New owner. Please help.

Ok, I'd first like to say hello to all on these forums! My name is Justin, and I live in Pittsburgh, PA. I'm 19 years old, I currently don't own any snakes, nor have I ever.

I've been doing nothing but researching snakes for the last couple of days, as I've decided to get myself one (at least) for Christmas, and to start breeding after I get comfortable with caring for the snakes. I've decided on a ball python. There are lots of mutations and different patterns that are very interesting, and I'm really into all that. I'm not expecting to have some awesome snow or ivory ball pythons or anything, possibly an albino at some point might be nice... but I generally don't expect to ever have one of those really rare ones.

As far as just owning the snakes as pets though, the ball pythons seem to be easy to care for, and are good for beginning owners.

I'd like to run some information by you guys though just to make sure I am not misinformed at this time, so I would appreciate any corrections you guys have, or if you can confirm that this is correct. mainly snake care.

From what I gather, an adult ball python will only need to be fed about every 8 days and the feeding would be 2-3 small mice, generally they'd have to be no bigger than 1.5x the diameter of the snake itself. I do need to know where the best place to get the food would be, and the average cost per month of feeding the snake. Also, I know I'll need a heat source, as snakes are cold blooded. I was wondering if there is something I should/shouldn't use particularly? I've heard about head pads and heating lights etc. I want to know what is the cheapest way to heat the tank effectively. I don't want to neglect my snake, and I don't want to neglect my bank account either, so this is still an issue I need to sort out. Also, it will be about 6-9 months before the snake begins to reach a size where I'll need a bigger tank, if I were to start out with a small 20 gallon (cheap) aquarium with a baby snake, this would be sufficient for that 6-9 months right? As far as the matting/ground on the tank, I am not sure what is best to use. I was thinking something along the lines of cypress mulch, but how is that with the bacteria/diseases for the snake? Is it clean enough to use? Also, what is best for cleanup of the snake and to control any foul smells? I know I'll need a water bowl for the snake as well, and I've heard it's good to have some kind of little "box" or something for the snake to hide in when needed, just for its comfort.

I really don't want to neglect my snake, and I was wondering if the stuff I just talked about is correct? As well as the questions I've put up there that I need to have answered, thanks in advance.

I would like to just get a ball python to start and see how it goes, if I like it... I'd like to start with breeding at some point. I think that would be awesome. Hopefully I'll come across something nice.

Ok here's the biggest question though... I live in Pittsburgh, PA. I need to know where I should get my snake. I'm not looking for anything too serious as I can't afford to spend too much money right now on a snake... I could probably buy something from petco pretty cheap, especially as I'm looking to start with the snake as a baby (smaller tank). However, I'd like to know if there's any way I can contact some private breeders (gotta find them first) in my area, who would possibly have a baby python I could buy. Maybe if the price is right I could afford something like an albino

Perhaps one of you is in the Pittsburgh area, or anywhere within 1 state of here maybe, and we can do business. But really, I don't have too much of a problem with buying from a pet store. I just want a ball python, plain if it has to be.

I very much appreciate all of you reading this, and all your responses (in advance) and thank you for your time. =)

Hello Justin and welcome to the forums.

First off, it sounds like you got a great start on your homework and its good to see you researching BEFORE you buy.

In my eyes, the most important factor once you have the care/husbandry down is where to buy your snake. First and foremost, buy a CB animal to start off with, they have been proven to be more healthy and easier to keep in captivity. I would NEVER touch ANY animal from Petco after I seen they way my local petco is run. I think your best bet would to buy from a local breeder. I know of 2 wonderful breeders in your area and I will reply shortly with thier contact info. You also stated you wish to breed in the future, so you may want to start off with a female.

There are a few Regius that have shown great growth with mice, but I have personally seen ALOT better growth by feeding my animals rats. Even if you purchase baby Ball Pythons its best to get them on small rats/rat pups right away. You will see the importance of good feeding habits when you start breeding. As far as feeding schedule, most of our adults are offered food weekly and babies are fed twice a week until they reach 300 grams or 3 months of age.

The enclosure you keep your new snake in can greatly affect the animal in many ways from eating habits to poor humidity. We house all of our animals in rubbermaid/sterlite bins. We use these for a few reasons. They keep humidity great, they are foggy a and give the animals more privacy, they are easy to clean, and can be arranged nicely in racks if you collection grows. Glass tanks can work out well as long as you set it up in a fashion that allows you to keep the temps and humidity where they need to be. I feel that screen tops are a poor choice for glass tanks and again, this is due to humidity loss. If you end up with a screen top, most of it should be covered.

When it comes to heating, we prefer heat tape or UTH. For over 5 years under tank heaters have worked wonders for us, but we recently went to flexwatt because it is easier to incorperate into our racks. Also remember that a thermostat should be used at all times to avoid overheating the animal. Dimmer will work too, but they can be a pain when trying to keep steady temps. We avoid overhead lights as they rob the enclosure of the much needed humidity. These creatures do not need basking light as they are nocturnal.

A clean waterbowl is very important for any animal, we clean waterbowls and refill with fresh water atleast 2-3 times weekly.
Also, hide spots are another must have for ball pythons. We use over 10 different sizes and styles of hides to keep each snake eating and seemingly comfortable. Every animal has its own hide which is placed over the heat supply. Some people offer thier animals multiple hides and this is fine, we only use one because we feel that is all that is needed if the cages are kept at the proper temps.

As far as substrate/bedding, we use paper towel and carefresh bedding. There are alot of suitable beddings and you may want to try a few before you decide what works best for you. Most Regius keepers use aspen, cypress or newsprint.

We have found our animals thive with temps from low 80's on the cool end with a hotspot of 90-92. We keep the humidity around 55%.


I think I covered all of your questions, if you have any others or I missed something just let me know.

Well, you have some wrong info in there.
Adult Ball Pythons will usually eat medium, large, or jumbo rats once every 2 weeks.
Not 2 or 3 small mice. 2 or 3 small mice is no kind of meal for an adult Ball Python.
I dont know where you read that, but it is wrong.
As far as morphs go, good luck with that. The competitive market may either make prices hold, or drop them. We shall see.

2-3 mice is by no means wrong, I don't know where YOU got your info.

Adult Ball Pythons will usually eat medium, large, or jumbo rats once every 2 weeks.Not 2 or 3 small mice. 2 or 3 small mice is no kind of meal for an adult Ball Python.

We have a couple of adult males that have been eating 1-2 adult mice a week as we had a rat shortage. Its not a bad thing at all.

Adult Ball Pythons will usually eat medium, large, or jumbo rats once every 2 weeks.

I usually never feed anything bigger than a small rat to my adult balls. Even my 3600+ gram females, and they do fine.

Hope this helps.

-adam

New Reptiles, 2-3 ADULT mice is fine, but not small mice.
By small mice, Im assuming large hopper, small small adult mouse size. That is a small meal.
If he was talking adults, than that is fine.
I should have been clearer in my reply, and I should've quoted from his original post.
Sorry for the confusion.

Thank you very much for your response, I found it very helpful, and yes I would very much appreciate the contact information of those breeders around here =P

I'll be working out of my basement to start, as it's very humid in here to begin with so controlling the humidity won't be too much of a problem, and also it's the warmest part in my house, I don't want my snake to freeze to death. It's also most convenient for me... can't exactly keep snakes in the kitchen or anything, company would flip about that... but come to think of it, may just be a good way to keep people from pigging out on all my food when they come over =P

I was thinking of getting an aquarium for my first snake though, as I won't be doing breeding with just one snake (wonder how that would work... haha) but that's exactly what I was thinking as I get more... plastic sterile bins.

Also, about buying a CB snake... I wouldn't want anything else as I've also read up on the differences in wild bred snakes and captive bred snakes, and the last thing I need is a snake that's incredibly hard to feed and take care of, especially if I'm going to be getting into breeding later on down the road.

Now, I've done my research on keeping snakes as pets and just generally caring for them, and everything seems perfect for me. However, it's obvious to me that breeding is a whole different story. I am going to begin my research on breeding, mainly I have to bring back the high school biology knowledge here and remember about genes and whatnot, haha. I would, however, like to learn about the genetics of ball pythons BEFORE I buy a snake, because I don't want to go out and buy something that has absolutely zero breeding potential if I decide to start that later on. I also don't want to drop serious $$$ on a snake for breeding if I'm never going to breed it. I'm going to be looking for some type of middle-ground here, I want something with potential but nothing too fancy, and in the end what will be the determining factor is cost, unfortunately.

Ahh I gotta go, be back to post again soon

Something I can see you being able to work with, is to buy a male 100% heterozygous for ghost or albino. Shouldn't run you more than $200, and if breed to a normal female, and keep all the female babies you get from that pairing, to breed back to the dad, you have good chances of coming up with albinos, or ghosts depending on the het you buy.
It is a bit time consuming, but you will get 1-3K dollar animals, for 200, and some time...

I disagree, if just starting out the best way to go is females. Justin said this would be his FIRST snake, why get a male?

Ok, I'd first like to say hello to all on these forums! My name is Justin, and I live in Pittsburgh, PA. I'm 19 years old, I currently don't own any snakes, nor have I ever.

Again, hes talking about getting a juvi or two, why get a male het?

Your info is off here, and you may want to read the thread a little bit more thorough before jumping in...................

I usually never feed anything bigger than a small rat to my adult balls. Even my 3600+ gram females, and they do fine.

Same here Adam, for the most part we feed small rats to everything from 400grams all the way up to 3000grams. The only animals that are fed large rats are the 3500-4500gram girls.

It would take a HUGE girl to knock back a jumbo rat (600-800 grams is jumbo in my eyes).

I was just advising him on what would be a good way to get into morphs.
Thank you for pointing out the obvious, that he'd need females. I figured he'd be smart enough to realize that it takes females 1 to 2 years longer to mature than males. I dont think he is that stupid.
I am also advising feeding from my own experiances. I think that the animals should be fed food on the larger end of the spectrum. I dont see the point, at least in my opinion why a juvienile gets the same size prey as a 3 or 4 year old adult.
I dont care how much you care to argue, you are entitled to your own opinion, as am I.