Sterling Bee vs BEL?

[The Night King]

We are getting ready to purchase our first ball python… It will be a beloved pet for my daughter and I and we can't wait to get it. The Atlanta reptile show (Repticon) is in two weeks exactly and we had all but narrowed down our choice of snake to a blue-eyed Lucy.

I really can't see us breeding so honestly the genetic make up of the snake is secondary… We just want something healthy and hopefully calm and easy to handle. It will be a pet that we will interact with fairly often… My six-year-old daughter and myself.



I've been trying to research some of the vendors that will be at the show to look for feedback and also see if they may have the snake we're looking for. Our budget is about $300.


We did come across a really cool looking Sterling Bee they local breeder and he's been very friendly and a great communicator. He sent us a video of him handling it and it seems relatively calm even though it has to little bit I'm assuming that's normal. He is asking $300.


I just wanted to get some opinions of the snake I would looks, how it's priced etc.… My little one has her heart set on a really bright white snake like the leucistic so part of me wants to wait till the show just to see if they have something there but just not sure if my amateur eyes would be able to tell if there were issues with the snake etc. just not super knowledgeable about Ball Pythons.


Main goal is to find something pretty and calm but hopefully he is feeling on F/T.


There is a video of the Sterling Bee ball python that we are looking at.. The back is welcome… Thanks in advance!!

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[hollowlaughter]

Honestly, I'd say with a child that really the snake's personality will need to be what's focused on.

This guy is definitely kinda bothering the snake and handling it a LITTLE roughly, so its behavior at the start is perfectly calm. Seems to be why he's poking at it trying to show it won't get snappy if its manhandled a little. Doesn't look too headshy.

Issue with focusing in on a morph vs personality IMHO is you might get a BP with very high nerves that dislikes being handled, so you may want to try talking to your daughter that to find a BEL in your price range and presumably not an adult and/or male either, you might end up with a snake that doesn't like being handled and needs to be left alone 90% of its life. Make sure she's OK with that reality -- BPs DO have individual personalities and some will never be "handler" animals -- if determined to get such a specific animal from a limited stock that might be available at a show.

Bees do pull from Spider, which is another consideration with this animal. Make sure to ask about the wobble its exhibiting and when it tends to flare up most (when snake is scared, when it's excited about food, etc) and make sure that a varying amount of neurological wobble is something you are prepared to take care of in an animal. A non-wobbly baby may grow up into a rather-wobbly adult, and environmental factors such as stress can also contribute to the animal's wobble. So that's something to read up on and make sure you're ok with for anything related to a spider.

This specific animal's body tone, personality, and health seem fine, in terms of overall "review".

$300 is not bad for a sterling bee, especially a female.

[The Night King]

Thanks for the info! Ironically enough we were at Petsmart today to get a water dish and there happened to be some people looking at their ball pythons - these were just normal $50 ball pythons one would not come out and they said it was very aggressive but the other was super friendly literally looked like it enjoy being held and we waited her turn and my daughter got to hold it and she loved loved it! It was very active but very calm and just had a great demeanor.

When we got home we talked a lot about her experience and how it's always important to remember that if the snake is aggressive it's usually because it's fearful not because it wants to hurt anybody. My daughter is very bright and just understands things - by the end of our long discussion she immediately was of the opinion that the most important factor when picking out a ball python is it's personality so I think that will make things easier for us when we go to the show because she's not dead set on a color or morph. I would still like to have something that looks a little different as I'm sure anybody would but the disposition of the snake will be the most important thing to us

Our budget is still $250-$300 so hopefully we will find something we fall in love with that's eating F/T and likes being handled. Really excited about the show!

[hollowlaughter]

Thanks for the info! Ironically enough we were at Petsmart today to get a water dish and there happened to be some people looking at their ball pythons - these were just normal $50 ball pythons one would not come out and they said it was very aggressive but the other was super friendly literally looked like it enjoy being held and we waited her turn and my daughter got to hold it and she loved loved it! It was very active but very calm and just had a great demeanor.

When we got home we talked a lot about her experience and how it's always important to remember that if the snake is aggressive it's usually because it's fearful not because it wants to hurt anybody. My daughter is very bright and just understands things - by the end of our long discussion she immediately was of the opinion that the most important factor when picking out a ball python is it's personality so I think that will make things easier for us when we go to the show because she's not dead set on a color or morph. I would still like to have something that looks a little different as I'm sure anybody would but the disposition of the snake will be the most important thing to us

Our budget is still $250-$300 so hopefully we will find something we fall in love with that's eating F/T and likes being handled. Really excited about the show!

If she's less deadset on a BEL, I'd advise talking to the breeders and asking them for their "most friendly animal". Most smaller breeders will know exactly which one to show you. I got mine as an adult male pinstripe at 2 yrs old, skipping feeding weeks. Obviously not a high-ticket animal.

But for me and my GF who's new to the hobby, with a bit of TLC he's turned into a great feeder and is so NOT headshy that he'll sometimes let you pet the top of his head with a finger and not flinch at all as long as you don't startle him.

There's nothing wrong with normals, though. Some people turn up their nose at them, but I've seen some simply GORGEOUS "dinkers" (atypical normals) on this forum that I personally find far more beautiful and enticing than some of the highest-ticket animals like pieds.