Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted this under the Rainbow forum, wanted to get some input from the Ball Python camp too. I just cut and pasted it.

Greetings, I am new to this forum and new to snakes as pets. My son and I are looking to get a pet snake. We've pretty much narrowed down our choices to a Rainbow Boa or a Ball Python. I'd like know the pro's and con's of each breed. My son is 7, so any snake handling he does will be under my supervision. The cage will be locked with a combination lock to prevent him from "opening it just for a minute" then forgetting to secure it. We want this to be something fun for us, but want to do it right too. Comments? Suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Hands down buy a Ball Python.....Let me guess...The Rainbow forum probably recommended the Rainbow....They are both great. There is a ton of info in both forums that can teach you anything you want to know. Go with the one that makes YOU happy.

Good Luck,
Bill
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truly....

your son is 7...never had a snake...and if a ball hits him when it's around 3 foot...faster than a cobra...right up there with rattlers...he won't like it...face bites are really fun....ask me I know....LOL....

so get him a nice corn or two...get used to snakes for 3 years....then get him a ball....

rainbows like it even more humid than balls....and bite more....

have fun...good luck...make him read everything and anything on here about snakes husbandry....

.....!
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........JY

ditto that - a corn.

or a rosy boa. children's pythons can be pretty sweet too, but some are nippy as youngsters.

i hear rainbows can be pretty bitey.

no matter what anyone says, many baby balls bite. they grow out of it, but after the first or second shed, they go through a period of nippyness. in some ways an older snakes is better - more secure and used to handling. 7 year olds are clumsy and are not yet equipped to care well for a snake. its good you'll be supervising.

friends have lotssss of rosy...they bite like crazy rabbits....

actually...they do slam ,and hold on...and hurt....and these are 20-/-30 year veteran herpetoculturalists' snakes....and opinions.......

...
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........JY

okay, scratch the rosy suggestion. i always heard they were gentle. i've not kept them, so shouldn't be suggesting.

komodo?

NP
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I've raised a few hundred and never been nailed in the face or anything of the sort. However, my first snake was a corn snake and it would bite me and my dad every time we got it out. Any species can be bitey, but that's the exception with ball pythons, and certainly not the rule. That said, every species will have a feeding response and you can get bitten if you set yourself up for it. That being said, I've had several cornsnakes start chewing on my fingers (thinking my pinky was a "pinky" mouse), whereas it's only happened one time with a ball python. No matter what snake species you choose, you'll have to realize that feeding errors do happen and you will need to educate yourself on how they happen, so that you can avoid it. Avoiding it is not difficult, provided you understand what causes it.

Corns and balls are basically the same length - it's only a matter of weight that differentiates them. Ball pythons move slower and move more methodically. Plus, should you ever want to breed them (a great bit of fun for a father/son project) you'll be glad you chose ball pythons.

Rainbow boas require more humidity - not a big deal, but you'll have enough things to concern yourself with as new snake keepers...no sense in making this any more complex.

Corn snakes make great pets, but if you've narrowed it down to ball pythons and rainbow boas, I see no reason why you should buy a corn snake...makes no sense to me when a ball python is every bit as suitable for a first snake.

>>truly....
>>
>>your son is 7...never had a snake...and if a ball hits him when it's around 3 foot...faster than a cobra...right up there with rattlers...he won't like it...face bites are really fun....ask me I know....LOL....
>>
>>so get him a nice corn or two...get used to snakes for 3 years....then get him a ball....
>>
>>rainbows like it even more humid than balls....and bite more....
>>
>>have fun...good luck...make him read everything and anything on here about snakes husbandry....
>>
>>.....!
>>-----
>>........JY
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Anthony Caponetto
www.ACreptiles.com
www.Ciliatus.com

This is all good advice....Just some more from me...I started out in reptiles with buying my daughter a Rat Snake. After it crapped on me and her every time we took it out we decided that we did not like being crapped on....The can also mover very quickly. We went and bought a ball python and there has been no looking back. Being around many reptiles my entire life, I have personally really enjoyed being around Ball Pythons...Any snake can bite and they can also crap on you or your floors...Just be ready to deal with what ever you buy and make sure you really want it in your home....

Regards,
Bill
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I would have to say a corn too. Almost all my babies balls are a little nippy, and this being his first snake i would rather him enjoy it. Just my 2 cents.

I would definitely not get a rainbow boa for a 7 year old. They are beautiful snakes, but i have to agree that they are harder to care for, and most are biters when young. I have a 1 1/2 year old Brazilian rainbow boa that i have owned about 8 months, and she is just now getting to the point where ahe doesn't strike at me when i pick her up. But she is still the nippiest snake i have ever owned - the only one that will be sitting calm in my hand one second, then swing her head around and bite me for no apparent reason the next. She is the only snake in my house i don't let me kids (4 and 6) handle on their own. As for ball pythons, i have calm ones that i am perfectly comfortable letting my kids run around with, and i have a couple that i have to have a battle plan ready for just to get them out of their bins. It just depends on the snake. If you get a ball python, an older pre-owned snake might be best for a child - one that is used to getting handled.

I'm probably gonna get crap for this, but it is my opinion. Get the snake you want, if you decide to go with a slightly more aggressive snake (and nothing I've heard mention was super agressive accept for the Rat Snake which was more informational than suggestive), just get an adult that's been handled and cared for properly. If you aren't interested in rare morphs, and nothing I heard mentioned is extremely rare and most are carried in atleast some pet stores, then you can usually always pick up an older morph that someone is no longer interested in owning. I'm not saying buy from a pet store. God knows that's not a good idea, but what I'm saying is that the animals are around. So you can find them cheaper as adults rather than if you were looking for say a male ultra melanistic ball python. An older pet snake is going to be calmer which takes away the worry of it being aggressive and finicky on feeding. Just make sure you handle it first make sure it's not aggressive. The problem with by a snake completely off of temperment and ease of care is the one thing no one considers. You may not like it and in 6 months to a year when you get used to handling and caring for snakes you don't want it anymore.

When I was a kid I had a ball python. I loved it everything about it. The size, girth and length was what I feel a snake should be. I liked how the neck narrowed then the head pops out. That's what a snake should look like. But my brother was feeding a friends snake and never washed his hands and then handled our wild caught ball and got bit. Being a 7 year old kid. I was terrified of ball pythons from that point. When I wanted to get a new snake for a pet I considered a lot of different options. Corn snakes, milk snakes, corn snakes, hog noses, and sand boas all look like large worms or eels TO ME (Not to say everyone does or should feel this way). Red Tails were to big for my taste; same with burmese, and retics. Plus I never really liked fast paced snakes that slithered everywhere. In between 7 and 15 I had owned different corn snakes and boas, but never really liked any of them. When I was 15 years old a friend of mine got an albino burmese for $100 and it was about 7ft I think it was a yearling or so. I'm not a burmese expert. But I absolutely loved this snake it was basically a large ball python. And I couldn't believe the way the yellow popped of the white, but I new the burmese would be too big. So I started searching for a new snake to take the place of a ball. I found the three options. Brazilian Rainbow, (which I saw amazing pictures where the orange popped, with the iridesent glow, and that was it, but then I saw them in person they just looked brown and boring. Albino balls were my number one pick, but at the time the $3500 price tag was a huge deterant. And I talked myself into the fact that a california king looked cool and settled on that. I never liked any snake I ever owned except for the ball python and lost interest in snakes and just cared for the animals I owned. Then I delivered to a guy who bred snakes and told him my story. It was no surprise when he told me the price of albino balls had gone down, but it shocked me when he said how much. From $3500 to $350 was a descent drop. Anyway I was interested in snakes again and it was all balls. As my interest grew I decided breeding would be something I wanted to do. So I sold off all the snakes I no longer liked and got a small collection of ball python morphs, but the very first one I bought was an Albino Ball Python I had wanted for 13 years and it's still my very favorite in my collection in though it's the least expensive. My point is you have to buy what you want.

Again you have to buy what you want. No one would want there son to get bit. And there's no way to ensure that it never happens. Matter of fact it's almost a sure thing that it is going to happen at some point. You just have to hope and do what you can to make sure that it's later than sooner, but just like limiting the risk by purchasing and animal you don't like, you can limit your risk by getting a calm adult who has been cared for and handled frequently then the chances of a strike are almost lower than with a hatchling known for it's good disposition. And again this wouldn't be realistic if you were looking for an adult Coral Glow ball python, but a rainbow or ball python you should be able to get cheap or free if you look in the classifieds and reptile shows and be a smart consumer and inspect and handle the animal before you purchase it. Now to answer your question between the two you have chose. To me the question is can you handle providing for the basic needs of the animal. I haven't looked up brazilian rainbows in years, but I believe they aren't arboreals, but they do like to have a branch to to lay on. Also I believe the temperatures are close to the same balls, maybe upper 90s at most which can easily be achieved with heat tape, lamps, and a space heater (if need be), but the big kicker for me would have been humidity. Balls need 40-60% humidity which is easily obtained for me. Natural humidity in my snake room is 40% in the winter and 60% in the summer so I don't have to do anything for humidity with ball pythons and always get single piece clean sheds. Where as with brazilian rainbows you need to have 90% humidity which would be difficult to obtain in the summer and impossible in the winter. So you'd have to mist almost daily depending on your humidity. And I'm not into misting often. You can say I'm lazy or whatever you want. And because I don't want to mist doesn't mean I don't clean or care for my animals. I just don't want to have to mist. It's just something I didn't want to do. So I didn't pick a snake that required that much humidity. Anyway that's my long winded explanation, but I don't think you should shy away from a species that you want just because they're nippy as babies. With the exception of rat snakes and maybe green tree pythons or something else that is notorious for being aggressive, not just nippy. Or Burmese or Retics which get too large for a single person to handle safely. Balls and Brazilians are not known for being aggressive and neither get extremely large. I believe max average on both is around 6ft.

Good advice from everyone! I have had a lot of snakes, variety is nice. I have a ball python since 1992 that is about 5.5' and very docile. I have had other balls over the years, some nice, some aggressive. The only thing I do not like about balls is their going off feed for months. My female will go off feed for 7-8 months. Most breeders always feed live rodents to get their females in condition. If you decide to do frozen thawed be prepared for your ball to go off feed. Once they get live it is very difficult to get them back on frozen thawed.

I have had rosys and they can have an aggresive feeding response. Even for your fingers. Some never grow out of it.

Corns are great for a first snake if you do not want a large snake. I am partial to nice Okeetee's. Good luck!

Great advice from everyone! Thank you. Even the folks on the Rainbow board cautioned me about them being a little aggressive, especially with a young child. As for bites, I've been bit by my dogs and my cats (when I had them, none here now). Would it be a good idea to wear some heavy gloves (like welders gloves) when I first get it until it gets used to me? I'm thinking right now a Ball is the direction we'll go. Do they like a tall enclosure with a little limb to climb or a short one (about 15" tall or so) with a ground hide? I appreciate everyone taking time to answer my dumb questions. I really want to do this right and get solid information before making a commitment. Otherwise it's not fair to the snake or to us. As I noted on the Rainbow board too, We probably won;t be getting it until August at the earliest. I want to take time to learn what I need to know and do the research, not just run down to the petshop and get a snake and a cage and not know what I'm doing. I'm sure I'll have more questions upcoming. Thanks for being patient with me.

The best enclosure is something smaller with a good hide for the snake to feel secure. Boaphile and reptile basics both sell really nice cages for single animals. They can recommend the right size I would say nothing larger than 2' x 2' Balls really do not need a tall cage because they're naturally ground dweelers. The important part is hides and security. But floor space and hides are more important than height with balls. Boaphile or reptile basics could get you a setup for probably under $300 total in a completely secure setup, locking door like you want, heat lighting and the whole works; add bedding and a water dish and your done. I personally like dealing with reptile basics because they seem to have friendlier service myself. Another company that would have what you need is vision.

Balls don't need anything to climb on. You don't want to big of a cage(height included). Balls are one snake that smaller is better when getting a cage. They CAN be extremely shy. Though not all are. They really should have a hide. I recommend the light weight plastic ones(I forget who makes em), for multiple reasons, main one being, when you pick it up....if you drop it, you won't hurt the snake if it hits it. I have a female breeder right now that has to be kept in the small tubs, because she's "crammed" in there so to speak. It makes her feel the most secure in there. She won't eat for me if she's in anything bigger. She can still move around and have room to feed, but it is tight quarters and thats how she likes it. Now that's an extreme example, but that gives you an idea of how they CAN be. For a baby ball I wouldn't go bigger than a 10 gallon at most to be on the safe side. Then just move up in size as needed. Big thing is hides....make them feel secure in the enclosure!! GOOD LUCK!! Balls really are great snakes!!

I don’t think saying get any snake you like is the best info here……

Buying compulsively will only lead to problems later in the future. It happens all the time…an animal is purchased which is nice and cute as a baby/hatchling but as an adult is difficult to keep or more demanding……then the animal is set loose or given away. Knowing that most reptiles can live upward to 10yrs even more….getting one is a commitment.

for the original poster.....

Baby steps will get you where you want to go….there shouldn’t be a rush to get there.

Pitoon

>>I'm probably gonna get crap for this, but it is my opinion. Get the snake you want, if you decide to go with a slightly more aggressive snake (and nothing I've heard mention was super agressive accept for the Rat Snake which was more informational than suggestive), just get an adult that's been handled and cared for properly. If you aren't interested in rare morphs, and nothing I heard mentioned is extremely rare and most are carried in atleast some pet stores, then you can usually always pick up an older morph that someone is no longer interested in owning. I'm not saying buy from a pet store. God knows that's not a good idea, but what I'm saying is that the animals are around. So you can find them cheaper as adults rather than if you were looking for say a male ultra melanistic ball python. An older pet snake is going to be calmer which takes away the worry of it being aggressive and finicky on feeding. Just make sure you handle it first make sure it's not aggressive. The problem with by a snake completely off of temperment and ease of care is the one thing no one considers. You may not like it and in 6 months to a year when you get used to handling and caring for snakes you don't want it anymore.

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In my defense. I never said rush into anything seems to me they've already started a cognitive process of choosing the snake they want. And in my opinion neither of the snakes they chose are over the top in the agression department. Which is what everyone is posting about. My statement was simply not to purchase a snake that you do not want simply because everyone else suggested snakes that you did not choose originally. And like you said keeping an animal is definitely a commitment. And just like underestimating the needs of an animal to be kept. Underestimating a keepers ability is bad if they choose a snake they have no desire to keep, leaving them with an animal they no longer wish to care for. Then it ends up being left to the keepers resolve to continue to care for the animal. And depending on the character of the person that animal will either get cared for with bare necessities or pawned off on someone else. Choosing an animal you want to care for through intelligent research is a much better way to go and you should not be swayed because other people have different opinions. A single ball python or brazillian rainbow would be much for a new keeper to care for if they have the desire to keep it rather than trying to keep a different animal they do not desire to keep. And again neither of the snakes they chose is overly agressive or has unrealistic conditions that need to be met. I don't feel they should get a snake they do not wish to have simply because that animal can basically put in a sterilite tub at room temp and still manage to stay alive. They aren't wanting an interesting hobby to share together and are doing research. If they were interested in keeping a reticulated python my answer would have been different, but realistically that's not what they're interested in. It's a rainbow boa and ball python.

I own and breed both ball pythons and BRB they are both equaly as nice but the BRB's do have a higher care demand require high humidity if this is not met you will reoccuring URI which is a real pain to deal with means vet visits they also tend to be a bit more nippier they are by no means agressive but they will take the occasional shot at you. where balls are more docile and there are exceptions i have a female ball that would just assume bite and ask questions later, what ever you choose ultimatly it is your choice, just read up and have fun. happy herping

If you need more help after reading this link, I am sure you will find many fine breeders here to help you out. Wearing gloves is fine. My daughter uses them with some of our bigger ball pythons for gripping. I think you will find handling them is very easy and you will learn quickly on how not to get bit. Once you get the ball out they will not just randomly bite you. If you are going to get bit it will be is soon as you disturb them.

http://www.ballpython.ca/care.html

Good Luck,
Bill
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I've been keeping/breeding balls for 5 years and have NEVER been bit. I've had over 40 at a time and interact with them every day.

I've been keeping/breeding rosy boas for 20 years and they are very quick to bite, especially the California varieties. The Mexican localities are the calmest. Never been bit by a Mexican rosy.

Cornsnakes... for as much as they're recommended for beginners, I've owned some real mean ones. Kept about 20 of them last year and maybe one or two of them didn't bite.

Milksnakes... musky, flighty...

Rainbow boas are beautiful, but nippy. Not a good snake for a 7 year-old and I have kids too.

A ball is a great handling snake. A leopard gecko is the BEST pet reptile and I've bred those for a long time too. Only bit once ever and kept close to 200 at a time.

An established, feeding hognose snake would be fun for you guys. Lots of personality and not quick to bite.

I agree with pretty much everything kangsta said above.

But to quickly answer the original posters question...if you have no experience and are deciding between a Rainbow and a Ball....choose a Ball and don't think twice about it.

Jason

They are technically a rear fanged venomous snake. Although they are considered harmless, like bee stings, different people will react differently to bites. They don't bite often, but if one did get your kid would you really want to have to take a seven year old with swelling up his arm and try to explain how your "harmless" venomous snake bit your kid?

I got off topic a bit suggesting a hognose for a 7 year old. I did hear the father say he would be supervising the handling and securing the cage to avoid unsupervised handlings so I mentioned them being a good choice. Should've stayed on topic. Sorry garweft.

We purchased our first ball python when my son was 7 years old. I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he said "a snake". I did some research and decided to get him a ball python. That was a few years ago and the beginning of our passion for ball pythons!
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My son was 6 when we got Ball Pythons and he is downstairs right now at 10 years old cleaning water bowls and folding papers....He also helps with the rats. I am really blown away at anyone thinking a ball python is not a good pet for a 6 year old with parent supervision.

Bill
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