Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 17yr old step-daughter is pressing to purchase a ball python as a pet.

Is a Ball Python a good pet for someone who's had no previous reptile keeping experience???

Any input and advice is welcome.

Boost

Ball pythons are excellent beginner snakes...but make sure you research the proper care...you should with any pet you decide to get...

np

Petco/Petsmart generally has poor-quality or imported snakes- I get A LOT of these through the rescue b/c they wont eat....

Find a breeder through the classifieds that will give you a quality snake-- and I'm sure many here can reccomend a good breeder.

I started with a corn snake.... then got a ball....
cornsnake was psycho from the beginning and never was nice and slow, easy to handle.
I love balls- they get to be a decent "handful" in terms of size, they are much calmer when they're out - they're more fun all around--
and now male pastels are in the same price range as normals-- and are very cool

~Beth
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The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

Ball Python's are great for beginners, easy to care for and normally not very agressive. One resorce you may want to look into is The Complete Ball Python by Kevin McCurley, this book is a little pricy about $50-60 but it will answer almost any question you could come up with. Also if you buy from the pet store you can ask the seller to show you the sanke feeding to prove it is eatting. If they wont show you just tell them you will come back another time when it will feed. Also have your step-daughter do some hard core reseach on them as well that way she knows what to look for in picking out a pet.

Keep us updated on what you guys go with,
matt
matt_golie@yahoo.com

Also make sure you research the cage set up because a lot of pet stores will sell you extra stuff that you do not need.

if you have any other questions feel free to e-mail me as well

Hi,.....Feeding is the only draw back to BPs.....Patience is the key and understanding that they can tolerate long durations without feed as an adaptation in the wild........there is a ball care sheet in the features tab at the top of this page. LOOK IT UP!!! Also rather than blowing $50 on the book from McKurley........Look into his beginner's guide to BPs....Ball pythons in Captivity......Dave and tracy Barker and roger Klingenberg also have a book and it is my personal favorite for the beginner. "the Ball Python Manual"....You can usually find either one at petsmart...FIND THE SNAKE SOMEWHERE ELSE!!!!!!......................Can I also suggest that you buy a female ball python.......For one they just naturally feed better, grow larger, and if in time you chose to breed it she will be ready....the males often go off feed in the winter, which makes people nervous, and the males take much less time to mature. So you can pick up a male a year or 2 down the road and the little lady will be old enough to breed by then.....God Bless, Lee