Hello! I'm going to look at ball pythons this week. I already have an oketee corn snake, Ruby. I have done all the research and have printed and read (and re-read) the care sheet from this site on ball pythons. I don't have any questions yet, other than I know they can be picky eaters. I have posted a question about housing in that particular area. I wasn't sure about that and what my options were. I have read about several people using clear rubbermaid boxes for enclosures and wanted to know about that. If anyone has any suggestions are advice I'd love to hear it. I understand ball pythons are very docile and love to be handled???

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Steph
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I am too blessed to be stressed! The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor. The one who kneels to the Lord can stand up to anything!

1.0.0 Husband; 3.1.0 Children; 1.1.0 Corns; 0.1.0 BP; 1.0.0 C/BRB; 0.1.0 Rabbit

With as many snakes as we have here, we house many of them in rack systems, with rubbermaid containers of various sizes depending on the animals, with larger constrictors here they are housed in plastics cages, if you would like I can snap a few pics of various rack systems/rows we have set up here. And they of course will be up tomorrow, I and Im sure others of this site will be more than happy with any questions you have with your up coming new addition the ball python.

AS A GENERAL RULE Ball pythons are docile and tolerate handling well. However as with any animal there are exceptions to the rule. Particularly older wild caught adults or snakes that have been owned previously by someone that mistreated them.

I have used mine with many people who had "snake phobias" with good results both of mine have been excellant ambassadors for the snake world. Our grand kids have been handling them since the snakes were hatchlings and the kids were 5-6 years old. As you noted the chief obstacle regarding BPs is their pickiness (again more prevelant with wild caught) and the tendancy to fast in the winter. My male will go off feed about November and not eat again till April or May. Just the way they are!
All in all though one of my most favorite of snakes!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Great info received so far Steph. My first snake was a Bp and I love him. As stated they are very docile and easy to care for but as a rule all creatures are different and have their own personalities. I like to get my snakes as hatchlings that way you have a better chance of knowing the personality it will have. I adopted an adult, she was a little aggresive but with time became as tame as any of my others. I keep my babies in a 20 long. Some are slow growing, but it varies. Good luck with your decision, we cant wait to see the out come.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

My ball python, Monty, is the most docile snake I have ever owned. He is beautiful and VERY easy to care for.
I agree with Venus: it's best if you can get your BP as a hatchling (from a good breeder).

We had a bit of a rough start with Monty as he had both mites and tapeworms in the beginning. (He could have been captive-farmed, or he just got the mites from the pet-store and the worms from being fed live mice.) Now he is just over a year old, on a diet of Frozen/Thawed pinkie rats and he's doing great.

He used to spend all day climbing or curled up on his tree-branch, but now he only climbs up there at night. He is VERY active in the evenings and always seems eager to come out and roam around the living room furniture. (Because of this and the size they eventually grow to, I recommend a good locking mechanism on your enclosure!!)

He was a picky eater in the beginning, but as long as I feed him in a dark, quiet room and heat up his rats to 100F, he usually snaps them up without problems now. (I HIGHLY recommend buying a temp-gun for this purpose!!)
There are a lot of BP owners here, so I'm sure you can get a lot of info on anything you need to know.
Good luck with your new baby!

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Andrea

Congrats on your decision,They are beautiful snakes! I went for mine to a breeder(haven't got them yet,they only just hatched,the little cuties).On the begining of August I'm going to chose which I will call mine,and I guess sometime in October I will be proud owner of my most favourit snake!

I advise you to get them from a breeder and the best thing to do is to wait until they eaten at least ten times in a row,before you take them home! What I also suggest and I read about it a lot,is to put the bps enclosure in a room where there's not a lot of traffic around.
There are some good books available about BPs.
Good luck with your babies!

Hi Steph! Make sure you let us know when you get them!!And if you can,some pics would be great!!
Good luck!!