Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello Eeveryone,

For the past 2 years i have been telling my fiance no to getting a snake, because i am really jumpy around snakes. Mostly because i haven't had any lengthy contact with them and im always afraid in the back of my head that they are poisonious (i know they aren't) and will bite me and it will hurt. Well my fiance has talked and talked about his snakes hes had in the past. He really likes Burmese and Ball Pythons. This year for Christmas i would like to give him a nice present of something hes been really wanting for a long time. And since i have finally gotten semi okay with the snake idea and have been going into the snake room at the pet store every time i go and looking at all the snakes they have. Even if they have a snake out although i havent held any. I will be posting this in both this room and the ball python room, because even though i know the information might be very close there might be little differences between the two.

I would like some information on Ball Pythons, so that i can get everything i would need for a python.Firstly what is a good size of python to buy. Are there any things i should look at when getting a python? What questions should i ask the pet store about their eating and what not? I know that my fiance has had problems with snakes being sick when he got them in the past.. so should i ask for a garantee if so how long would makecertain that they are in good health? How should i transport the snake to make sure it doesn't get any chill so it will not get sick?

Majority of it would be what kind of set up is best for them. I know that wood shavings or chips arent quite safe for snakes expecially when they are eating. So what is the best substrate?What kind of lighting is good for these guys? We have an iguana that has a combination of 150W heat lamp and a UVB/UVA light.. is that teh same as the snake would need? We also have a small water fall in the tank as well as a water dish and spray the tank and the iguana all over to allow it to shed easily, which it sheds all the time with about a week between sheddings.. would that be the same with a snake? How do you keep the snake in the tank? I know that they are escape artists. How big of a tank would be a good size for a python to hold it for atleast a year.. i know it depends on the size of the snake to begin with and the amount that they are eating? Also what size mice or rats should i get depending on the various sizes of the snake ( if there is a way to tell that )?

Here's a good question. My fiance and i have discussed this and have two totally different ideas. He says that mice shouldn't be fed alive because it will make the snake possibly strike at you and that its okay to feed frozen mice that have been thawed to room temperature. Not to mention he doesnt like mice so thats one good reason that he only likes dealing with frozen mice. I also agree that mice that are stunned or just killed are better to feed to snakes ( lizards , turtles ) unless they are pinky mice which they dont really have a protective mechanism when they are first born, BUT i think that the extra heat from the animal being eaten helps with the starting digestion and there isn't any fear of rotten or freezer burned mice either. I have a turtle that eats pinky mice every month or so as a different protien.

Is there any information that would make Ball or Burmese Pythons a better pet?Is there anything else i should know ?

If you're jumpy around snakes, I would definitely go for a ball python. Reason being that burmese can get 8 feet in a year's time (and twice that lenght over it's lifetime), while a ball python will -never- reach near that length. Smaller snakes just aren't as intimidating.

Snakes don't need special UV bulbs - they don't even need lights at all, if you're providing heat through other means (undertank heat pad)

Frozen thawed mice work well. I think they eat better if you heat them up a little warmer than room temp - I thaw mine in hot water.
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-audri
Webpage/Pics

AHHHH 8 ft!! I don't think im ready for a snake that big that fast!!

How big of a tank would a ball python feel comfortable in for a year if it was ohhhhh lets say 3.5 ft long already.. ( i havent ever seen a snake that was over 3.5 ft at the pet store around here )

for a ball python, that was 3 1/2 feet heres what i would get for the basics:

40gallon aquarium : 80-85$
Heating pad for 40gal size: 30-40$
hiding cave: 15-20$ (you can make your own from a plastic flower pot for 99Cents, but the cave holds humidty better and looks better)
Forest Bark: 20$ for 24qt (its better than repti-bark)
Screen Lid: 10-15 dollars for 40 gal. tank
just add decor and a water dish that doesnt tip over and your set for the BP's life time.

my first recommendation is that you look around the web for "ball python care sheet." there are many breeders and societies that have care sheets available online that will cover all of the basics and answer nearly all of your questions.

regarding your concerns of snakebite: when i got my first two snakes, ball pythons, 2 1/2 years ago, i rescued a kitten (unexpected pregnancy on the part of a cat my neighbor was cat-sitting) at about the same time.
i found it interesting that people asked me all the time if the snakes would bite. "no, they don't seem inclined. but i've got a 8-week-old kitten inside the house that bleeds me pretty good!" and show them hands and wrists covered in kitten lacerations. i'm guessing that you're probably not afraid of kittens =) i guarantee you that a baby cat does a lot more biting (and scratching) damage than your ball python would do in its whole life.
btw, neither of my bp's have ever bitten me. my boyfriend got tagged twice, but he reached into the feeding bin and pulled the male out right after he'd eaten. he's the more aggressive feeder of the two, and i wait until i'm sure he's gotten the message that i'm not throwing anymore rats in there before i move him back to his tank. i also wash any smell of rodent off my hands, usually with scented hand soap that the snakes can't possibly mistake for mousie/rat smell.

also bp's are a great snake to start out with because they stay small enough to handle easily (burmies are awesome, too, but they have the capacity to get up to 25 feet long and weigh hundreds of pounds. take *that* to the vet! =) bp's are also very calm and slow. i have a corn snake, too and she's much faster and inclined to dart. balls don't dart anywhere. the only time you'll see it move fast is when it strikes at a meal. the rest of the time they are pretty mellow.

if you start out with a hatchling, as many of us do, it will usually be about 16"-18" when you get it, and several weeks old. it's nice because it won't be so intimdating at first. you'll want to ask if it has eaten, and when.

ALSO you may not want to buy one from a pet store.

you can look around (many people on this forum breed and sell snakes for a living) and can get you started with a snake you'll know the parentage of, the gender, and the health. none of these is certain with pet store snakes.
snakes also seem to come from the pet store with "complimentary" snake mites, which you will end up needing to exterminate.
and from what i have seen, the price they charge you at the pet store is about equivalent to buying from a breeder and paying the shipping.

regarding tanks; my tanks are escape proof, not including operator error (an escape proof tank is only escape proof if you make sure it is properly secured). i have never had a loose snake, not even the baby corn snake. and i still have the aforementioned cat, so it's an important issue so i don't lose any cats to snakes, or vice versa.
i don't recommend an aquarium tank with the clip-on lid. i have known too many people with this style of tank whose snakes got out of them regularly, no matter how many dictionaries were piled on top... mine looks like an aquarium, but is built for reptiles, with a permanent top with a screen and a door. my tank is 36"x18"x18" (i think it would be 50 gal if it held water) which houses both snakes at the moment, but i may need a second one or a larger one in the next year or so. a 40-50 gal is usually sufficient space for one adult bp. if you start out with this size, be sure to give the baby small places to hide (they like to be able to touch all of the sides-think along the lines of the terra cotta plates that go under plant pots) so it is not overwhemed by the big space.

personally, i feed frozen/thawed small rats at this stage (2 1/2 years old, a little over 3' long). the rule is for the prey item to be about as big around its fattest part as the snake is aound *its* fattest part.
i started out with live mice, but switched to frozen because it's a lot less hassle. i thaw them in warm (about 100 degrees F) water that i change a couple of times as it cools. it's not hot enough to cook them but warms them nicely. just *make sure* that your rodent is thawed completely. still cold/frozen in the center is undesirable. and having a sweater box or something to feed it in gets it used to being fed somewhere other than in its tank, so it doesn't start looking for food when you open the tank...

to answer your last question-balls and burmies are both great, but before you go for the burmese, be prepared to eventually contribute an entire room to a burmese, feeding rabbits and chickens, and having several friends who are not afraid of snakes who are willing to help you shift it around, because eventually it **will** get so large and heavy that you and your significant other will not be able to handle it alone =)

--soap box moment--
*please* don't get a snake that you will be trying to foist off on a zoo or a reptile rescue facility in a few years because it got so huge you couldn't manage it or became afraid of it.
--okay, all done = ) --

good fortune to you!

Noooo no i woudlnt ever get something that i coudlnt take care of my whole life .. i was trying to see what teh difference between the two types of snakes were.. because they were the two types of snakes that my fiance is interested in.. and although the burmese is what he would really like to try ... we wouldn't have a whole room to set up for one or a pair like Kevin would love to eventually get. He actually knew how big they get!!

I think a ball python will be the way to go.

I do know one happy ending for three huge pythons though. There was a pet store that my mom used to go to for salt water fish. They were great about giving correct information unlike most pet stores. But they had a whole room that had a huge glass window to show what was in it .. there were three huge pythons in there.. they had a cement ground with heat under it as well as a large water area. There was an access door on the back where they could be fed from. Two of them were rescues while the other was one that they had had for years. They fed them everything from rabbits to newborn pigglets!! They were very nice people that owned it and they had a note saying the species of all three with a picture of eaches face and body with a discription of their personality and the pros and cons of getting a python as a pet. Of course they also had a huge tortious that was over 2 ft in length and another smaller tort that was about 1 ft. Both were rescues. It was a great place.. i always loved looking around at all the pets that they had .. it was almost like walking into a zoo!!

near you
there are MANY good ones, and some are willing to show you the animal eat the day you pick it up (if you set it up a week or more before hand) then you KNOW it is eating, and WHAT it is eating (Live, fresh killed, or Frozen thawed)
I can recommend a few in Pa/Md area, or you can just click the links at the bottom of a few of the posts here to find someone in your area
What you spend on the snake will GREATLY offset what you would spend on vetbills before you replaced the snake
Since you are going to be growing more comfortable as the snake is growing, why not get a nice 12-15" baby
it will grow up knowing you and Ur BF are not dangerous, and U will grow into knowing IT is not dangerous (or poisonus)

Good Luck, and happy herping
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Elizabeth (ecb)

Make this world a better and more beautiful place that You have been in it
*Edward W Bok*

well i live in north carolina now .. so i would have to look for a NC breeder .. i woudlnt doubt that there are quite a few around here .. finding them is the hard part though *G*