so i'm new

[tosha]

so i'm new to this site and to the world of pythons (actually to the whole world of snakes in general)
i live in iowa, and up until this year i was actually terrified of snakes, however getting to know my friend's ball made me more comfortable around snakes (at least balls anyways) and well here i am today with a ball python named basill, he was born march of this year, roughly 24 to 26 inches long (refuses to be measured) and i have had him since august. my friend and i are assuming that basill is a male, and so far has acted like a typical male ball python (from what i have gathered and read up on). when i took him to the vet the, he speculated that it was a male too, however he is still kinda small and probably won't actually know his sex until next summer.
anyways, i just want to say, from what i've read on this website/forum, this is probably the best forum for/about balls. it's taken months for me to find this and it rocks!! i look forward to reading and giving info (and recieveing info) whenever possible and hopefully at some point putting basill's pics up on this site.

keep up the awsome chats/disscussions!!

[joepythons]

If its realy important for you to know the sex of your baby you can have it probed at a vet.If you do have it probed make sure the person knows what they are doing as you could hurt it.Ball pythons can be sexed from the time they are about two weeks old.Where did you read you can tell the sex by the way they act? I breed ball pythons and have never heard that.I am not doubting you just never heard it .

[Shelby]

Welcome!

If you vet can't tell the sex of your snake.. he can't be a very good snake vet. Probing/popping a snake to tell sex is a very simple thing that many keepers know, and ANY good reptile vet must know.

[frankykeno]

Welcome to the forum. It's wonderful you've worked on your fear of snakes enough to actually get a ball python. I found the following link for you as far as finding a perhaps more experienced herp vet if you are interested. I've no idea where in Iowa you are but maybe this will be of some help to you.

http://www.anapsid.org/vets/iowa.html

I'm sure you've already found the site caresheet as it's a huge help. As well the search function is excellent for reading threads about everything you could imagine in the life and care of a ball python.

Please feel free to ask any questions that come up as everyone here has been new to this hobby at some point and we all wondered about this or that. I'm still a relative newcomer myself and new questions come up almost daily with our 6 Royals.


~~Joanna~~

[dfisk5]

Tosha, welcome to the forum and good luck with your ball python. I'm from Iowa too, and have taken my snakes to Dr. Harmon at Oaks Vet, in DSM. There's an Iowa herp site too, just Google Iowa Herpetological Society. Lots of the people on there can recommend a good vet also. Good luck!