Ball Python or Corn Snake?

[Kiara1125]

I've been doing my research and I know how to take care of both types of snakes. My friend has a corn snake, but I'm mainly leaning towards a ball python. I would rather have a snake who's more personable and is willing to stay with me and not try to escape my love. xD

So here are my main questions:

Since I' m in central Florida, will I have to help with the humidity control for the ball python?
Would aspen bedding with a log to hide in (and climb on) be sufficient in the tank?
How are they picky and what can I do to help the ball eat?
Finally, will the snake still go off of food for the winter "months" in Florida? Seriously, it's only around 32-40F for a week and then it's done.

So, thanks in advance and I appreciate all the help!

[bumblebee1028]

I've been doing my research and I know how to take care of both types of snakes. My friend has a corn snake, but I'm mainly leaning towards a ball python. I would rather have a snake who's more personable and is willing to stay with me and not try to escape my love. xD

So here are my main questions:

Since I' m in central Florida, will I have to help with the humidity control for the ball python?
Would aspen bedding with a log to hide in (and climb on) be sufficient in the tank?
How are they picky and what can I do to help the ball eat?
Finally, will the snake still go off of food for the winter "months" in Florida? Seriously, it's only around 32-40F for a week and then it's done.

So, thanks in advance and I appreciate all the help!

Welcome to the forum!

If you're using a glass tank, you will probably have difficulty with humidity no matter where you live (unless your house is fairly warm and humid). If you're using a pvc enclosure or plastic tub setup, you'll have less trouble with humidity.

Aspen is fine, but a single log won't be enough. The semi-circle logs aren't good hides for ball pythons. You can definitely use one in the enclosure if you want, but you also need two good hides that the ball python can fit in very snugly (as in, it looks like the snake will barely fit). You can use plastic bowls with a hole cut in the side for hides, they don't have to be anything fancy. And you'll have to change them out as he/she gets bigger, so they're always snug.

I haven't had a problem with them being picky, except for one of our male ball pythons, who has gone off food (it's more of a sexual maturity thing for him, he just reached the size and age where he's a brat ). As long as the setup is good (temps, humidity, decent hides), you shouldn't have a huge problem. Just leave him/her alone until he/she has eaten for you once or twice. I don't know if we were just lucky, but when we got our boys from the breeder, they were on live, and they all ate frozen/thawed rats the first time we offered food. I had made sure their setup was pretty close to perfect, and we didn't handle them until they had eaten (actually until two days after they had eaten, so they had time to digest). While there are picky ball pythons out there (some that will only eat live, will only eat mice, will only eat white rats, etc.), that's not the norm (at least in my experience).

Most adult males seem to go off feed for a few months during winter, but I'm not sure that's true with females. Keep in mind that they're from Africa, and anything under 75F is cold to them. Going off food for the winter is part of their breeding cycle. It's not so much that it's cold, but that it's the time of year where they don't think food is as important.

I hope that helps!

[Kiara1125]

Welcome to the forum!

If you're using a glass tank, you will probably have difficulty with humidity no matter where you live (unless your house is fairly warm and humid). If you're using a pvc enclosure or plastic tub setup, you'll have less trouble with humidity.

Aspen is fine, but a single log won't be enough. The semi-circle logs aren't good hides for ball pythons. You can definitely use one in the enclosure if you want, but you also need two good hides that the ball python can fit in very snugly (as in, it looks like the snake will barely fit). You can use plastic bowls with a hole cut in the side for hides, they don't have to be anything fancy. And you'll have to change them out as he/she gets bigger, so they're always snug.

I haven't had a problem with them being picky, except for one of our male ball pythons, who has gone off food (it's more of a sexual maturity thing for him, he just reached the size and age where he's a brat ). As long as the setup is good (temps, humidity, decent hides), you shouldn't have a huge problem. Just leave him/her alone until he/she has eaten for you once or twice. I don't know if we were just lucky, but when we got our boys from the breeder, they were on live, and they all ate frozen/thawed rats the first time we offered food. I had made sure their setup was pretty close to perfect, and we didn't handle them until they had eaten (actually until two days after they had eaten, so they had time to digest). While there are picky ball pythons out there (some that will only eat live, will only eat mice, will only eat white rats, etc.), that's not the norm (at least in my experience).

Most adult males seem to go off feed for a few months during winter, but I'm not sure that's true with females. Keep in mind that they're from Africa, and anything under 75F is cold to them. Going off food for the winter is part of their breeding cycle. It's not so much that it's cold, but that it's the time of year where they don't think food is as important.

I hope that helps!

Thanks! My house stays at least 78F all year long, so hopefully it will work out well. I'll have a hygrometer in the tank, so that will be taken care of. Thanks for the snug hiding spot tips! I think I'll go cheap as the ball grows and then have some realistic decor whenever it's an adult. I am used to carefully monitoring the humidity, since I have a crestie and I had a beardie for 9 years - so I'm definitely ready for a snake. Do you think I should keep a 1' long baby into a 10g to start with or immediately jump it to a 20gL? Also, do you have a problem with females being egg bound? I wouldn't mind having a female, I'm just afraid of this. Both my crestie and beardie are/were males. One more question - you said that you waited 2 days after they ate before handling them. I'm wondering how the week thing works. My friend will feed his snake and then not touch him for a week, but I've heard of other people leaving snakes alone for a few days, feeding them, then leaving them alone for the rest of the week. So, how does that work?

Other than that,those are the rest of my questions. Thank you very much for covering so much to begin with!

[carbn8]

If im not mistaking the genreal rule with handiling after feeding is 24-48 hours. i usually wait until the 48hours just to be safe.

Also just a little personal experince. I only have one ball python and I adore her. But....I wish i would have gone with a different species to begin with, a corn to quite honest. balls are kinda boring as far as "lets hang out" goes,IMO. im looking for a second snake now and honestly i dont even look at bps, for now that is.

Best of luck

[Kiara1125]

If im not mistaking the general rule with handling after feeding is 24-48 hours. i usually wait until the 48hours just to be safe.

Also just a little personal experience. I only have one ball python and I adore her. But....I wish i would have gone with a different species to begin with, a corn to quite honest. balls are kinda boring as far as "lets hang out" goes,IMO. im looking for a second snake now and honestly i dont even look at bps, for now that is.

Best of luck

Thanks so much! I'm not looking for an active snake. I already have a runaway gecko, 2 dogs, and 13 cats. lol I think the "I'll sit on you and curl my tail around you" will be fine for me. Still, thank you for the feeding information. That's going to be super easy for me.

Basically now I'm just wondering if the snake can go into a 20gL right off the bat instead of a 10g and if the females can get easily egg bound or if they're going to lay eggs at all.

[CptJack]

I have 2 balls and a king snake. Honestly, at first the BP kind of stressed me out with their periodic refusal to feed. However, once I got confident in their environmental set up (temps, humidity, hides), got in a routine, got familiar with their behavior and the ability to track their weight (scale), I kind of stopped caring. I'm pretty sure in knowing that they're not unhealthy or stressed, they're just doing their thing and that thing means sometimes they don't want freaking food. I'm confident in knowing I'll recognize a problem if one turns up, but that it hasn't yet.

I really, really, really like the king snake. He's active, he always eats, he's unusually docile for a king and fun, but as far as hanging out type handling, I always go with one of the BP. I LIKE their chillness and the fact that they don't move around a whole lot and I don't need to use both hands and always have my eyes on them to keep them from darting off somewhere. Stick em on an arm or around my neck or lap and they can hang out with me for HOURS while I watch tv or work on the internet. I can't do that with the king. If I'm handling him, handling him is ALL I am doing.

[Kat_Dog]

Dovah must be an oddball because when I handle him, he's like a slower version of my corn snake

I started with a corn snake and I am glad I did because BPs are super stressful. Not only did Dovah strike at me to the point where I was almost scared to handle him until I have him for 2 months, but he was a real butt-head when it came to eating. It's a little too wet? Nope. Some substrate got on it? Nope. It's not 140°? Nope. It's not moving? Nope. It's moving too much? Nope.

My corn snake didn't give a crap what the mouse was like, as long as it was a mouse(or rat). I gave him one the day after I got him and he ate it right up and only refused twice so far, both times he was shedding.

I think Dovah has refused at least 10 times in the year I've had him.

I decided that I will never get another BP. I like snakes that enjoy eating

[CptJack]

Oh, and I meant to say that neither of my snakes are super problematic feeders. The bigger male (700 grams or so) went off food for a month. The smaller (350 grams when I got him, about 500 now) took about a month to get going. Otherwise, they've been pretty good eaters all around. I do suspect I could have created issues by fussing about it more but honestly, if you can turn off the stress, be sure of your husbandry and move on it's not bad.

I've also never been hissed at or struck by the the BP. That may or may not be normal, but they're SUPER placid, puppy-dog tame snakes. (Why do we say that/ Puppies are bitey as heck!)

[Kiara1125]

Kat_Dog, I'm sorry, but what you said was hilarious. Nope. Nope. Nope. xD I died laughing. Maybe you got one of the weird pythons, but I'm sure you love Dovah regardless.

CptJack (Captain Jack Harkness?! ), once again, funny! xD Still, thank you. It's actually good that you told me to pretty much turn off the stress. So, pretty much just take everything in stride, correct? What is the longest that you can allow a BP to go without eating - whether baby or adult?

By the way, my boyfriend LOVES king/milk snakes. He wants a Pueblan Milk Snake so badly. lol Anyway, I believe that I have everything figured out now. I'm confident in my research and knowledge and I'm hoping that everything will go smoothly.

[CptJack]

One of my dog's names is Jack Frost (named by the breeder) and I am a crazy Doctor Who TW fan, so Captain Jack turned into my online handle.

Yeah, pretty much. Be sure of your research and your husbandry, get it right, make sure you can monitor weight for your peace of mind and then chill out. They'll do what they do. Freaking out about it won't help a thing and may make it worse. I'm not sure what the length of time with babies is, to be honest. I'd definitely get a snake that's an established feeder, and most reputable breeders won't let them go before they've had a few meals anyway. Keep an eye on the weight and look for weight loss or other signs of illness, but I sure wouldn't stress it for a month or so. Heck, the month my bigger snake was off feed *he kept growing*. I know my little guy was relatively young when he came home but he wasn't a hatchling, either. Adults? I've heard of healthy adults striking for MONTHS on end here with no ill effect (like more than 6 months). It's not something I've experienced, but it's apparently pretty common for adult males to go off feed for the breeding season (which is several months long).

Their metabolisms are just strange, strange, things of beauty.