I was just curious about this type of operation. Has anyone seen ball python farms? Are they mainly in Africa or elsewhere outside the U.S.? I am not new to herps or BP's but I recently bought 1.2 2004 farm-hatched baby bp's. The investment/risk was minimal and I have experience with problem feeding snakes and I couldn't pass up these 3 baby BP's once I saw them at a recent herp show. They are gorgeous. If they don't make it, I'm not as worried about losing what I spent as much as losing beautiful BP's. I usually go with the saying 'you get what you pay for' but these looked healthy with no mites and hopefully no parasites, although I'll quarantine to be safe. I've noticed in the classifieds that there are lots of importers/dealers selling 'lots' of 50-100 BP's. I can't imagine its always a negative experience for those who take the chance since I'm under the impression that several morphs originated from farm hatched bp breedings. Well, my 1.2 are probably fresh off the boat and I hope to post pics once I get them feeding (wish me luck!)...anyway, enough rambling...what are your experiences with farm hatched bp babies & does anyone have pics or has anyone ever been to a bp farm? If so, whats the deal?
-jason
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Farm-hatched baby BPs (long)
Replies (1)
I have never seen the farming operations but I do get in a hundred or so farm hatched a year. I get them for resale and to hold some back for breeding. Out of the hundred most start feeding on hopper mice shortly after their first shed. A few of them have to be assist fed and I normally lose 2 or 3 for one reason or another. All of my breeder females were originally farm hatched and I have been working with some since 1998. In my opinion it is a good investment, I have had no more trouble with the farm hatched individuals than I have with my own captive hatched. Now this applies to ones that are hatched and shipped out immediately, usually before their first shed. This does not apply to ones that have sat around in some export facility. I haven't had this problem but have heard horror stories about it. It also doesn't apply to wild caught juvenile and adults, that's a whole different story.
