Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Doesn't it just make you feel bad that there are still wild caught ball pythons being sold. Isn't there enough in captivity already.
I wish they would just stop buying them (the importers)

What do you guys think

steve

i agree... i own a wild caught female... i bought her about a year or so ago at the hamburg reptile show up in pa... back then i wasnt aware of some of the problems wild caughts can sometimes have... like not eating... being stressed out... sometimes they have worms... and in my opinion... just not happy...
i have thought about the same exact thing... why do people still import wild ball pythons?... but i guess its because some of these pythons come out of the wild looking amazing like the platty daddy... and many others too...
i dont want to sound like i know everything but i guess this topic about importing wild ball pythons has its pros and cons... someone correct me if im wrong...
here is a picture of my wild caught now... i have tried so many times to get her to eat... and ive tried different times of the day and night... ive tried everything that i can think of and she still will not eat... i have treated her for worms and gave her some b 12... but still nothing... i love her to death but i dont think that i will ever own another wild caught... it breaks my heart to see her lose so much weight like she is...

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Under a dead ohio sky,
Eleven has been and will be waiting,
Defending his light,
And wondering...
Where the hell have I been?
Sleeping, lost, and numb.
So glad that I have found you.
I am wide awake and heading home.
TOOL

Poor thing, she looks really unhappy. I guess you've tried all the different ways of feeding that are recomended on other web sites, there are alot of ways of doing this. have you read any of these, if not i'll look for some links for you to look at.

I just don't like animals being imported for the pet trade, I think it should stop totally. it,s not fare to take animals from the wild for OUR benifit, no matter how good they look. there has been enough importing and I think we have enough ball pythons to mkae any color that we want.

let me know about the links

steve

i have tried force feeding... i took her to someone who has alot of expereince with ball pythons and boas... it took the person 3 times to try and get her to take the baby mouse down... she didnt want it... i have tried some baby forumula... chicken flavored... but i didnt like that idea so i stopped... a few weeks ago someone posted that they had a wild caught and they left a baby rat pup in the snake's cage overnight or so... and it ate the rat pup... mondays are our snakes feeding days and i bought two to try it out... nothing happened... we have tried t/f even a gerbil...
that would be great if you could give me a link...
i used to keep her in an enclosure that was realistic looking... with vines and leaves and everything... but its alot of money to keep up with... so now i have her on newspaper... i have a square box and i cut a hole on the top of the box... and a doggy water dish...
thanks for reading
-----
Under a dead ohio sky,
Eleven has been and will be waiting,
Defending his light,
And wondering...
Where the hell have I been?
Sleeping, lost, and numb.
So glad that I have found you.
I am wide awake and heading home.
TOOL

I have looked around and there are too many links to post

You might want to start looking at the big breeders websites,and get the basics of their husbandry down first, and then try feedeing after some days have passed.

Have you had any ball pythons before.

have you been to the resources on this forum, there is some good stuff there to get you started. and lots of ball breeders have great ways of getting their snakes to feed on their websites. even wild caught one. you could be in for a struggle though. but persevere anyway.

good luck

steve

thank you for your help... i have alot of websites that i have saved on my favs... im going to keep trying different ideas and peoples advice...
yes i have owned ball pythons before... my first one was a female that i picked up at a petstore that i was working at... she turned out to be an IMG... i keep saying that she changed colors because she knew i wanted an albino... ha... she is the one who started all of my ball python craz... shell be ready to breed next year...
i havent checked out the resources on this site yet cause iam always reading what people have to say... i like making sure that iam caught up with what is going on the the bp world... it seems like when ever iam away from this forum there is something new coming out...
thank you very much for your help
-----
Under a dead ohio sky,
Eleven has been and will be waiting,
Defending his light,
And wondering...
Where the hell have I been?
Sleeping, lost, and numb.
So glad that I have found you.
I am wide awake and heading home.
TOOL

I wasn't that much help anyway but your welcome.

But this forum does move really fast doesn't it. the classifieds move even faster lol.

take care

steve

I had the same problem with 4 WC in our collection. About 12 months without feeding. And then ...

I found this method in The Red Dragon's Den website, thank you Cheryl!

(Credit is given to Ralph Davis as originator).

http://www.thereddragonsden.com/wcballs.htm

I tried it about 3 months ago and lost one animal that was too far gone, but, the other three are feeding on a regular basis!!!!!

I would feel just HORRIBLE when we lost an animal due to non feeding so this is a GREAT relief to us.

Try it, you have nothing to lose.

The importers would stop buying wild-caught ball pythons if consumers would stop buying these animals in the pet stores. As long as people buy whatever animal is in the store without asking about its background, the market will respond accordingly.

I paid more for my ball python because I refused to purchase an animal that the store owner couldn't assure me was bred, hatched, and raised by a reputable dealer here in the United States. While I don't have paperwork on my python, I dealt with a store that has a good reputation for being honest and knowledgeable. I realize most people aren't as picky about things as I am, but even a little bit of research by people before buying an animal would help the situation.

I know many people will propose additional legislation, but I rarely favor more laws. Ultimately, we'll get whatever kind of society the people are willing to put forth the effort to make. If people aren't willing to be responsible and learn a little before acting, no law or set of laws is going to make things better.

Bill

Also, taking all of the really interesting looking balls out of the wild restricts the wild population from having different morphs living wild. Can any of you imagine walking through Africa and walking accross a couple of pastels or spiders or albinos. I think that would be awesome, but whoever is out there doing the collecting is going to grab all of the really cool ones because they want to make a dime. I really feel that the importation should be stopped. Its true, we do have enough in the states.

Adults that come in ARE from the wild, but most of the morphs and I believe the lump sum of "Captive Hatched" babies come from ball python breeding farms, so actually the animals that we "need" (so to speak) have no effect on the wild populations.. I also believe that Wild collected ball pythons are better off left in the wild.. Like I said, I might be wrong, but I think that's how it goes down...
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Joe Lydon

What many don't realize is the fact that the Ball Python industry ( and the collecting of reptiles in general ) feeds many a poor mans family; especially in the 3rd world countries that these animals come from. These countries set a limit of how many animals a the said country can harvest. It is called sustainable harvest. For those who don't know, it works like this: A population density study is done, and the population is surveyed and calculated. Depending on local variables a percentage comes up. That percentage is the number of animals that the country needs to cull from the population to keep the population healthy. When this happens the population grows at a steady rate, competition is lessened, and the population is benefited. Africa may export Xnumber of Ball Pythons a year, but it is not harming the general population like you think it is. Go find the study done in 1998. All evidence points to the fact that the Ball Python population is thriving and growing. Mass exportation is becoming a thing of the past, because of the fact that these countries are noticing that they can make money off these resources, and keep that money coming in each year. Yes, some countries are still doing things crooked, but every year the import/export business is changing, but changing into something that is somewhat better for the countries and the animals. What I've stated is only scratching the surface of this type of wildlife management. Go reasearch it in depth, and you'll see where this is coming from

It seems to me that in "managing" a population one of two things is going on.

A) By managing one species we are throwing all species off. Life feeds on life, so if we leave animals alone than nature will regulate itself fairly well through predation and disease.

B) We are forced to regulate a species because we have already thrown an ecosystem into severe unbalence, like the situation in the U.S. with wolves and dear and ...

Just my opinion
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1.1 Balls (1.0 het clown 0.1 normal)
1.1 Kittys and
0.1 WC Human
"I need evaluation...and dinner; and by dinner I don't mean gnome heads!"

Humans thinking they can do the job that has taken nature more than a lifetime to perfect.

Regulation from a continent like Africa? Seems like quite a bit of corruption going on to accurately manage anything. When you are poor and trying to feed your people, lies and deceit are almost guaranteed.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

What we took a Tithe one year...all the breeders in the US donated one year's production of morphs to be released in the wild in Ghana...not on a farm. Then we could see what starts coming in in a few years. Not like it would really solve any problems, but it would be kinda interesting to see what would happen.
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Isn't it cooler that serpent's don't walk anymore?
(Genesis 3:14)