New ball python/ worrying

[For Goodness Snakes]

Sounds horrifying for the animal! It also sounds like the basic plot to a creepy BDSM horror movie. And at the risk of pointing out a blinding flash of the obvious, Falcons are not Ball Pythons.




Ok, I have several things to say here, most of which will get me suspended from this Forum for awhile. SOOOOOOO, let me just say that I don't care how many YouTube videos you have, and I don't care how many Falcons you take in the closet, the advice you give in the above quote is simply wrong.

Your advise is a recipe for a stressed out, sick snake that won't eat.

And if you think that any ball python in anyone's collection trusts them, you are deluding yourself as to the cognitive and emotional capability of an animal with a brain the size of an English pea. Can they learn to tolerate our handling of them, and can they learn to accommodate their surroundings? Of course they can. But trust? That simply isn't a trait found in snakes.

I would suggest re reading that sentence. "The hope is by spending a huge amount of time gently working with that bird it will soon learn to trust you OR LEAST LEARN NOT TO BE AFRAID OF YOU. Believe me the brain of a Red Tailed Hawk isn't much bigger than that of a ball python's brain. In the future if you're going to quote me I would appreciate it if you would at least complete the sentence.

Twenty years ago when I first started doing reptile educational presentations in the San Francisco Bay Area I was warned by just about every breeder I knew that by having my snakes in front of people the snakes would get stressed out and that stress would be the cause of health issues including the lack of feeding response. I appreciated everyone's concern, but sometimes you just got to make these decisions based on your own logic, common sense and experience rather than the logic, common sense and experience of others, that's when I created the other side of my business called For Goodness Snakes Adventures. Sure I wondered how the snakes would act or react when handled by hundreds of children at a time, but was relieved to see that they handled the crowds of children with no issues at all. Now twenty years later and 50,000 people later my snakes are doing fantastic. Just to put my business into perspective I now do between 200 and 300 reptile programs a year that means that 15,000 children per year touch and handle my ball pythons including some that are on my breeding team. We have never had any issues (no one has ever been bit) and the 200 plus snakes in my collection's health level has never been better. Sometimes I do between 5 and 6 presentations a day. In fact I just got home a few minutes ago from doing a program and in a few minutes I'll be going out to feed the collection and as always I don't expect any issues from those that were with me today.

So when you say (and I'm sure that most people would agree with you ) that by handling your snake 15 minutes a day is and I quote you "Your advise is a recipe for a stressed out, sick snake that won't eat", I just smile and shake my head.

Here is a link to one of my videos that will show you what I do at the end of my reptile presentations and again I do about 300 of them a year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyHTt75jgsA

A note to the newbies: It's OK to think outside of the box when it comes to these animals, don't be afraid to try new things to push the envelope.
Remember breeding and selling ball pythons is more of an art than a science, question everything and don't be afraid to try new things.
I'm one of the lucky ones because I get to do this for a living, but no matter how many times I've been told I was wrong or that I was going to fail I leaned on my own experiences, I listened to myself rather than those narrow minded people that were advising me.

Like I've said before I'm here for you guys, let me know if I can help.

Brian Gundy
For Goodness Snakes
408-981-6694