Hello Everybody,
Well, I will admit that I AM a beginning herper with only about a years experience in maintaining Ball Pythons but I thought I would try to contribute some of my meager experience to other beginning Ball Python keepers on this forum.I try to be as professional as possible in my Ball Python husbandry and I must say that I have actually had practically no problems at all in maintaining my snakes.If you adhere to some of the strict requirements required in maintaining BPs I think you will have a very rewarding experience with these reptiles.Here are some of my tips... :wink:

1 ) Captive bred and hatched is the best.These animals are already acclimated to captivity and will almost certainly feed steadily for you.It is worth the extra money to get a quality BP from a reputable breeder.

2) Maintain strict humidity and temp.I keep my BPs at about 65 % humidity and have a warm zone of 90 degrees and a cool zone of about 82 degrees.I allow the temp to drop at nite to about 85 degrees in the warm zone and 78 in the cool area.

3) Always give the snakes a hide box.They LOVE to get out of sight and it is best to leave them be when they are in there.I used to pull them out to play but now when they are in their hide I leave them be.

4) Dont panic about them not feeding!! I used to get all worked up when they would not feed but now I just let them tell me when they are hungry ( looking around,being more active...) and then I go for it.One of my BPs is on a fast and the other two are still chowing down.I dont sweat it..as long as they are still in good flesh and weight dont worry about it...they will eventually feed..

5)Dont handle them TOO much...I play with my snakes all the time but I respect that there are times that they want to be left alone and I honor that...TOO much handling all the time sort of stresses them as they are inherently timid and retiring snakes...once a day is more than adequate to enjoy them and tame them.

Well, I hope that I am not being too impertinent with my suggestions being as I am not an expert...but I am very serious about my pythons and my other animals and I learn quickly and study a lot...I hope these suggestions may be of use to other beginners out there...!!!! :wink:

Enjoy your Ball Pythons...!!!!!!! they are the COOLEST!!!!

EyeLashViper