Best place to get BP's

[West Coast Jungle]

Can I recomend getting them right from thier "mom" ..
I think that would be the best.. Or the wild just snatch them right out of a tree:

Either or will work or even better yet try both. Try finding the "Mom" in the wild and getteing one of them ..



I just got mine from a store.. You could try that also..

Wildcaught is the last thing anyone new to ball pythons should get. I take it you were kidding?

Although shipping maybe be a little stressful I think it is less stressful than a show where animals have been shipped to show, on display for a few days and then purchased and brought to a new home.

I have done both and had never had any problems or regrets.

Many may think that store bought might be less stressful but the truth is storeboughts usually have been in very poor husbandry conditions, kept with multiple animals and many babies are captive hatched and are not even established feeders yet. Stores house animals for display not comfort. Most threads you hear about new problem/sick snakes are store bought.

A breeder usually takes much better care of his animals and is very knowledgeable about their husbandry. The guy at the store makes $8/hour and is repeating whatever he was told or feels like saying to make a sale.

If you dont want to ship you shouldn't have a problem finding a local breeder/hobbyist that can give you a healthy animal and CORRECT husbandry info.

[MasonC2K]

I like to get my breastplates from a reputable blacksmith...oh wait... wrong type of BP...wrong forum.

[sneakerpro]

You here a lot of horror stories about PetStore reptiles, so I must have gotten lucky with mine. I think the Battle Creek Petco takes pretty good care of their reptiles from what I can tell. My only complaint about them is that a normal BP costs twice as much at Petco than from a breeder.

[WaRocker]

Wildcaught is the last thing anyone new to ball pythons should get. I take it you were kidding?

Although shipping maybe be a little stressful I think it is less stressful than a show where animals have been shipped to show, on display for a few days and then purchased and brought to a new home.

I have done both and had never had any problems or regrets.

Many may think that store bought might be less stressful but the truth is storeboughts usually have been in very poor husbandry conditions, kept with multiple animals and many babies are captive hatched and are not even established feeders yet. Stores house animals for display not comfort. Most threads you hear about new problem/sick snakes are store bought.

A breeder usually takes much better care of his animals and is very knowledgeable about their husbandry. The guy at the store makes $8/hour and is repeating whatever he was told or feels like saying to make a sale.

If you dont want to ship you shouldn't have a problem finding a local breeder/hobbyist that can give you a healthy animal and CORRECT husbandry info.

Yes of course..

And I did go to the dreaded Petco and buy mine.. The "expert" didnt want to pick up the snake cause he's scared.. What a great "expert" he was. So I being the first time ever buying a snake literally picked up my own snake & had to box him myself. The only thing he was helpful in was telling me to read some books & go online before buying one. Plus to buy the tank and have it ready first. Other than that they had no idea of anything else like last feeding etc etc..

[waltah!]

If you are in Michigan, I would recommend contacting Brian at BHB. He's a good guy with tons of experience and very fair pricing. I second the post about having your tank or tub set up in advance. If using a tank, I would sugggest having it setup like a week in advance since they can fluctuate a lot. The most important thing is.....pics!

[shadi11]

if you live in south eastern michigan i can give you a list of good breeders. I go to the taylor show almost every month. No both yet of my own but when i finally get my crested geckos hatching i will probably get a booth. Other than that i would really suggest es tropicals in roseville not only are they really nice usually he has excellent prices. I just picked up 2 cbb females one 800 gram and one 900 gram for 50 bucks each. If you are looking for something older instead of a baby he usually has some normal males available. not to mention if you pick it up from his house your like 2 blocks from mine.

[ThyTempest]

I am in south central michigan, but i am going to MSU in East Lansing, obviously I'll be going back home for the summer soon, but I will have an apartment with my girlfriend in August. One of my friends just rescued a ball and has it in a nice quarantine setup right now, but he isnt really looking to keep two bps, so if I do end up getting a bp, I will probably adopt that rescue. I'll let you guys know if I need some more breeder help, this forum has been very helpful.

[shadi11]

i am very familiar with msu. I grew up in that little town of holt just south of you. You have the best of both worlds being in the lansing area. You can go to either the grand rapids show or Taylor easily. to bad you don't like boas i have a friend in south lansing who breeds. He has my old boa as a breeder. 7 years old and finally got to have some fun last fall.

[ThyTempest]

I wouldnt really be opposed to a boa. I grew up always liking snakes living with a mother who thought their only purpose was to eat the nasty mice and rats. It just seemed that BP's fit what I liked the most while still being a relatively easy snake to begin with.