Obtained my first Ball this weekend, locally from Santa Cruz Reptiles!

[Smoked Oyster]

Hi there everyone,

Last week I posted a couple of threads with questions in anticipation of obtaining our first Ball Python. Well, this weekend it happened!

We live in lovely Santa Cruz, CA, where Steve Weissman of Santa Cruz Reptiles is making some very well-respected Pastels and Yellowbellies, among others.



I contacted Steve about picking up an adult, and he described and showed me a pic of a 6 year old female pastel that he had bred and raised. He only has a couple of adults for sale, so I took her. Steve is a prolific breeder, so she might be the great great grandmother to of some of your Pastels or Yellowbellies on here!

My kids named her "Jasper". Here she is with my son. This is a fairly accurate representation of her color:



Here she is in her tank. Her color doesn't look right in this picture. Her color is more like the picture above:



Steve was amazing. Since we live in the same town, he graciously hand delivered her to my house and gave us a little lesson on some things he has learned about caring for his animals.

Temperature

First off, he said that his animals aren't that sensitive to cold. He said his animals usually prefer the cool side of the tank to be in the low 70's, and that's where they spend most of their time. So far in my observation, that has been true with Jasper. She prefers the cool side of the tank. Here in Santa Cruz the daytime temps rarely go over 70, and the nighttime temps are usually around 55, and that's year round. Yes, we do get 80+ degree days now and then, and 40 degree nights, but those are rare. Maybe these Balls are just used to the cooler temps? Not sure.

For heating, he recommended a quality heating pad from the drug store and set it on the "medium" setting! He specifically recommended one that had at least a 5-year warranty. The idea being, a good warranty implies that the unit will have higher quality parts, be more consistent across the pad, and not cause a fire. He has had bad experiences with UTH made for reptiles, so we went with his advice. We had an unusually warm weekend this weekend with temps over 80 here. I am using an I/R thermometer "gun" for measurements. During the day, cool side temps were 80, warm side 90-93, at night the cool side dipped down to 73 and warm side was still holding about 90. Jasper really prefers the cool side as far as I can tell, regardless of the temps.



Humidity

For humidity, Steve just said that when she "blues out" we should just mist her with a mister a couple times a day, and otherwise the humidity in Santa Cruz is typically fine for them. So, I'm going to take his advice there.



Substrate

For substrate, Steve recommended Healthy Pet Dust Free Cellulose cat litter! He said it's absolutely the best for sanitary reasons, doesn't get in the snakes mouth, is ok even if a little does get in her mouth, and it doesn't make a mess when you pick the snake up. As far as i can tell, it looks like little pebbles or something, but it's actually made of recycled paper. She is resting on some in the image above. I think it looks pretty classy, considering the benefits.



Feeding

Jasper has never eaten a live animal. Steve used to work in a research lab and so he pre-kills his own animals using a humane method he learned in the lab. Personally, I will not do that. So, we are going to attempt f/t and keep our fingers crossed! He said she is currently about 2500g (I will verify later), and she only needs to eat 200g worth of food per month. How we do it is up to us. 100g every 2 weeks, 200g monthly, doesn't matter, as long as we get her 200g per month and feed her at least once per month. We are never going to breed her, so that should be all she needs for the rest of her life. Wish us luck with f/t!

200g per month


Behavior

Jasper is not shy! Steve said we can handle her as much as we want, right off the bat. He has taken her to Boys and Girls Club educational events, and she seems quite social in my 2 days with her. She likes to wrap around us a lot, she likes to climb up the walls and tries to climb the curtains, she likes to try to get in between the cushions in the couch, and she really seems to be attracted to fuzzy blankets. She twists and turns her neck a ton, even arching her back and going completely upside down in a loop. It's pretty crazy. She is very curious about our faces too. I think she likes the warm breath or something, because she will get really close to our noses and mouths and flick her tongue out and stay there for a bit... definitely a snake with a "personality" if you can call it that.

Other observations

After Steve left I was examining her eyes, and noticed one might have a retained eye cap. I am no expert, so I contacted Steve and he said he will come over next week and take a look himself. I cannot tell you how great Steve has been through this whole process, and I feel fortunate to be able to buy from him locally.

I also noticed that the scales on her belly seem "directional", but the scales on top do not. Does this make sense? Do we need to be especially careful about pulling her backwards across a bed or couch and potentially catching one of those belly scales on something?

Steve said she doesn't need a hide. She has never wanted one as an adult.

[TheSnakeEye]

Sarcasm?

[ShaleneRafuse]

Is this for real?

[rperry03]

Someone appears to be very excited, and wanted to add a little humor to their post!

For starters stay away from that heating pad, get a real reptile one from zoo med, zilla or flexwatt and make sure you get a real thermostat to control it. Do a search on here, there are plenty of post

[rperry03]

f/t is not much different than p/k so you should have success, not sure about the cat litter as I use either newspaper and reptibark

[DemmBalls]

This whole thread is a little odd? And yes...Don't pull her across any surface backwards...That may damage her scales.

Someone appears to be very excited, and wanted to add a little humor to their post!

For starters stay away from that heating pad, get a real reptile one from zoo med, zilla or flexwatt and make sure you get a real thermostat to control it. Do a search on here, there are plenty of post

^^^ This.

[MidSouthMorphs]

Yeah, get rid of that heating pad and cat litter. Newspaper, Cypress mulch, Aspen, or Coconut husk is your best options. Make sure you have a water bowl and a hide, if they don't have a hide they will become stressed and sometimes rufuse meals and have bad sheds. Check on a Herpstat or a Helix thermostat also. Not sure about this information you were given by Steve, but it seems a little off.

[Smoked Oyster]

Someone appears to be very excited, and wanted to add a little humor to their post!

For starters stay away from that heating pad, get a real reptile one from zoo med, zilla or flexwatt and make sure you get a real thermostat to control it. Do a search on here, there are plenty of post

No sarcasm. This is real. Yes I am excited, as I would hope for a new owner!

The reason I posted all this is because it is so different from everything I've read on this site, and I wanted to share my experience. Perhaps this guy knows more than you think. Do a search for Santa Cruz on this site and you will read about experiences of others with Steve. He seems to be a well-respected breeder of Pastels and Yellowbellies, and he's been doing it for over 15 years full time. Previously he was a University research scientist, and after meeting him I do trust his judgment. He is highly intelligent and cares deeply about his snakes.

After doing research, I was all set to order a Herpstat proportional thermostat, UTHs built for reptile enclosures, etc., but after meeting up with Steve, I will not. He was adamant that I NOT get a UTH made for reptiles. He has had too many bad experiences over the last 15 years with uneven heating and electrical shorts, and he will never recommend them. Sorry guys.

That said, I am interested in hearing any SPECIFIC CONCERNS you would have with the current setup. Overheating? Underheating? Substrate? What would the signs and symptoms look like if these needs are not adequately met?

Does the snake in the picture look unhealthy? In my observation, she doesn't display any of the signs of an unhealthy snake. Definitely no mites or other external parasites. Skin is tight and firm, no loose scales, no wheezing. She is strong, confident, and likes to explore, or can stretch out on my lap and just hang out and watch TV. She has been cared for with the techniques above for all 6 years of her life.

[rperry03]

You are going to get 90% of the same answers on here. If you are dead set on using what you posted then use it.

[bivman]

Is this for real?

has to be a troll...