New to snakes, new-ish to the board. I've got questions! :)

[FL0OD]

Welcome, a lot of large breeders have a bounty of normal baby balls that are very nice for really good prices, under a hundred shipped to your house. The reason, on there quest for the next newest, craziest morph out there usually end up with a lot of normals in the process. I would poke around some more before you make a decision.

EbN
The Snake Keeper
8 Ball Pythons
NERD
Graziani Reptiles

There are ton of other smaller breeders out there also. You may want to check out the classifieds on Kingsnake.com

[kc261]

Someone there will have something that is close enough to a hatchling. Good breeders usually like to get 4 or 5 meals in their bps to make sure they're eating and growing right so most that you'll find will usually be at least 2 or 3 months old. Still small enough to get used to, but big enough and old enough to know there aren't any noticable problems with the snake.

Yes, this is what I was referring to when talking about getting a hatchling. I wouldn't recommend a fresh out of the egg hatchling. Thank you Brett for clarifying that.

[Brimstone111888]

If you can I would strongly recommend going with a tub over a tank. I have converted from tanks to tubs. I'll do a quick run down of pros cons for both.

Tank:
Pros
-Visible, great for display tanks
-Um....
-um....
-They are strudy?

Cons
-Heavy, which makes cleaning hard to do.
-Provide little security. Even with hides, being constantly exposed is very stressful to ball pythons.
-The do not keep humidity without making your "display tank" ugly. Duct tank and foil isn't aestatically pleasing to me.
-They also don't keep heat very well, because of the way glass is naturally. Glass is not made to retain heat.
-The screen tops with clips are useless. My BP got out with clips and duct tape on every corner.
-Costly

Tubs:
Pros
-Easy to clean
-Lightweight
-Holds humidity great
-Holds heat great
-Cheap. You can buy a good sized tub for $10 or so compared to $40 for a tank.
-Secure, not being exposed to light 24/7 provides security for the BP.

Cons
-Not good for displays

That is all I could think of off the top of my head. Many people on this forum started out using tanks and now swear by tubs.

Feeding. If you want to feed f/t that is fine, just make sure the snake is eating first before you try to switch. Try f/t the first time and if she takes it GREAT, if not get her going on live.

If you think feeding live if gross, wait until F/t. F/t is by FAR worse for me. Dethawing and heating dead things has its issues. I started on f/t. My snake took the first one I offer. I now breed rats and feed live. F/t is too much of a hassle imo.

Hope that saga helps you.

[Suzy]

Well, that makes sense. I guess it just depends on the locality of the snake as to whether or not it needs to brumate then, correct?

BPs don't actually brumate. That's only for snakes native to areas that have a colder winter than they do in Africa.

I've read about some BP breeders "cooling" their snakes, but I'm starting to get really out of the areas that I feel I know enough to talk about.

[Suzy]

I'm not looking for anything fresh out of the egg. If I were, i'd breed them myself (not until MUCH later, though.) All I want is a young-ish snake. lol - as long as they're not full grown adults, and they're in good health, that is enough to make me happy.

Someone there will have something that is close enough to a hatchling. Good breeders usually like to get 4 or 5 meals in their bps to make sure they're eating and growing right so most that you'll find will usually be at least 2 or 3 months old. Still small enough to get used to, but big enough and old enough to know there aren't any noticable problems with the snake.

[Suzy]

That's really good to know. So in some of those normals, would they be hets for anything (i.e. if mom was a pastel, and dad was a different morph, and some of the babies came out normal, would they be het for pastel & the other morph if there was one?) should I want to breed later on? I wouldn't mind getting a normal that's het for something, because by the time i'm ready to breed, they would be a good candidate, and i'd just have to get something else to breed with them. (of course after the quarrantining period.)
I'll be sure to check out those websites. i've seen and heard of 8 Ball Pythons - I've sent him a message on ReptileGeeks, but havne't heard back yet. I think i'll try and e-mail him to see what info I can get about his snakes.
I've been looking around at KS, but they didn't really have any normals that I could see. (I just did a search for normal ball python.) I'll keep an eye out, though. Thank you so much for your help.

Welcome, a lot of large breeders have a bounty of normal baby balls that are very nice for really good prices, under a hundred shipped to your house. The reason, on there quest for the next newest, craziest morph out there usually end up with a lot of normals in the process. I would poke around some more before you make a decision.

EbN
The Snake Keeper
8 Ball Pythons
NERD
Graziani Reptiles

There are ton of other smaller breeders out there also. You may want to check out the classifieds on Kingsnake.com

[Suzy]

Yeah - I think the only time i'd have a fresh out of the egg hatchling would be if I were to breed them myself. I'm going to wait a while for that.

Yes, this is what I was referring to when talking about getting a hatchling. I wouldn't recommend a fresh out of the egg hatchling. Thank you Brett for clarifying that.

[Suzy]

Wow. Thank you for the information. I'll go with that option if the aquarium method doesn't pan out. The only thing is, with tubs, i'd have to drill holes for ventilation, correct? I've got a bunch of drill bits and a drill, but what i'm curious about is what size should I use to drill ventilation holes?
Also, what do you think about doing a DIY cage? I'd probably use Melamite (I think that's what it is - sort of a laminated MDF) with some ventilation and a glass/plexi-glass door in the front. Would that work, or would a tub be better? (If I were to build it I wouldn't worry so much about the cost - but that'll probably be a little ways down the road.)
It's not so much that it's gross to me, but i'm just a compasionate person by heart, I guess. I know that they were already killed but to see them being killed - I don't know. It wouldn't make me super-upset, because I know that snakes need that to live. (and if it wouldn't take anything but live prey, that's what I would do in order to make it thrive and be happy.) I also know that i'd have to watch the snake until the prey is killed before i'd leave it alone - just so I can make sure nothing happens. Do you stun the prey at all, or no? if I were to feed live, I think that's what i'd do, just as an extra precaution. This is just a lot of information to take on as a beginner, but i'm appreciative that everybody is trying to help me.

If you can I would strongly recommend going with a tub over a tank. I have converted from tanks to tubs. I'll do a quick run down of pros cons for both.

Tank:
Pros
-Visible, great for display tanks
-Um....
-um....
-They are strudy?

Cons
-Heavy, which makes cleaning hard to do.
-Provide little security. Even with hides, being constantly exposed is very stressful to ball pythons.
-The do not keep humidity without making your "display tank" ugly. Duct tank and foil isn't aestatically pleasing to me.
-They also don't keep heat very well, because of the way glass is naturally. Glass is not made to retain heat.
-The screen tops with clips are useless. My BP got out with clips and duct tape on every corner.
-Costly

Tubs:
Pros
-Easy to clean
-Lightweight
-Holds humidity great
-Holds heat great
-Cheap. You can buy a good sized tub for $10 or so compared to $40 for a tank.
-Secure, not being exposed to light 24/7 provides security for the BP.

Cons
-Not good for displays

That is all I could think of off the top of my head. Many people on this forum started out using tanks and now swear by tubs.

Feeding. If you want to feed f/t that is fine, just make sure the snake is eating first before you try to switch. Try f/t the first time and if she takes it GREAT, if not get her going on live.

If you think feeding live if gross, wait until F/t. F/t is by FAR worse for me. Dethawing and heating dead things has its issues. I started on f/t. My snake took the first one I offer. I now breed rats and feed live. F/t is too much of a hassle imo.

Hope that saga helps you.

[kc261]

So in some of those normals, would they be hets for anything (i.e. if mom was a pastel, and dad was a different morph, and some of the babies came out normal, would they be het for pastel & the other morph if there was one?)

BP morphs are still expensive enough that even the hets and often possible hets will still cost more than a normal.

Corn snakes on the other hand, have had so many morphs for so long that some breeders don't bother to keep track of which snakes might be het for the more common morphs. So you might buy a "normal" that is actually het for something, but then you have the problem you don't know if it is het, or het for what.

Getting back to BPs, if you think it is likely you will want to breed in the future, I'd recommend starting out with a female, as they take longer to reach an appropriate breeding size. If you can afford a female het for something you like, go ahead. Otherwise, you can still get morph offspring in your first breeding by going with one of the dom or co-dom morphs.

Which brings me to another point... there is no such thing as "het for pastel" because pastel is a co-dom morph. That means if the snake carries the genetics for it, you can see a visible expression of the gene. If a snake carries 1 pastel gene, you get a regular pastel. If it carries 2, you get a super pastel, which is even brighter than a regular pastel.

[PythonWallace]

That's really good to know. So in some of those normals, would they be hets for anything (i.e. if mom was a pastel, and dad was a different morph, and some of the babies came out normal, would they be het for pastel & the other morph if there was one?) should I want to breed later on? I wouldn't mind getting a normal that's het for something, because by the time i'm ready to breed, they would be a good candidate, and i'd just have to get something else to breed with them. (of course after the quarrantining period.)
I'll be sure to check out those websites. i've seen and heard of 8 Ball Pythons - I've sent him a message on ReptileGeeks, but havne't heard back yet. I think i'll try and e-mail him to see what info I can get about his snakes.
I've been looking around at KS, but they didn't really have any normals that I could see. (I just did a search for normal ball python.) I'll keep an eye out, though. Thank you so much for your help.

Unless you buy it as a het, there is no way to tell if or what it is het for. Pastels and several other morphs are co-dominant, so there are no hets for them. Co-doms are actually visual hets for a super form, so it's either a pastel or it's not. If you are thinking about possibly breeding at some point down the road, there are several morphs or hets you can get that are about what you are looking to spend. You can most likely find a male pastel or yellowbelly (het for ivory) for around $100 - $150, and male hets for albinos and ghosts for $75 or less, and even males het for clown and piebald are down to $150 - $200. I also would be very concerned about buying an animal off of CL, especially since you are new. I would definitely wait until the local show and spend that time looking into the vendors and the kind of ball python you want to get.