New with snakes

hello, I'm looking to buy some ball pythons. I've never had a snake before. I've only had geckos and bearded dragons. I've been doing some research and found that ball pythons and corn snakes are good to start out with. I wanted to know directly from breeders about their care. I'm actually looking to breed them later on in a near future, but there are wayyyyy too many different ball python morphs compared to both geckos and beardies. Any kind of basic guide for beginners with morphs would be greatly appreciated. I'm also wondering who is a trusted dealer I can purchase from, and also a trusted dealer for rat pups. Thanks,

-Luis

Pick up this book and read it several times ..

http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-B.../dp/9780971319

Worth the money.

Welcome,

There are a lot of videos on www.youtube.com on caring for ball pythons, everything from husbandry to breeding to incubation. I would purchase a couple 3 to 5 gene males and some proven breeder 2000plus gram(+) normal females. Ratio for breeding is 1 male to 3 females. I've made purchases through Casey Lasik, NERD, Mike Wilbanks, Garrick Demeyer and a lot of other small time breeders who produce some quality balls, there is a lot of well known breeders out there... Have fun!!!
Russ

Ball pythons are very owner friendly and easy to work with. Get a female normal and raise it for a year to be sure this is what you want to do. DO NOT spend a bunch of money. Spend time not money. Study, and get to know your anaimal. Find a reptile show to walk around,and Look through kingsnake classifieds. Something will appeal to you visually and focus on that. Most successful breeder didn't start out with 12 anaimals...

I agree with John. Regardless of the species I worked with (leopard geckos, green anoles, Asian grass lizards, green iguanas, Norway rats, African fat-tailed geckos, and ball pythons), I always started out with a single male and female pair to see if the species was right for me. Over time my interest has waned and grown in various ways (I now only work with ball pythons), but it's important to first spend time with a single or couple representatives of a single species in order to learn their behavior and care, and to see if that particular species truly holds your interest before you invest too heavily in it, time, money, or otherwise.

Youtube is just as useful as craigslist. I would not even waste the time looking there.

I found a couple of useful links and I'm going to keep searching. I'm definitely going to start out with one first I don't want to try to jump straight into breeding them. I want to see if I can raise one first and then go from there. And yes, I've found out that a lot of people on youtube are very wrong about reptile husbandry. Having said that, I'm looking to keep a simplistic habitat in a 20g long, UTH, cypress mulch and two hides and a humid hide. Apart from a digital thermometer with a probe is there anything else I could be missing? I've also started looking for some hot morphs but man there are too many options!

I would definitely start with a female. They take longer to mature and if you decide breeding is what you want it is faster to raise a male or cheaper to buy an adult morph male. If not you will at least be able to get a good price for her.

Also get what YOU like and can afford dont get too caught up with what THEY say is the new hot morph. It is much more enjoyable that way.

Good luck!

Luis sounds like you've got a good plan so far! If your thinking base morph a pastel female for $100. Would always be an asset.

Honestly I would start off with a female yellowbelly. Pastels have been bred to death, but yellowbellies make hot combos.