First timer, I would greatly appreciate some help with my first purchase.

[BostonMacK]

Hello everyone, wonderful site here.

I am 32 years old and just got the OK from my wife to go and buy a snake, mind you this has taken me years. I have decided to go with a BP due to all the great things I hear about them one of which is it being a great "first timer" snake.

My questions are pretty much what you would expect.

What do I look for in a snake?

What am I going to need to give the snake a happy life so to speak.

What can I expect to spend?

I am seriously excited about this and may go out as early as tomorrow to start my search. My main concern is to have everything I would possibly need (knowledge included) to make sure everything is right for the snake. Another concern is I would love to get a snake that wouldnt mind being handled from time to time.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a million!

[tmlowe5704]

My questions are pretty much what you would expect.

What do I look for in a snake?

Look around for one that suits you. Look for a pattern that catches your eye. Since it is your first, I would suggest finding one locally to hold and see how it reacts to you. There are not many things worse than getting an aggressive snake for your first.

What am I going to need to give the snake a happy life so to speak.

2 hides, a water bowl, proper thermal gradient, tight enclosure

What can I expect to spend?

What do you plan to keep it in? Aquariums are visually appealing but also harder to maintain

[fishmommy]

welcome to the site!!!!!

I got a Ball Python for my first snake and it has been a great experience so far!

I recommend you get everything set up and running for a couple of weeks before purchasing an animal. I also recommend you go with a reputable breeder so that you will be less likely to experience any trouble - you can get a well-started snake whose feeding and health history is known.

Do you live in Boston MA? If so I recommend that you attend the Manchester herp show THIS SATURDAY! Do not buy an animal there (it's too soon for you!), but you will get the chance to see all kinds of snakes, some enclosures, and ideally some adult Ball Pythons as well so you can get a feel for their size.

[darkangel]

Hello! I will give you this piece of advice -- unless you plan on prominently displaying the enclosure, go for a Sterilite, Rubbermaid, etc. tub. This will greatly decrease the $ required for startup. Along those lines, you can use a bowl or container with holes drilled in for hides, and a tupperware container for a water bowl, which is much cheaper than alot of the 15 dollar hides you see at pet stores.

[Laooda]

Hello and Welcome! You have already gotten some great advice... Best of luck with your new addition, and we'll expect to see photos too!

[AzureN1ght]

A couple months ago I brought home my first BP. Here's some of the things that helped me:

1> Hang around BP.net and read old threads about enclosures, thermostats, feeding and things like that. If you can't find info on something you have a question about--post a thread! Everyone here is VERY helpful!

2> Find a reputable breeder nearby and ask to tour the facility--look at the animals they have and decide what you might want to get (baby, yearling, adult?).

3> Once you know what general size you want, choose an enclosure (I use a tub, which I HIGHLY reccomend) and set it up, including heat elements, thermostat, digital thermometer, water bowl, hides and substrate. Get the enclosure up and running for a week before you pick up your baby, just to make sure the temps/humidity stabalize.

4> Return to the reputable breeder's facility and pick out THE ONE Make sure to ask what it's feeding on (Frozen/Thawed, Live, Mice/Rats?). The breeder I bought my boy from kindly switched him to F/T from live for me before I brought him home.

PS~ If you are in Boston, NERD is only about an hour north of you in Plaistow, NH...and I would definitely suggest calling ahead and getting a tour with Kara. She's super helpful, a total sweetheart, and very knowledgable. Their animals are top-quality and I'd certainly suggest buying from them.

[tmlowe5704]

And it is a plus to see the wonderful morphs they have.

[BostonMacK]

Talk about some fast replys!

Well, I just took a ride to a local PJ's Pets just to test the waters. They have a sale "yeah, my red flag went up too" on baby bp's for $89 marked down from $100. It says they are "CB" which I assume means captive bred and are currently eating live. The woman there did seem to know her stuff and spent some time talking with me. She quoted me a price of between $250-$300 for an entire setup which includes an enclosed 20g long tank, thermometer, heat pad, lamp and the snake. I would prefer to keep the snake in a visible enclosure as apposed to a tub just so I can look at him/her without having to disturb the snake.

Is it a big risk going with a baby as apposed to slightly older snake? She said they are about 3 months old and around 1' long. I did not get a chance to see the snakes due to the fact they were all underneath what appeared to be artificial grass.

Is anyone from here going to the show in N.H mentioned above? If so I would love to go and possibly talk to a few of you in person.

The breeded mentioned above, is their a website I could go to? I am not worried about $, I just want to be sure to get a healthy/friendly snake. Like somebody said, this is a long term relationship and I just want it to be as engoyable as possible. I had no idea we had local breeders here so I was thinking I would have to buy from a petstore which is almost always a risk regardless of what type of animal your purchasing.

Thanks so much for all the help, keep the feedback coming, i'm sucking it all in.

[kavmon]

if i was up in NH, i would check out nerd's store!


i'm sure kevin and kara can hook you up with a well established ball python. they would also see that you know how to take care of your new snake properly!!


www.newenglandreptile.com




vaughn

[frankykeno]

Hello everyone, wonderful site here.

Welcome to BPNet! Glad you found us!

I am 32 years old and just got the OK from my wife to go and buy a snake, mind you this has taken me years. I have decided to go with a BP due to all the great things I hear about them one of which is it being a great "first timer" snake.

BP's are a great snake. Big enough to handle nicely but not huge enough to ever need more than one handler or be a problem sizewise. They tend to be very laid back though will stress when over handled as most snakes will. They aren't hard to keep properly as long as you stick to some basics. A good place to start is the caresheet here.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules....warticle&id=59

What do I look for in a snake?

If you are looking for a nice pet snake a male normal Ball Python will likely suit you very well. If you are planning to breed at some point down the road than either a male morph or a female normal might be something you want to consider. I would suggest you avoid most pet stores as the vast majority of them are going to sell you a wild caught ball python and tell you it's captive born, may send it home with a lovely case of mites along with it, or sell you a non-feeding snake that supposedly eats well. Most pet stores do not sex their snakes so you also won't know whether you've got a male or a female. With an unknown quality pet store baby BP you may as well budget in a fecal float done by a herp vet (checks for internal parasites) and a sexing if you want to know what you've actually got.

It's quicker to get a snake from PetCo, it may well work out but statistically it's likely to end up costing you a lot more than finding a breeder (ask around there are good ones and bad ones) and having a nice, well started, healthy, properly sexed baby shipped to your door.

If you are going to go out tomorrow though and buy one from a pet store, do get an enclosure first. Pick your snake, put down a deposit and then get an enclosure set up and stable first. It will safe you a lot of hassle and the snake a lot of stress.

As far as picking a snake, look for one that is chunky looking. BP's are a girthy snake and you shouldn't be seeing a triangular looking body shape with the spine prominent. You want a snake without stuck sheds on it, without damage to it's scales, clean clear eyes, clean dry vent, etc. Find out what it eats and make sure you can get a weekly supply of this type of food (mice or rats - live, pre-killed or frozen/thawed). If you are buying a pet store snake, ask if you can watch it being fed. That way you know it eats and also can mimic how it's fed so it will be more likely to eat for you.

Sorry about the huge post. There's a lot of things to think about right now as you decide to get your snake and it can be a bit overwhelming but the members of BPNet are passionate about helping newcomers so you can have a great experience as a snake owner and the snake can live a wonderful life with you.