I've Held My First Ball

[Tags]

The experience was wonderful. I love them alot already. I am doing loads of reasearch to make sure they are the snakes for me. I decided to check out some nice sites, to see some care sheets. I just happened to see you guys, and checked it out, and decided to stay, wether I am getting a ball or not. But anyway, I would like some info on cages, and about how long the average male will get.


Thanks.

Bre

[Shelby]

Welcome, and congrats on doing your research first!

What exactly would you like to know about cages?

The average male bp will grow between 3-4' long.

I would recommend that you read our care sheet if you haven't seen it before. http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules....warticle&id=52

[JLC]

Welcome aboard! :

[Tags]

Thank you. I would like to know how big of a cage to get.

[pythonweb]

If your getting a baby, a 20 gal long will work just fine, they say an adult male can live out his life in a 20 gal. I just came into a little money and got 40 gal tanks for my two bp's, I like to spoil them!!!


Lot's of great info here, ask away and welcome aboard!!!

[Smulkin]

A Sterelite 1960 is a very good size!

Welcome to the site!

[kenzie]

Thank you. I would like to know how big of a cage to get.

From what I have experienced and learned from my breeder and this site. A 20gal tank should be fine for an adult male and a 30-40gal for a female. Female's may get a little more girthy and long and in order to be able to provide a hide big enough you may need a bigger tank for a girl. I made sure I bought a male for this reason. In my case, the smaller the snake the better. But I'll love mine no matter how big he gets!

Also, try and get the cages with the solid wood top. This will greatly reduce the humidity problems that happen with mesh tops which hold no humidity. That I learned from my BP's breeder. And I have had absolutly no issues maintaining the humidity in my tank due to the solid top. During shed I just put a small container of water under the heat light and humidity bumps perfectly.

Anyone, correct me if I am wrong.

[Smulkin]

You may find yourself loving plastic despite your initial resistance. I was initially very turned off on the prospect of keeping my snakes in rubbermaids or sterilites - but in terms of ease in setting up, maintaining humidity, cleaning/maintenance, weight, fragility and the ability to cheaply have extras handy for fast cleaning swap-outs they are hard to beat.

We have a variety of folks here using a variety of housing approaches - so long as you can meet the husbandry requirements of the snake in question and can maintain it consistently whatever works for you wins the day be it glass, plastic, homemade or professional-grade!

[Tags]

I can't decide which to get. I love ball pythons, but I also love corns. I can only have one, but I need to know how to tell a male from a female, which are babies in my case.

[MedusasOwl]

Yeah, once you hold a BP you're pretty much hooked I think. Nothing to be done for it now!

As far as telling male from female, my method is to buy from a reputable breeder. You'll know what you're getting as far as gender and feeing history etc. Well worth the shipping to avoid Petstores, especially for your first snake!