Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was a member on this site a few years ago (the Barkers had just posed pictures of the first snow-ball) but had to give-up herping for a while. I recently got married and my wife agreed that we could get a snake but we have a few requirements and I don't really know where to go. Any help would be appreciated.

1. Where to buy? We use to live in Florida and could easily buy a ball in Daytona, but now we live in Philly and are going to have to buy via mail order. I have had awful experiences in the past with buying wild caught/captive hatched snakes and don't want to do that again. It seems like with balls the only way to guarantee captive bred/born is to buy a morph. We're not anti-morph but think the regular balls are just as pretty and fun. Who is recommended to buy a captive bred/born ball from or who has very healthy low cost morphs (the type of morph doesn't matter). Also, the ball has to be from a 2007 clutch. My wife insists that if she knows the snake from a very small size she will be ok with it when it's bigger (she thinks a large ball would intimidate her).

2. When I was a member previously there were all kinds of issues over people feeding on wood products (aspen, etc.). I previously kept all my snakes in tubs and on news paper, but as this will be our only snake I want to do it up and keep it in a pretty terrarium. Is there any consensus as to feeding on aspen or feeding in a separate tub?

many of the big breeders on kingsnake will sell the "siblings" of morps for a good price. these are normal babies that had special looking brothers and sisters. this way you have the security of a big breeder without the morph. if you cant find any from the sponsers of kingsnake try Cypress creek reptiles Tom usually has siblings posted and you can see pictures of them. good luck, i use and feed on aspen.

>>many of the big breeders on kingsnake will sell the "siblings" of morps for a good price. these are normal babies that had special looking brothers and sisters. this way you have the security of a big breeder without the morph. if you cant find any from the sponsers of kingsnake try Cypress creek reptiles Tom usually has siblings posted and you can see pictures of them. good luck, i use and feed on aspen.

Yeah,there are alot more of us hobbyist breeders since then too..Most take pics of things as they hatch..That's one way to know that what you are getting is actually captive bred.
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Charles Glaspie

i live in levittown and have pastels and normals. shoot me a email if u want some prices. l-townmorphs@hotmail.com

I use aspen and feed all my balls and boas on them and it works fine for me. Occasionally I see the chips hangin on the side of the mouth of the snake and I just grab it off and everythings fine I just dont want them tryin to digest the aspen chips you just have to be willing to pull the chips off of the snakes mouth if that happens. But aspen makes a terrarium look very nice in my oppinion and Ive always used it.

Your from the Philadelphia area?? So am I.. South Jersey to be exact. If you want a snake as a pet you should come to one of the shows around here... that way you can pick out a snake hands on. That way you'll know what you're buying, and won't have to worry about paying for shipping. You'll know temperament and looks in advance.

I'm personally a big fan of the Hamburg Shows. Its a decent drive from us, but really big with 200 tables or so with a lot to look at. Its called the Northern (or Northwestern) Berks Reptile Show and the next one is Sept 8th... this is the link:

http://www.northernberksreptileshow.com/

I've got most of my snakes there. Theres also the Maryland shows which are exceptionally smaller. On the Kingsnake.com homepage theres a list of shows, you can browse through to find some ones that are local (or local-ish).

Hope that helps!

...there are PLENTY of people breeding ALOT of balls around the Philly area........trust me......anywhere from $15 and up balls......

........feed on aspen or cypress ........

.......get all equiptment first ,,,then ball

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.....too many BIG girls.........

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There are so many people in this hobby its ridiculous, Everyone is breeding so finding a breeder in the philly area shouldn't be an issue. If your looking for a Nice Cheap Morph, Pastels are everywhere and prices are insanely low. Feeding wise, I feed all my balls in there Enclosure. They are kept in APCages on Aspen Bedding, I have never had any issues with feeding them on aspen. They have even ingested some of it sometimes, I went to the vet to make sure they were ok, and sure enough nothing was wrong. Im pretty sure they ingest little pieces of debris while hunting gerbils in the wild, no1 is there to pick stuff off their food as they eat right?! Just my thoughts.

There are many honest people to buy from in the east including myself, If you do some research and asking around you will get enough info to make good choices. Hope this helps and welcome back!!!
Erick Markstaller
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