I would suggest you learn how to probe ball pythons instead of popping them. You can get the kit from Reptile Basics for like 20 bucks I think.
I never tried popping but probing came pretty easy to me. Plus probing is a lot more accurate than popping. As long as you're very careful, probing is a breeze.
Anyways, that's my two cents.
Here's a great probing video:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=194166
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