Quote Originally Posted by Archimedes View Post
Quarantine! basically, you keep your new ball separate from any other reptiles you have, preferably in another room so there's no chance is contamination from the newcomer. That way, if the new guy has any health issues (respiratory infection, mites, pathogens, parasites), they can be monitored and treated without concern of spreading it through your collection. The reccomended amount of time for QT varies between a month and three months, but it's personal preference as to how long it lasts.

Sent from my warm hide
Ah! Okay! Yeah I have a friend with a baby brazilian rainbow, and a regular female ball, and he informed me of this! He said it's a crucial moment to not handle too much, as they're anxiety is a little racey due to all the new territory and faces and all that goodness.

Quote Originally Posted by Marrissa View Post
A female ball python usually at most gets to 5 feet. You will never need two people to manage a ball python. They don't get that big. I made the "mistake" of buying a male ball python as my first one. I thought I'd never breed so I picked a male so he'd hopefully be smaller. Well two weeks into owning him and finding this forum I knew that's exactly what I wanted to do one day. But now I have a male taking the space where I could have a female growing up to size for when I'm ready to breed ball pythons (in about two years). Now don't get me wrong he's my favorite, but I sure do wish he was a she. If I were you, I'd start with a female.

QT- quarantine.
Yeah? I'll research some more then. I've noticed they're solely more expensive, why is that? I'm sure I'm not going to be breeding, just want a new scaly friend. Any other prominent male v. female traits?