For the past several weeks I have been actively looking for a large adult female ball python to keep as a pet. No breeding aspirations. I already own an adult male, six years old, and he has become a much loved member of our household. Very sweet, gentle temperament. We often allow small children to gently handle him (with close adult supervision) and he has never, ever shown any aggression whatsoever. Nothing seems to bother him at all. You can even stroke his head and he doesn't mind. Well, years ago I owned a red tail boa that I dearly loved. He too was a gentle, docile snake and liked to be held. Unfortunately, he eventually grew to such a large size that it was difficult to handle him. I've always admired larger snakes and although I like the temperament of boas, even smaller varieties like Dumerils and Hogg Islands grow bigger than I want. From the standpoint of behavior and "personality" my favorite snakes of all are ball pythons. Soooooooo........I decided the perfect larger snake for me would be a big female BP. Just the right size.....not too big.......and good temperament. Or maybe not? This past weekend I had a long conversation with a gentleman who has bred BPs professionally for years. He advised me that, in his experience, females tend to be more aggressive and less docile & gentle than males. He further said that females often get grouchy and "nasty" as they age regardless of how often they are handled. Is that true?? He told me that the BPs he and his extended family keep as pets are ALWAYS males and suggested if I wanted a big BP I should limit my search to a jumbo male. I would appreciate hearing what those of you with experience think. If the consensus is that females are generally not as good as males for pets, I'll stop looking for one.