Male or female?

My boyfriend and I are about to go pick up our first BP. Are females or males better to start with? Or does it not matter? Input please?


We've also already set up the cage. Its a 55 gallon tank. We had troubles with the heat, so we added a heat lamp along with our under tank heater. We've finally got the heat to about 72F on the cool side, and 85F on the warm side. But now we're having troubles with the humidity(48% on the warm side and 73% on the cool side). We have water in the dish already, but it doesn't seem to help. Would this be okay with frequent mists, or as is? Any suggestions?


Thank you. :)

well first off your tank is a little big for a baby ball, they need tanks that are of adequate size to them so that they feel secure and not stressed, a huge tank like that is probably a little much for a new baby ball.

your temps are also to low, they should be around 90 on the high side and 80 on the low.

and an easy way to help your humidity problem is to get some spagnum moss from your pet store and wet it down and put it in your snakes enclosure.

oh and i dont think that sex of the snake really matters, your pet store probably doesnt even know the difference anyways( they will say they do though).females get fatter, but i dont think that sexes of the snakes has really any benefits unless you are breeding.

if you use the search function you should be able to find lots of care sheets for all sorts of pythons, good luck with your new baby.:snake:

As far as temperment goes, BPs don't have any differences between males and females. Females are a bit larger in general than males.

I went with a female for my first BP because they take longer to reach breeding size, if I ever want to breed her, and it'd be neat if she did get bigger than average, but she'll grow however she grows.

As far as your setup goes, 55G is bigger than a small BP needs, if you are getting one that hatched in '08. If you put in plenty of foliage though to make the snake feel more "secure" it should work though :D

temps are a little cool.. re-read the care sheet(or read it for the first time if you haven't) there's links on the main page of this website near about 1/3 down on the first page. They should be 78-82 on the cool side and 88-94 on the warm side(substrate temps)

Humidity can be a constant battle with glass cages with screen tops. It's what I have and I've done a bit of work to make it better for both myself and my snake. The first thing I did was cover 3/4 of my screen top with aluminum foil. I'm considering re-doing the top to put a layer of cling wrap first and then aluminum foil to help even more. This will help trap humidity and heat. Another thing to do is add sphagnum or peat moss. I get it in brick form from my local pet store, expands with water. Misting a clump of moss will help keep humidity up without drenching the substrate in your tank, which can lead to scale rot.

You can try misting and covering some of the screen top first before putting in sphagnum moss.. I'm in Minnesota too and yeah humidity is a pain this first winter with my snake. It sounds though like yours are better than mine were before I used aluminum foil on the top and put in moss, my humidity in an open screen tank with no moss drops too low for my hygrometer to read(below 20%).

I don't know where you're getting your BP, but if you're planning on hitting up Twin Cities Reptiles(I don't know where else you'd go to get reptiles anywhere near Elk River) I'd trust them 100% on selling a correctly sexed snake, despite the fact that Hawiianice is pretty much correct in saying that most local pet shops don't know the difference.

That's where I got my little girl and they were a pretty big help.

Thanks for the tips. I was already set on getting a female, but he wanted feedback on a male. :P

We tried the plastic wrap with aluminum foil over the top. We raised the temp in the bedroom s/he will be in, and our temps are currently at 73F(60%) on the cool side and 85F(44%) on the warm side. We're using a digital and analog humitiy and temp gauges on both warm and cool sides. I'll add some pictures of our set up. We were thinking about adding more to the habitat, but we didn't want to over do it.


center/overall warm side cool side
(we're planing on double side taping the digital gauges slightly above the analog gauges on the glass when we get her)


We read a lot of the how to step up our tank from HERE. It was very helpful.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jessi3825

My boyfriend and I are about to go pick up our first BP. Are females or males better to start with? Or does it not matter? Input please?


We've also already set up the cage. Its a 55 gallon tank. We had troubles with the heat, so we added a heat lamp along with our under tank heater. We've finally got the heat to about 72F on the cool side, and 85F on the warm side. But now we're having troubles with the humidity(48% on the warm side and 73% on the cool side). We have water in the dish already, but it doesn't seem to help. Would this be okay with frequent mists, or as is? Any suggestions?


Thank you. :)

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As was mentioned, females take longer to grow into breeding age, so a lot of people start with a female~ just in case!! ;)

The tank you have will be WAY TOO BIG for a baby ball python and will lead to stress and feeding issues. A 10g or 20g long is fine. In fact, it will always be too high and you will struggle with humidity issues :( Here is a very good information sheet for setting up a glass tank: http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=56846. Remember that temps for a wee baby need to be around 92F and the cool side ought to be about 82F. Ambient temps need to be about 82F.

Lots of people use the Acurite thermometer/hygrometer to measure temps and humidity inside the cage and heat sources need to be controlled by a thermostat (Ranco, Johnson, Helix, Herpstat...) Uncontrolled heat sources get too hot and can cause thermal burns.

Bumping humidity by using damp sphagnum moss is a good idea. A bowl of it near the heat source ought to help a lot :gj: You could also put some into each of the two hides.

Welcome to the forum and share pictures of your snake when you get her or him!! Be sure to ask questions as they arise and do check out that link-- it'll help a ton!!! :)

Lol!!! We cross posted!!! :rofl:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mainbutter

I don't know where you're getting your BP, but if you're planning on hitting up Twin Cities Reptiles(I don't know where else you'd go to get reptiles anywhere near Elk River) I'd trust them 100% on selling a correctly sexed snake, despite the fact that Hawiianice is pretty much correct in saying that most local pet shops don't know the difference.

That's where I got my little girl and they were a pretty big help.

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What were the prices you gathered from Twin Cities Reptiles? We've got some quotes anywhere between 80$ - 150$ for a reg. bp

wow, this may be me, but if you are paying $150 for a baby normal then that baby better be laying golden eggs. also those analog dial are not accurate at all, i would recomend you get a digital just to see how far off they are.

I think I paid $70 for my normal female. It's a pretty good reptile shop, they seem to take good care of their animals, and my girl is as healthy as you could ever wish.

They even have some morphs there, they do a bit of BP breeding of their own there.

I'm not 100% sure if they had any normal females when I went in to pick up some more frozen feeders a few days ago, I would give them a call before making a drive out there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hawaiianice99

wow, this may be me, but if you are paying $150 for a baby normal then that baby better be laying golden eggs. also those analog dial are not accurate at all, i would recomend you get a digital just to see how far off they are.

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Totally agree :gj:
Especially about the golden eggs :rofl:

like the golden goose on willy wonka.

Daddy i want a golden python right now!!:please::rofl::tears::taz::rofl:

I would have to say that $150 is a little steep, I see them more commonly around $60 to $90. I would look around a little bit more. I have never really bought one though, both of mine were rescued from neglected caregivers. I nursed them both back to health, one was free and the other I paid $80 for along with a nice cage. You might check out some newspaper ads I saw someone who raises them for $40 dollars a piece.

Just a thought... Check local craigslist or other such listings. You can spring a great deal and help out a snake that might be getting neglected.

you can also find more than enough normals on kingsnake.com for as low as $20+shipping.

That Twin Cities Reptiles place had only 2 regular BPs. 150$ each. One is about a year old the other is about 6 months old. Went some place else instead and bought her for 80$. I posted some pics of her un the BP Pics section. :D

As for our humidity problem we fixed it. Thanks everyone. :)

Glad you got your humidity fixed, but with a glass enclosure it pays to keep an eye on it. I use a 20G long for my little guy, and even though it's not as tall as your tank, I still struggle with the humidity. Seems to get worse as turn up the central heat in the appartment.

I took a look at the pics you posted of your enclosure, and I'd like to make a suggestion about your hides. Those half logs are open on both ends, and your BP won't really feel very secure in them. It may use them due to a lack of something better, but BP's like to actually HIDE in a hide. Terra cotta pots with the drain hole in the bottom from Wal-Mart work like a champ and don't cost much at all.

Congrats on your new BP! Have a Ball:)

Yeah we just added some cardboard around the back and the two sides. She seems to be doing fine. Very active. I think she's enjoying the space. We ended up just going to a local PetCo and buying her. We aren't sure on the sex, but we felt better calling the BP a him or her, and gave her a nutral name. :rolleyes:

But I will definally look into the Terra Cotta pots. Thanks for the suggestion

if you want to find out the sex you can go on youtube.com and search "snake popping" and it will show you a quick and easy way to sex your new baby.

for hides you can also go to the dollar store and pick up plastic bowls, they are really easy to cut and clean.

Thanks, it doesn't look too hard. I'll be sure to try it tomorrow. :)