have each and everyone of their clutches checked by a Vet. They have been doing it long enough hopefully to know what to look for as far as the health of their snakes.

I have done a little business with Proexotics, and know they are pretty cool people. You can email robyn at proexotics and ask some questions. Ask him to throw in a tempgun with the sale lol he might (I got a tempgun, but I bought a spider a few years ago - which was not as cheap as they are today). They have a lot of BPs including normals to morphs of all sorts. I hope that helps.

I haven't done any business with LadyOhh (Heathersherps.com) but I hear shes wonderful to deal with and would reccomend her as well (I say that because a friend has done business with her and had a good time).

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Originally Posted by Morph Addict

I haven't done any business with LadyOhh (Heathersherps.com) but I hear shes wonderful to deal with and would reccomend her as well (I say that because a friend has done business with her and had a good time).

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I hope we are still talking BP's here.......

Sorry, I couldn't resist!

Sounds like good advice. Do most breeders run websites and ship? Call me old fashioned but I have noticed with a lot of pets nowadays that people buy them from breeders all over the country and have them shipped. To me, this seems like unneeded stress on the animal, since people can buy local, and marks a breeder that doesnt care about the animals they are raising. Anyone have an explanation for this?

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Originally Posted by tonymul

I hope we are still talking BP's here.......

Sorry, I couldn't resist!

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LOL!!!!!!

Yes, Only BPs...

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Originally Posted by ThyTempest

Sounds like good advice. Do most breeders run websites and ship? Call me old fashioned but I have noticed with a lot of pets nowadays that people buy them from breeders all over the country and have them shipped. To me, this seems like unneeded stress on the animal, since people can buy local, and marks a breeder that doesnt care about the animals they are raising. Anyone have an explanation for this?

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You have a valid point, and I really think that if you have that concern, that you should buy locally. Shipping is a definate stress, but it is a minor one. I don't know about most other breeders, but I absolutely care about my animals to a degree of neuroticism. I have people call me when the shipment arrives, e-mail a couple weeks later to make sure everything is okay, and basically make sure the transition is complete for the snake and the owner. It just depends on who you buy from...

Can I recomend getting them right from thier "mom" ..
I think that would be the best.. Or the wild just snatch them right out of a tree:D:

Either or will work or even better yet try both. Try finding the "Mom" in the wild and getteing one of them ..

:rolleye2::banana::weirdface

I just got mine from a store.. You could try that also..

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Originally Posted by WaRocker

Can I recomend getting them right from thier "mom" ..
I think that would be the best.. Or the wild just snatch them right out of a tree:D:

Either or will work or even better yet try both. Try finding the "Mom" in the wild and getteing one of them ..

:rolleye2::banana::weirdface

I just got mine from a store.. You could try that also..

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Wildcaught is the last thing anyone new to ball pythons should get. I take it you were kidding?

Although shipping maybe be a little stressful I think it is less stressful than a show where animals have been shipped to show, on display for a few days and then purchased and brought to a new home.

I have done both and had never had any problems or regrets.

Many may think that store bought might be less stressful but the truth is storeboughts usually have been in very poor husbandry conditions, kept with multiple animals and many babies are captive hatched and are not even established feeders yet. Stores house animals for display not comfort. Most threads you hear about new problem/sick snakes are store bought.

A breeder usually takes much better care of his animals and is very knowledgeable about their husbandry. The guy at the store makes $8/hour and is repeating whatever he was told or feels like saying to make a sale.

If you dont want to ship you shouldn't have a problem finding a local breeder/hobbyist that can give you a healthy animal and CORRECT husbandry info.

I like to get my breastplates from a reputable blacksmith...oh wait... wrong type of BP...wrong forum.

:)

You here a lot of horror stories about PetStore reptiles, so I must have gotten lucky with mine. I think the Battle Creek Petco takes pretty good care of their reptiles from what I can tell. My only complaint about them is that a normal BP costs twice as much at Petco than from a breeder.

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Originally Posted by tonymul

I hope we are still talking BP's here.......

Sorry, I couldn't resist!

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haha! you beat me too it!

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Originally Posted by Skoalbasher

haha! you beat me too it!

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Not sure what type of minds we have but glad there is someone else on my wavelength....

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Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

Wildcaught is the last thing anyone new to ball pythons should get. I take it you were kidding?

Although shipping maybe be a little stressful I think it is less stressful than a show where animals have been shipped to show, on display for a few days and then purchased and brought to a new home.

I have done both and had never had any problems or regrets.

Many may think that store bought might be less stressful but the truth is storeboughts usually have been in very poor husbandry conditions, kept with multiple animals and many babies are captive hatched and are not even established feeders yet. Stores house animals for display not comfort. Most threads you hear about new problem/sick snakes are store bought.

A breeder usually takes much better care of his animals and is very knowledgeable about their husbandry. The guy at the store makes $8/hour and is repeating whatever he was told or feels like saying to make a sale.

If you dont want to ship you shouldn't have a problem finding a local breeder/hobbyist that can give you a healthy animal and CORRECT husbandry info.

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:rofl: Yes of course..

And I did go to the dreaded Petco and buy mine.. The "expert" didnt want to pick up the snake cause he's scared.. What a great "expert" he was. So I being the first time ever buying a snake literally picked up my own snake & had to box him myself. The only thing he was helpful in was telling me to read some books & go online before buying one. Plus to buy the tank and have it ready first. Other than that they had no idea of anything else like last feeding etc etc..

If you are in Michigan, I would recommend contacting Brian at BHB. He's a good guy with tons of experience and very fair pricing. I second the post about having your tank or tub set up in advance. If using a tank, I would sugggest having it setup like a week in advance since they can fluctuate a lot. The most important thing is.....pics! :)

if you live in south eastern michigan i can give you a list of good breeders. I go to the taylor show almost every month. No both yet of my own but when i finally get my crested geckos hatching i will probably get a booth. Other than that i would really suggest es tropicals in roseville not only are they really nice usually he has excellent prices. I just picked up 2 cbb females one 800 gram and one 900 gram for 50 bucks each. If you are looking for something older instead of a baby he usually has some normal males available. not to mention if you pick it up from his house your like 2 blocks from mine.

I am in south central michigan, but i am going to MSU in East Lansing, obviously I'll be going back home for the summer soon, but I will have an apartment with my girlfriend in August. One of my friends just rescued a ball and has it in a nice quarantine setup right now, but he isnt really looking to keep two bps, so if I do end up getting a bp, I will probably adopt that rescue. I'll let you guys know if I need some more breeder help, this forum has been very helpful.

i am very familiar with msu. I grew up in that little town of holt just south of you. You have the best of both worlds being in the lansing area. You can go to either the grand rapids show or Taylor easily. to bad you don't like boas i have a friend in south lansing who breeds. He has my old boa as a breeder. 7 years old and finally got to have some fun last fall.

I wouldnt really be opposed to a boa. I grew up always liking snakes living with a mother who thought their only purpose was to eat the nasty mice and rats. It just seemed that BP's fit what I liked the most while still being a relatively easy snake to begin with.

While your in lansing, why don't you check out some pet stores? I think Pruess pets is in lansing. (I could be mistaking that for Ann Arbor, so don't quote me). They had a pretty nice reptile section, small, could be better honestly. But the BP's looked healthy. It's a pretty neat store anyways... check it out. :gj:

http://www.preusspets.com/

i forgot about that store i always do when i go see family to. If you don't know your way around lansing it on the north end. I want to say its on the corner of cedar and grand river ave. i know cedar spits through down town its on the west side. of cedar. Really good store from what all my friends over there say atleast about knowledge. If i remember they are somewhat expensive.

All but one of the snakes I bought last year came from this web site right here.... http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/f...splay.php?f=69

I highly recommend it. Shipping, when done right, really doesn't add a lot of stress to the snake. No more really then transporting it to your house and setting it up in a brand new unfamiliar cage would.

Mark

being a lansing guy (who called the new Holt High School home, who would have guessed:D) i would recommend preuss as well. although i found their reptile guys do things slightly differently than what i've found on this forum, they are all well educated in the subject matter, and most of them own multiple balls. I bought Lennie from them, and they have a really nice setup.