Posted by:
jfmoore
at Sat Jan 3 17:13:52 2004 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by jfmoore ]
Hi Mindy – Here are some things to think about regarding keeping a ball python:
PROS
Long-lived. Your dogs and cats may come and go, but that pet ball python may last your lifetime! The record life span for any snake of almost 47 and one half years is held by a ball python. And that animal came into a zoo in 1945 as a young adult specimen when keepers didn’t know as much about their care as we do today.
Usually docile. Any snake has teeth and can bite, of course. But ball pythons seem much less apt than other pythons to bite defensively. And a ball python which is well acclimated to captivity tolerates handling well. As far as the observation that “they hide all of the time,” well, most snakes do if given the opportunity. Give your ball python a nice low, tight place to hole up and it will be that much more apt to feed well and tolerate your presence when you interact with it. And compared with some of those whippy colubrids like garter snakes or milk snakes, balls are definitely in the “chill out” category. As far as balling up when you hold them, they soon drop that defensive tactic with a little gentle handling.
Reasonable size. They get large but not huge – 8 to 10 pounds and five feet long is not uncommon; many smaller, some larger. A three to four foot long cage is suitable for the lifetime of the snake.
CONS
Long fasts. Some juveniles and all sexually mature ball pythons refuse food for periods of time ranging from weeks to months. This can be stressful for the owner, but is totally normal for the species. We’re talking 4 to 6 to 8 months or more. No food. No problem.
Temperature requirements. Their husbandry is definitely more demanding than that of a corn snake, but ball pythons are pretty tough critters, far less delicate than some other commonly-kept boid species. Mainly, you must be able to provide the proper supplemental heat they require in most parts of the northern hemisphere.
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Accurate information on their captive care is now readily available on the internet, at regional herpetological society meetings, and in print. I’m looking forward to August, 2004 when I will be able to say that I’ve had one of my ball pythons for a quarter of a century. And I still have one from the first clutch I hatched over twenty years ago. I hope our answers have helped you with your decision.
-Joan
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A couple of pros and cons - jfmoore, Sat Jan 3 17:13:52 2004