Morph Questions

[The Night King]

Hey Gang,

My 6yr old and I are looking at my first BP. I have owned snakes in the past, just not in the last 15 or so years. My 6yr old loves them also so I want to teach her about how great they are. We are looking at a bunch of beautiful morphs on morph market and will likely get the snake at the Atlanta Repticon next month. We will get the setup ready and acclimated at least a week ahead of time.

A few questions about the morphs. Do certain morphs tend to be nippier than others? I know a lot will depend on letting the snake learn to trust us and we will work diligently at that. We will also try to get 2-3 feedings (hopefully F/T) done before handling. I only ask about the morphs since I have had an albino Burmese many years ago and I thought for some reason the vendor at the Orlando Natl Reptile Breeders expo said the Albino Burmese tended to be nippier than most regular burnese and this one absolutely was but not sure if that had anything truly to do with it being albino.

When at a show what are the best things to look for in a new snake from a show? We are looking for a juvenile (young one) for sure.

The other question I had was about coloring...do the snakes change color over time..meaning if we saw a vivid yellow that we liked, would there be a chance it would fade a bit color-wise?


Thanks in advance...still researching substrate, etc. Have printed the care sheets and read daily.



TNK

[SDA]

Morphs are no different than any other ball python as far as temperament. A captive bred ball may be far more calm than a wild caught option and but any snake can be any temperament regardless of genetic manipulation..

Morphs can tend to be quite costly if it is a new designer morph but you can get plenty of nice looking balls for a reasonable price. No reason to spend $1000 on a "banana turbo creamsicle power slide het ninja turtle"* when you can get a beautiful piebald for $250 or even a sweet normal for $40

Most morphs brown out or darken over time but some do stay light. A decent breeder should be able to tell you which will stay light and which will darken up. Lesser genes for example often stay light. This is a great morph trait to look for if you want a lighter snake. Fire traits are another nice one and of course blue eyed leucistic are a very striking gene combo and can be all white but you often pay quite a bit for them.

The best thing to look for is decent weight (if they look skinny or sunken that should be a big flag). Temperamental snakes as juveniles are pretty irrelevant. A nippy baby can become a mellow adult. Also, don't forget the cost of habitat and husbandry equipment. I would recommend sinking money into a decent PVC enclosure over blowing it all on a fancy colored rare morph.


* I made that morph up

[Trisnake]

Morphs have no impact on temperament. A ball will almost always look much different (brighter/more colorful) as a hatchling than as an adult, with few exceptions. Most every morph loses some color or contrast with age.

[The Night King]

I was watching a video from Garrick on YouTube from royal constrictors and he made a great point about new owners or less experienced hobbyists. That it's not always a great idea to buy a hatchling or brand new snake as there are more challenges getting them to eat, get comfortable shedding etc. It made sense as he was recommending something maybe 130 -140g as a first snake is a good idea.

As I read through tons of listing on morph market and kingsnake I do come across listings that mention the snake is very nippy or tags out of defensive nature and have even seen some videos with larger balls to where they're still just very defensive and strike a lot. I know that as a previous snake owner (before having a kid) it comes with the territory but for our purposes which is introducing my young daughter to snakes with the wife that is not a snake person it's going to be difficult if we acquire one that turns out to just want to bite all the time. Our plan was to go to the reptile show to see a bunch but I wonder if we are better off going with an experienced seller and trying to explain clearly what we are looking for and seeing if they have something that just seems a whole lot calmer and better adjusted. If we get one that ends up wanting to strike often no matter what we do or handle it properly we will end up having to get rid of it or my wife may bite me.

any thoughts?

[Godzilla78]

The young ones are the snappy, fearful ones in my experience. Of course, if an older one never got tamed and handled, they could remain as snappy as babies. I would find an, established tamed snake that someone was having to rehome.

[zina10]

Whereabouts do you live, if you don't mind saying?

If you are near a breeder, you could ask whether you could "hand pick" one of their animals. The breeder is usually quite helpful as well, with a lot of information.

I never forget how I picked my 2 Green Tree Pythons. I went to "Ophiological Services" in Florida, back when they dealt mostly in GTP's. I met with the Bessettes and it was quite the adventure. Their facility was SO CLEAN you could have eaten off the floor. Well run, amazing, really.

They had me clean ALL the tiny little GTP's enclosures, about 30 of them, LOL. After that I had gotten my first 2 bites and I picked the 2 little ones I liked best, LOL !!!

You can also pick at a show, but I prefer directly from a breeder

[The Night King]

I'm in the Atlanta area...repticon is in 3 weeks

[Ax01]

I was watching a video from Garrick on YouTube from royal constrictors and he made a great point about new owners or less experienced hobbyists. That it's not always a great idea to buy a hatchling or brand new snake as there are more challenges getting them to eat, get comfortable shedding etc. It made sense as he was recommending something maybe 130 -140g as a first snake is a good idea.

As I read through tons of listing on morph market and kingsnake I do come across listings that mention the snake is very nippy or tags out of defensive nature and have even seen some videos with larger balls to where they're still just very defensive and strike a lot. I know that as a previous snake owner (before having a kid) it comes with the territory but for our purposes which is introducing my young daughter to snakes with the wife that is not a snake person it's going to be difficult if we acquire one that turns out to just want to bite all the time. Our plan was to go to the reptile show to see a bunch but I wonder if we are better off going with an experienced seller and trying to explain clearly what we are looking for and seeing if they have something that just seems a whole lot calmer and better adjusted. If we get one that ends up wanting to strike often no matter what we do or handle it properly we will end up having to get rid of it or my wife may bite me.

any thoughts?

i heard the Leopard morphs are bitey. j/k. well, i hope your wife doesn't bite ya Lol. anyway just do anything to antagonize a snake, old or new. get your setup going in advance, let it acclimate it's new home before handling, better yet if u are patient - hit the trifecta before handling (feeding, pooping, shedding), keep husbandry on point, don't antagonize it during sheds.

also learn the S-stance (striking position) and avoid handling when your its stressed. u can hook train or hook handle it (or use a roll of paper towel). i think most learn their BP's personality quickly.

I'm in the Atlanta area...repticon is in 3 weeks

one of our forum Mods, Deborah, lives in the area. she hatched out some nice Pieds recently too. Albey's Too Cool Reptiles is over there, as well as the masterful Justin Koblyka lives an hour or so north of ATL. u can use MorphMap to locate a nearby breeder: https://www.morphmarket.com/us/stores/map/?cat=reps good luck, have fun and post pix!