Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm looking to get a snake. I would liek a large one. very thick and very heavy. how big do ball pythons get? If you have any recomendations please help me out.

If you haven't owned a snake before, but are looking to get a "Big" snake...I would recommend a ball. Keeping a burmese, retic., or an anaconda as a first snake is ,in MY opinion, is not a good idea. The reason being: they get too big too fast. If you aren't experienced with snakes it will be HIGHLY dangerious for you to try to handle a 12 foot PLUS snake...go with a ball and then later step up to a BIGGER snake. The reason I am telling you this is thats the reason why we have SO MANY Burms and other big snakes always up for adoption...people want "BIG" snakes to show off, then they get tired of them. Sorry for the long rant...can't sleep

I would suggest one of the following for a first time:

A Ball Python:
grow avg 5ft fem, 4ft male but can be bigger. The are thick and full bodied. Very easy to care for, very tame. There are many many varieties to choose from that can WOW your friends. They require relatively little space compared to other snakes. Require a ONE TIME investment to satisfy their housing requirement for their lifespan.

A Boa Imperator (Boa Constrictor... similar to red tails):
grow up to 12ft, avg 7-9. Very powerful, very majestic snake. Very precise in its actions, not afraid of anything. These snakes require future housing of at least 5ftx3ftx3ft later on.

I can only suggest these two to you because they are the only ones I have any experience with. However, I am a first timer and they have both been relatively easy to care for. I picked them based on many many hours of research. The boa grows faster and the ball is a little more shy. There are tons of info availabe on these two types of snakes too to help you get acquainted with Snake Keeping.

Have you experience with snakes before?

Here is some good basic reading
http://www.anapsid.org/ball.html (for Balls)
http://www.anapsid.org/boa.html (For Redtails/Imperators)
-----
-Iman

1.1 Balls
0.1 Boa (BCI)
0.0 Experience
100.0 % LOVE

Hope it helps...

I would definitely recommend a Ball Python as well. I never owned a snake in my entire life until I got my ball python back in March. He is defintely the best pet I have ever owned! And they get heavy bodied too! I was the same way as you concerning that. I didn't want a snake that just looked like a really long worm! I wanted one with a thicker body but also one that is, for the most part, quite tame. Ball Pythons are the perfect choice if those are the things you are looking for in a snake. Then, after you've had it for a good while and gain experience, you can get something bigger.

ball pythons are good first snakes but IMO cornsnakes are the better first snake. they are easier to keep the heat requirments proper. as all they really need is a heat pad.
Cornsnakes tend not to be picky eaters
unlike Balls wich can go off food for long periods of time
for many different reasons
you may wanna check out the cornsnake forum right here on KS
and ask some questions their as well

whatever your choice make sure you do lots of reading up first and make sure you have your cage setup and running for at least a week to make sure you've got all the bugs worked out b4 you get your snake.
hope this helps

I agree with the previous poster. An easier snake to keep than a ball python is the corn snake or the ratsnakes of P. obsoleta. They are less picky about feeding, heating, and humidity. They can get kinda long 5ft for corns, up to 8ft for the ratsnakes, but aren't really heavy bodied. Hope that helps.

corn snakes = wimps of the snake world. Get a ball python, but do lots of research for care and husbandry of it first.