Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ball python pet? I know I am going to get crucified for this but lets get the best case scenario for a ball python keeper and hobbyist. As we all know balls will spend most of their lives hiding. In other words they are not a display animal until you pull one out. Best case scenario you can have your dream collection consisting of dreams, panda pieds, bananas, etc. you wouldn't want to disturb them because of the stress that handling too much may put on them. So pretty much your dream collection is hiding all day or kept in a tub all day. Display animals such as GTP's, carpets, monitors, chameleons, and sometimes boas can all provide that enjoyment of viewing fantastic colors and patterns. So what is the motivation behind producing all these color and pattern morphs besides the money and prestige? There are rare collection hobbyist such as shoe collectors, video games, cars, music, etc. and the motivation behind most these collectors it to say they have it in their collection. So my question to most breeders and collectors is if you are doing in for the love of reptiles, balls in particular, wouldn't normals be enough? I don't want to sound like a hypocrite because I have a lemonblast but I have came to my senses recently after all the money I have spent. Losing my job and pulling money together to pay bills has made me realize how mind blowing it is to buy a ball for more than $5k, no offense to anyone who has.

So what is the motivation behind producing all these color and pattern morphs besides the money and prestige?

makes you think sometimes..............

Pitoon

People want to produce or have the rare...if you like snakes...all of us do...and u like pythons...all of us do...so we collect or try and produce the rarest of them all. I try and produce the rare from what i already have...and then try and trade up to get what i want and cant produce...I recently traded for a pewter...and then sold my cinnamon...just an example...I have eggs in the incubator right now from my cinnamon...hoping for a female or 2...I will sell the rest...no need or room for extra males right now...stay within your means...and buy/trade/produce what you want...nothing more
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Michael Enriquez

I don't know if anyone else does, but we take our morphs out at least once a week and handle them. We want them to be friendly, sociable, and not get stressed by being handled. Our Pastels and Cinn love getting out of their tubs to cruise around. And we haven't had one refuse a meal because of handling yet. It just has to be a very slow, patient process to win their trust. Eventually I think they see being out as a chance to explore new scents and sights (I know, I am anthropomorphizing).
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3.4 ball pythons
1.1 kingsnakes
0.1 crazy cat
?!.?! ASFs
1.0 husband

I understand completely. Like I said I have a lemonblast and I handle whenever I can which is when she is not digesting or shedding. I am pointing out the big breeders with hundreds of balls and I doubt they handle them except for showoff photos or cleaning but that is only for 10 minutes a week.

Who is paying 5K for a ball these days. You would have to be living in a cave for the last 2 years to realize the prices on these snakes drops like a rock in water. I believe it is all relative anyway. My snakes all come out at night and cruise there tubs. I will come and watch them all the time. We breed what we like and we buy what we can't breed. I personally try and keep my purchasing to what I can afford, not what I can't afford not to have. That is where people get in trouble. If I lost my job tomorrow I would have no regrets at all on my collection of snakes because I worked slowly and hard to find the animals that I wanted to breed and enjoy. A friend of mine thinks I am crazy every time I add a snake because I want my personal animals to look the best. He says that it does not matter how they look because a nice looking snake can produce bad looking snakes and vice versa. But If I stopped breeding tomorrow and just wanted them as pets or needed to sell I want the best looking snakes sitting in my tubs.

Good luck with getting back on your feet,
Bill
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0.1 Het Albino
0.1 Spider Het Albino
1.0 Albino
0.1 Spinner
2.1 Super Pastel
0.1 Jungle Pastel
0.1 Het Pied
1.0 Pied 50 percent
0.1 Clown
1.1 Het Lavenders
1.1 Het Caramel Albino
0.3 Normal
1.1 Kids
0.1 Spouse
1.0 Chocolate Lab