Reptile & Amphibian Forums

iam just starting my ball python collection, and living here in the Philippines means we have no access to other ball python morphs aside from normals. One importer offers me a jungle pastel with a great pattern and coloration, the problem is the ball seems to be thin, but the good news is it is eating voraciously, saw it myself already. This importer has a good reputation in the business for a time now. Should i buy this snake? Needs ur opinions on this 1 guys. Hope u could help me make a desicion on this one.

Thinness might mean a parasite infestation. But that's not necessarily the end of the world; it's treatable. If you have physically seen the snake eat, that's a good sign. I would ask the seller how often he feeds this snake; the thinness might even be due to underfeeding, or the fact that the snake just started feeding recently.
With almost any fresh import, it's often safe to assume that they carry parasites anyway, so treating them should be a matter of course. I would thoroughly check for ticks/mites too, since they're common with imports.
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2.1 Ball pythons: Goblin, Ashes, and Bela
1.0 Boa Constrictor Imperator: Apache Fog
0.1 albino Cranwell's horned frog: Bene
1.0 Tiger salamander: Slasher
1.1 breeding Clawed frogs: Mr and Mrs Piggy
1.0 black kittycat, Inky
A bunch of Oscar cichlids, one giant pleco, huge breeding lot of "fancy" (read: deformed) goldfish, and me an' the boyfriend.

tnx ginevive, i myself saw it eat. And i can say that he is underfed. so its a go signal for me to buy it?

I would say yeah. A proven eater is golden!
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2.1 Ball pythons: Goblin, Ashes, and Bela
1.0 Boa Constrictor Imperator: Apache Fog
0.1 albino Cranwell's horned frog: Bene
1.0 Tiger salamander: Slasher
1.1 breeding Clawed frogs: Mr and Mrs Piggy
1.0 black kittycat, Inky
A bunch of Oscar cichlids, one giant pleco, huge breeding lot of "fancy" (read: deformed) goldfish, and me an' the boyfriend.

IF U CAN SEE IF HE EATS FOR YOURSELF AND MAKE SURE THERES NO REGURGE A DAY OR 2 AFTER CAUSE THAT CAN CAUSE UNDERWEIGHT ANIMALS ITS LIKE BULIMIA I BOUGHT A FEMALE PASTEL FOR $1000 AND ANYTHING I FED HER SHE REGURGED IT UP 2 DAYS LATER.I TOOK HER TO THE VET AND CAME BACK POSITIVE FOR INTERNAL PARASITES NOW SHES INTERNALLY CLEAN AND HAS GAINED 350 GRAMS IN 4 MONTHS WITH NO REGURGE

You say you've seen this snake eat and that you trust this importer? Also, being in the Philippines, you are unable to get anything other than normals?

Sounds like a fairly good investment to me. As long as you are sure it is a pastel and you feel comfortable buying from this importer then why not? You'll definitely be the first kid on the block to have a pastel and possibly to breed them.

I don't know what the demand for ball pythons is like in the Philippines but being the first (and presumably the only) person breeding them there can't hurt.
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It's actually not that I love or even like snakes. I just hate rodents.