Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It's been just over 3 years since I held my first ball python. It's been one hell of a ride and the one thing that always amazes me the most is that you never stop learning.

I ask you this very simple question as it pertains to this hobby and for some, business. I have my answer...I'm just curious to get other peoples take on it.

Have fun!

MJ
Markus Jayne Ball Pythons

The passion/love for the animals we keep and a wonderful hobby to meet great people like yourself...

.

I'm not sucessful yet, but I do know I have love for my animals. I have 2 normal females, a hypo male and a pastel male. I only began keeping snakes in December of 2001.

Nothing excites me like my ball pythons. I have other snakes, but for some reason the BPs just captured my heart. From their cute little "smiles" to the amazing potential they DO have as an investment. . . wow.

It's tough to describe, but I know the moment I don't get excited to walk into my snake room and see what everyone is up to is the minute I need to sell my animals (or have myself checked for a brain tumor lol)! I'm confident that I will have sucess in this hobby because no matter if I have a million eggs and hatch the next big morph or if my kids don't produce for me I'll enjoy having kept them anyway. My balls are my pets-- they all get pampered, handled regularly and will never be overfed or stuffed in racks. I feel like I can't say enough good things about them! (or my JCP, she rocks too!!)

>>I'm not sucessful yet, but I do know I have love for my animals. I have 2 normal females, a hypo male and a pastel male. I only began keeping snakes in December of 2001.
>>
>>Nothing excites me like my ball pythons. I have other snakes, but for some reason the BPs just captured my heart. From their cute little "smiles" to the amazing potential they DO have as an investment. . . wow.
>>
>>It's tough to describe, but I know the moment I don't get excited to walk into my snake room and see what everyone is up to is the minute I need to sell my animals (or have myself checked for a brain tumor lol)! I'm confident that I will have sucess in this hobby because no matter if I have a million eggs and hatch the next big morph or if my kids don't produce for me I'll enjoy having kept them anyway. My balls are my pets-- they all get pampered, handled regularly and will never be overfed or stuffed in racks. I feel like I can't say enough good things about them! (or my JCP, she rocks too!!)
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- Joel Smith

"If you're not part of the solution, you're still part of the problem"

For adults crammed in racks. Hatchlings are a different story. I know full well that a ball can have a great life in a rack system, and there are some that are quite roomy. I just would rather give my snakes room to stretch and climb and thermoregulate and so on. I do start all my snakes out in rubbermaids, but they graduate to big cages- so far it's been 3' Visions.

I really don't think there's anything too wrong with rack systems, but I would never use one unless it was one of those awesome giganto freedom breeders. I don't mean to sound judgemental or anything, it's just for me it'll always be big single cages for my kids.

The 41 Quarts I am using don't allow for thermoregulation? Are you kidding me? SK uses 32q tubs that allow for TR in thier FB's. (According to Collete on the BP DVD).

Whatever floats your boat I guess. The rack system works for me and my happy snakes.

>>For adults crammed in racks. Hatchlings are a different story. I know full well that a ball can have a great life in a rack system, and there are some that are quite roomy. I just would rather give my snakes room to stretch and climb and thermoregulate and so on. I do start all my snakes out in rubbermaids, but they graduate to big cages- so far it's been 3' Visions.
>>
>>I really don't think there's anything too wrong with rack systems, but I would never use one unless it was one of those awesome giganto freedom breeders. I don't mean to sound judgemental or anything, it's just for me it'll always be big single cages for my kids.
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- Joel Smith

"If you're not part of the solution, you're still part of the problem"

I'm not saying anything about your setup. I don't automatically think rack=evil or anything. I'm sure there are big enough racks for proper thermoregulation. However, I've seen some photos of people's racks where the snakes barely have room to uncurl themselves, let alone choose among a heat gradient. I guess to me, racks also seem impersonal. As someone who has only a small amount of animals, and enjoys knowing each one's habits, personality etc, I know cages suit my snakes and me better than a rack. They can have several different hiding places to choose from, places to climb and exercise, etc. Being a small timer, and hoping to always keep it small, I guess I have a real "pet" mentality when it comes to my snakes. This of course does not make big timers who use racks bad in any way. Hell, without the Sutherlands, Ralph, Bob Clark, Barkers, etc I'd be nowhere!!! The hobby would be nowhere. And I don't know of any big guys who have massive caging for their animals.

As long as they give the animals their basic needs, I have no beef with anyone. Sorry if it came off that way. Happy herping!

I didn't mean it in a negative way either, I was just letting you know that a 41q tub has plenty of room for adult bps to thermoregulate.

I agree that I have seen some peoples racks where some of there animals have barely any room to uncurl, and I disagree with that too.

But racks are a very space efficient alternative to a good snake set up. They work well for me and I am glad your cages work well for you.

Also, I am in my snake room about 5 times a day for at least an 45 minutes to an hour at a time. Racks can be impersonal if you never take the animals out and such. I am always dinking around in the snake room and holding my gems.

Good luck with breeding, (I remember you asked about the video)

Joel

>>I'm not saying anything about your setup. I don't automatically think rack=evil or anything. I'm sure there are big enough racks for proper thermoregulation. However, I've seen some photos of people's racks where the snakes barely have room to uncurl themselves, let alone choose among a heat gradient. I guess to me, racks also seem impersonal. As someone who has only a small amount of animals, and enjoys knowing each one's habits, personality etc, I know cages suit my snakes and me better than a rack. They can have several different hiding places to choose from, places to climb and exercise, etc. Being a small timer, and hoping to always keep it small, I guess I have a real "pet" mentality when it comes to my snakes. This of course does not make big timers who use racks bad in any way. Hell, without the Sutherlands, Ralph, Bob Clark, Barkers, etc I'd be nowhere!!! The hobby would be nowhere. And I don't know of any big guys who have massive caging for their animals.
>>
>>As long as they give the animals their basic needs, I have no beef with anyone. Sorry if it came off that way. Happy herping!
-----
- Joel Smith

"If you're not part of the solution, you're still part of the problem"

everybody needs to know that a rack sometimes has more room than the average enclosure. Im going to make a rack like Markus Jaynes, but im going to put in 66 quart tubs on wheels. 39 1/2x 20 1/4x 7 is plrenty big for an adult female.

Out of curiosity, what morphs do you keep and breed? I seem to recall from earlier posts that you have an 03 pastel. I like to have an idea of posters' projects for the fun of it. It's always a blast to see people hatching cool stuff out, no matter if its big name or small name. Thanks for the wish of good luck in my breeding and may all of your snakes think warm and fuzzy thoughts of each other this season.

Small time for now

I have a couple pastels (graziani and Hermin Soler's WC line), getting a het caramel tomorrow, have a breeding loan going on for het albinos, and possibly het pieds.

Thanks and Take Care,

Joel

>>Out of curiosity, what morphs do you keep and breed? I seem to recall from earlier posts that you have an 03 pastel. I like to have an idea of posters' projects for the fun of it. It's always a blast to see people hatching cool stuff out, no matter if its big name or small name. Thanks for the wish of good luck in my breeding and may all of your snakes think warm and fuzzy thoughts of each other this season.
-----
- Joel Smith

"If you're not part of the solution, you're still part of the problem"

i suppose it depends on the succes the individual is shooting for. Businesss success, or just having a successful breeding group, or just a nice healthy group of pets.
To be a success at either, you must have a passion and love for the hobby/business.
Provide top notch care for your animals, which would include, healthy enviorment, free of enviormental hazzards. Top quality food and health care from a proffessional if need be. Cleaniliness and never get lazy and forget about your animals.

As far as a success in the business aspect, the above is required and to do what you say. Customer service, dont be a guy who trys gimmicks to sell his/her snakes, just keep it simple and about the snakes, and they will sell themselves.
Be 100% honest 100% of the time and you wont ever lie yourself into a jam. Patience is important, your not dealing with guranteed results, so you have to be humble when it comes to setbacks and keep your chin up and be true to yourself and to the vision you see for your future.
Cover all the bases and have fun.
Im sure theres plenty more , but i think those are some of the most important.
Be careful what you say on public forums, cause they are read by alot of folks, and im sure everyone whether they admit it or not reads these things, and you dont want to give yourself a bad name, its hard to get rid of once its got.

Mike

The secret of success will vary from person to person. One persons idea may be make $1 million a year breeding snakes, and another persons may be to make enough money at work to be able to buy that pied they've been looking at. Both are success' though.
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Greg Holland
G&M HERPS
www.imageevent.com/gmherps
gmherps@sbcglobal.net

Something stimulating, fun and exciting that you look forward to spending your time on. Loyal friends and loving family with whom you can enjoy sharing your experiences.

Mark

>>It's been just over 3 years since I held my first ball python. It's been one hell of a ride and the one thing that always amazes me the most is that you never stop learning.
>>
>>I ask you this very simple question as it pertains to this hobby and for some, business. I have my answer...I'm just curious to get other peoples take on it.
>>
>>Have fun!
>>
>>MJ
>>Markus Jayne Ball Pythons