Husbandry. Key word on maintaining and being successful in keeping WC Ball Pythons.
Some say it's a mistake to buy WC animals, when so many are being produced in Captivity. I agree, to a point.
You have to ask yourself, why are you buying a WC animal?
Is it price? Big mistake. In the long run, you will save yourself money, time, heart ache, head butting, hair pulling, if you just would spend the extra few dollars and by a Captive Born animal. One that is well suited for the captive envoirment in which you will house and maintain it in. Rack, Tub, Aquairum (which I would NEVER recommend).
Others buy WC animals for different reasons. New Blood. Animal(s) that have not been estabished in breeding programs yet, odd or weird pattern/colors. The list can be quite long.
So, what does this have to do with keeping WC Balls?
Well, I'll say it up front: You can not keep a WC Ball like a corn snake. They will not respond to that enviorment.
So many beginners, and "others" will buy a Ball that is cheaper then a $50 plus CB animal and take it home, toss it in a ten gallon, throw in a mouse and say... why ain't it eating.
All it really takes is some back ground research on the nature habits of Ball Pythons.
This is directed to beginners, not all the "in the know" hobbyist. I thought I should make that point.
Ball Pythons search out dark holes/termite mounds to rest in, nest in, etc. They come out at night and hunt.
You tossing a mouse in a ten gallon at 2:30pm in the afternoon, your just wasting your time. It ain't going to respond.
I've been given Balls over and over again that people could not get to eat or settle in with how they were maintained. And in no time, could get to take a meal.
This is what I another key word: I do with the animals I select to keep in my collection that are labeled WC:
HOUSING: I use 44 QT Rubbermaids. They are taller then CB 70 type tubs, but not as long. The reason I use this type is for the bedding I use. Most longer type tubs are only 5" tall. I use about 3" of bedding. That doesn't leave much room to move around in if I used the 5" tubs.
BEDDING: Mulch. I can usually find it at local gas stations on sell from time to time for a $1 or $2 bag. Large bags at that.
I don't use the colored mulch, just the normal stuff that people use in landscaping. Lowe's, Home Depot's, etc carries it as well, but it's usually double the price.
I place about 3" of mulch in the tub, and wet it down for the resulting humitidy. To a WC animal, mulch feels more at home then newpaper or aspen/pine shavings.
HUMITIDY: West Africa is dry. Hot and dry most of the time. Rodent burrows, termite mounds are humid. Ball pythons search out and use such areas to relax, and nest in. This is their prefered enviorment.
HIDING PLACE: I provide the animal a place to hide within it's own tub. And they use it! They feel secure. They feel at home (human emotion) but I don't have the proper way of refering to the meaning of having the animal feel secure in it's own enivorment. Placing a Ball python in an Aquairium is like putting in on 24/7 display. It will never feel secure. Exposed comes to mind here. Even with a hiding place, it can look out and see everyone looking in.
Over the years, I have used many different types of hides. From recycled ceral boxes, to the manufatured black hides that are seen at reptile shows and pet stores. About anything will work, as long as it is large enough for the snake to get into and not to large that it doesn't feel secure in.
WATER: Very important part. Snakes drink. Duh. I don't know how many times I've visted someone's collection, usually the beginners ...... don't mean to pick on anyone here, just making obsevrations. And their animals either didn't have drinking water or had a very small container of water. Water adds humitidy to the enviorment. Some animals love to soak.
FOOD: I've never fed in the past four years, nothing to a ball python other then a rat. From pinkie rats to hatchlings to medium sized rats to adults. I don't cave in and throw in a Gerbil, a african soft furred rat, not even a Guinea Pig!
I believe, truely believe, if a snake is not eating, it's not the snake per se, but the enviorment that snake is kept in.
OVERVIEW: Once the snake is in the proper Container i.e. enclource, has bedding, hide area, water, I let it adapt to it's surroundings for 10 to 14 days. Undisturpted. Let it settle. You looking at it, handling it numerous times a week, is not settling.
After the settling time, I wait until late at night and place a small rat pup/hopper in the container. I check the next morning, and usually, 80% of the time, the snake has eaten.
If not, I let it settle for a few more days and attempt again.
I'm not a genius, nor a bonde fide expert on Balls. I'll let others make that claim. But, what I can say..... is..... I've never had a Ball Python, in my collection (we are talking WC animals here) that I could not get to eat.
FORCE FEEDING: I don't recommend it. It does not accomphish anything but stressing the animal even more then it already is.
Not eating is a sympton, not a diease. You must treat the sympton, by experimenting on your animals enviorment. It is not happy for some reason, and not eating is it's way of telling you this.
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Ron Billingsley
www.ronbillingsleyreptiles.com
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