Pros and Cons??

[EmJagsz]

Hey guys, I'm new to this forum and new to the ball python world. I don't have a ball (yet?), but I do have 4 healthy corns which I absolutey enjoy keeping! I was thinking about adding a ball or two to the collection sometime in the future, so I'm just trying to build up my knowlegde on them as much as I can before I do get one.

So with all of your help, I would like to ask what are some PROS and CONS of owning ball pythons?

Also, besides food requirements and overall size, what are some differences of keeping BPs compared to keeping corns?

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thank you

[oceancube]

pros: they are awsome, theres different morphs to choose from, easy to maintain..
cons: they are expensive and addicting!!!!! lol goodluck im sure once you get into balls you will be stuck forever trying to collect as many as you can, cant just have 1 of them!!

[Flicker]

Pros:
They are beautiful snakes
They are realitively easy to maintain on the snake-care-scale
They have good lifespans
They are fairly mellow and calm snakes
They don't need GIGANTIC amounts of space

cons:
They are devilish escape artists
They can get expensive
*agrees with oceancube* They are addicting!

[nevohraalnavnoj]

Pros:
They are awesome.
Don't cause allergies.
They don't bark and keep you up at night.

Cons:
Sometimes they will fart and wake you up at night.

JonV

[Kaorte]

Pros: Very calm and chill snakes
Lots of cool morphs
Easy to maintain (well, most snakes are)

Cons:
Addicting. Very very addicting which leads to this being a very expensive hobby
They can get sick pretty easily (if the temps and humidity aren't stable enough)

Differences: Temps, humidity requirements. BP's are a little more sensitive than corns.

I love ball pythons sooo much. They are great snakes. I prefer them over corns because they are less wormy (don't get me wrong, I love corn snakes too!). If you are on the edge of getting a BP, let me push you over to the dark side

[mainbutter]

I am a corn lover(not literally you "out of context people") converted to the addiction that is ball pythons. I haven't owned a corn snake since my corn died nearly 5 years ago, still not ready yet I loved her so much

The reason I looked at ball pythons was that I wanted a snake that was a bit heavier-bodied than corns with cool patterns and a great disposition.. and ball pythons completely fit the bill!

They don't require any more long-term effort imo than keeping corn snakes, though corns are bit more forgiving on temperatures and humidity. Once you understand a ball python's needs and get the initial setup, they are pretty much as easy to take care of as you'd want.

A possible pro, possible con of BPs: they are lazier than many other species. This means when you handle them, they arent going to be crawling everywhere trying to escape from you(for the most part) or trying to crawl into your shirt's armholes or up pantlets(again, for the most part), which my corn snake was VERY prone to do.. lol. I, for one, am glad that I have a more relaxed snake that I can relax with while watching TV.

It's also a great "introduction snake" to get the GF used to some reptiles bigger than my crested geckos I still have some work to do with her to get her used to snakes bigger than a pencil.

That said, another pro of ball pythons is they really don't get big at all(though that's all perspective) and don't need huge enclosures, which is why so many people on these forums can house 50 snakes in a single room.

BPs in my opinion are the perfect choice for someone's first foray into keeping pythons, especially with a background in corn snakes. Of course I'm a little biased!

[Flicker]

Cons:
Sometimes they will fart and wake you up at night.

JonV

Are they actually farting? I thought they were just squeaking up against the glass...

[rabernet]

Great responses so far, but I think that a big con for someone not familiar with ball pythons is that they are NOT a display snake, and most new keepers of ball pythons set them up as if they are.

They are happiest in a smaller enclosure with tight hides (that they spend most of the daytime hours in) and they get easily stressed out (refusing to feed as one indicator of their stress) if they are housed in something too big for them.

Tubs are easiest to achieve a great set-up for a ball python, but glass can be done successfully with good planning and a lot of hard work (keeping them in a low traffic area, making sure that the hides provided are snug to the snake, working to keep humidity up, etc).

Good luck! I love ball pythons - I think they are the best!

[frankykeno]

Pros:

- not hard to keep as long as you understand their specific husbandry needs
- heavy bodied, girthy snakes for their size that are not terribly active so are a relaxing snake to handle
- available in many morphs though the "normals" are beautifully unique in their own right
- lots of information available online to help you enjoy and raise your snake
- tend to be a snake that is more likely to go into a protective ball then strike at you (but they will bite if they want to of course)
- normal males/females are available from top breeders for very reasonable prices

Cons:

- tend to stay in their hides alot so are not as Robin said already, a great display snake
- can be a snake that gets stressed from too much handling
- are known for their refusal to eat due to stress (most of this is not the fault of the snake but the fault of us owners)
- are too readily available in bad petstores so a lot of unhealthy, non-eating imports end up as pets for people with no snake experience
- it's hard to own just one

[Slim]

EmJ,

Welcome to BP.net. Hope the pros and cons listed here help you make an informed decission. A applaud you for doing this type of research before you make a purchase. I think you will make an outstanding BP owner, and I'm certain you will enjoy owning one.