New BP owner help and advice please

[DizzieBell]

Im due to pick up my first ever BP next monday, (I think you can see a pic of him as my profile pic.. sorry new to all of this lol) Hes from one of last years clutches. My fiance has king snakes, and to be honest they scare the crap outta me... EVERY single one has bitten me, one will even go as far as to deliberatly rub against my pulse point before taking a hit, but i do love snakes, and i saw this boy and absolutely fell in love with him, and he just seems such a sweet nature. I guess my question is... even though i have snakes in the house, none of them are mine, and tbh apart from getting bitten i dont have anything to do with them, what is the best way to go about settling my new boy in, some people have said to handle from when u get it, others have said to wait a few weeks, i guess im scared leaving him a few weeks, incase he forgets what hands are and starts biting me I am intending to put 2 hides in as they like to hide dont they? one at each end and a medium sized water dish for drinking. I have the choice of either a 2ft vivarium, or 3ft vivarium to use, but i could really use some help with that... i dont know which one would be better... small and cozy, or larger. I could ask a million questions so i guess i will start at this or i will end up writing an essay!! Any help will be really greatfully recieved!

[The Serpent Merchant]

It is really important to leave a new snake alone for a week or so. Moving a snake into a new home is very stressful for them so they need some time to settle in. Leaving a snake alone doesn't increase the chances of you getting bit.

I would go with the 2 foot, with BP's smaller is usually better. You want to have 1 square foot of floorspace in the cage for every foot of snake.

A hiding BP is a happy BP hides are extremely important.

Checkout these 2 threads they should answer most of your questions:


Care: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

Cage Heating: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Thermometers

If you still have any questions feel free to ask

Welcome to the site.

[DizzieBell]

Thankyou so much i will go and read those now! and thanks for the advice on the tank! and thanks for the welcome! wow... how many times can someone thank someone in one go lol! im sure i will have loads to ask still, and hope to become a regular user.

[Kaorte]

Welcome! You've come to the right place!

Don't worry about leaving him alone for a while. He won't forget what hands are haha. Ball pythons are very docile and rarely bite. Most bites are feeding responses so just be careful not to get tagged when he is expecting food. It is fairly easy to see the difference in posture when the snake is on the prowl. They don't just bite out of nowhere.

As for enclosure, I would keep it on the smaller end. Ball pythons seem to feed better in a smaller enclosure.

A few newbie mistakes I see a lot are not using a thermostat with a heat source, using analog thermometers, and feeding prey that is too small. Take a look at the stickies on the forum and they should help you avoid some of these mistakes that can end up being costly.

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