Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Im noticing from alot of the newer threads that from the pics and statement people are getting new bp's in and just throwing them in with their collections, plan on picking up new animals and going to put them in a breeding situation or have already done so. Let me tell you people watch what your doing, you are playing with fire. One of the threads the guy has mites well in another thread by the same guy he just got a pin male and threw it into a breeding situation (no offense to you). And in probably 3 other posts from the last couple of weeks Im seeing pics of newly aquired animals in racks with other animals. You guys (and ladies) NEED to quarantine animals you are going to wind up bringing something into your collection more than you expect and you will be sorry. Im not preaching Im just trying to help you avoid a bad predicament. But just my opinion
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Damian Macioce
www.strongholdreptiles.com

It's not just the quarantine situation. It's the attempting to breed animals while still being unclear about their care. There's an abundance of ball pythons today, and the important thing is to produce high quality animals and not just breed ball pythons because you can.

True. I don't acquire new snakes often (or keep them close to each other, I'm also completely anal about washing my hands and anything else that has touched once snake before touching another regardless of how long I've had them) however the article in the latest issue of Reptiles Magazine terrified me. It's about IBD in the all snakes issue they have out, the images alone are pretty freak for any snake owner.
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Danne
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1.0 '07 BRB "Monroe"
1.0 '08 BRB 66% het Anery "Ace"
1.0 '08 Pastel BP "Sebastian"
1.1 Leos "Bowser & Peach"
0.2 Dumbo (non-feeder) rats "Josie & Holly"

Email = dshoback@eden.rutgers.edu

I'm not even a big breeder but I take my pets health very seriously and I know exactly what you mean. I preach this to my friends but only a few think it's worth doing. I bought a spider off a friend that thought knew enough to do this, he only had the spider for a few weeks and after I found the mites on him I sent him a message to tell him and he said, "wow, I thought I had gotten rid of them". Turns out he just through it into the tank with his others when we came home from a show. It could have been much much worse for him. Everyone, be very careful and good luck.
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Pastel 0.1
Spider 0.1
Normals 2.1
Het Pied 0.1
Leopard Geckos 1.1
American Bulldog 0.1

People who are interested in breeding balls primarily for money, aren't thinking about the losses they could potentially take if things go wrong, but only of the possible profit. In my opinion, only the best quality, and healthiest individuals should be breeding. Breeding season can certainly cause even the healthiest animals to be stressed, and I can't imagine how it would impact a new animal in a collection, who is already stressed from transport.
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Thanks,
Amy

My Boids

I agree with that. Too many times I have had people ask why the breeding size female they bought in January didn't some home and go straight to breeding.
As for me, I only acquire new ball pythons from 2 or 3 individuals who I know and trust to have healthy snakes, as well as to take responsibility if there is anything wrong with any snake I get from them, that is how I feel most comfortable. My rules about quarantining is that I always put new snakes in solitary away from my main set-ups until I have learned everything I can about that snakes health and feeding habits.
It is true that many people get into ball pythons because they like the prospect of money.
I like just being able to see the snakes and their behavior. The pinnacle of reasons why I keep snakes though is the hatching, I can think of few things that are as exciting as when that first little heads pips.

Those are the reasons I practice strict cleanliness with my snakes, also I once met someone who thought it was a good idea to keep their rainbow boa in the same cage as their ball python. Long story short, the ball bit the rainbow, the rainbow's wounds went necrotic and he just sort of melted away. It was one of the worst things I have ever seen.
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Ball Pythons:
1.2 Normal
1.2 Pastel
0.1 Black Pastel
2.0 Het Orange Ghost
1.1 Mojave
1.2 Spider
1.1 Albino
0.1 Het Albino
1.0 Piebald
0.1 Double het, Albino Pied
Other:
0.1 Irian Jaya x Jungle Carpet python
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python
1.0 Tiger Retic
1.1 Burmese Pythons
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
3.3 Corn Snakes
0.0.1 American Alligator
1.0 Veiled Chameleons
1.0 Savannah Monitor
1.0 Chinese Water Dragon
0.1 Brown Basilisk
0.1 Sulcata Tortoise
1.1 Sugar Gliders
0.1 Puppy

Hey, i was the guy with the mites and the pinstripe. First of all i bought the snake from a guy i knew locally, so i knew the animal was healthy plus when i got it i gave it a really close inspection for anything wrong with it, which is why i was so suprised to have gotten mites. But it turns out that the mites didn't come form him, they came from my kneyan sand boas, which is wierd because i have had them for a year now, so im not sure how they got mites. But anyway i cleared out all the mites, and now everyone is healthy and happy. But in the future i will quarinteen my snakes, i just didn't have any extra caging avliable anywere else. even though the mites didnt coem from the pinstripe, i learned my lesson about quarenteening reptiles, and will deffently do it in the future.