I made a ton of mistakes when I first got mine. My BIGGEST mistake was that my first was pretty much an impulse buy.
When I was in my second year of college I did a ton of research and even bought a few books because I REALLY wanted a pet and I thought I could convince my landlord that a snake wouldn't violate the no pet clause in my lease. It didn't work, and I ended up getting goldfish. My research completely shifted to the point where I could tell you tons about goldfish and their care. I still really wanted a ball python, but I had forgotten 99% of what I had read. 2 years later, I graduated and moved to Wisconsin. I got rid of my fish before I moved, I didn't think they would survive the trip so I had an empty 29gallon tank.
I happened to go into a local pet store for dog food and left with a ball python and the crap they told me I needed. My poor girl lived in horrible conditions for about 4 months before I realized I was doing something seriously wrong. She constantly had bad sheds, she looked skinny and just didn't seem happy. I re-read everything and realized it was all seriously out of date, I have books that were published as far back as 1985 I think is the oldest.
Thankfully with the help of the internet I could improve her tank conditions. I now use racks, which I wish I had known about when I started, and things are 1000x better for her. She's almost at 2000g right now and she's been breeding for me.
Looking back, I can't believe a lot of the mistakes I made when I got my first girl. Finding this site was what helped the most though.
Originally Posted by Mike Cavanaugh
Thinking it was possible to have just 1 pet ball python.
Reply With Quote