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11-11-2004, 12:53 PM

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.

11-11-2004, 12:53 PM	#2
NEWReptiles	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.