# Considering a ball python



## miss moxie (Jan 29, 2015)

I'm the sort of person who does a lot of extensive reading and research before purchasing a new animal. I've been interested in snakes for a few years but never considered getting one. For the past year though I've been looking at pictures and watching videos and I think sometime in the future I might seriously add a ball python to my "gang". I'm awfully fond of the GHI Mojave morph. 

So what I'm asking is for educational sources. Links to websites with good & accurate information, books that are also reliable, ect. Also any personal input/experience, such as what supplies would be needed or how you keep your pythons.

I don't like to rely on pet store employees for obvious reasons, and websites/books can contain contradictory information. For example I've already seen one website tell me I needed a UV bulb and then another said I didn't.

That's why I like to talk to people who've been doing this for a while personally.

Thanks in advance to anyone who offers some guidance!


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## David VB (Jan 29, 2015)

Remember those are even more pet rocks than T's  I got 2 and i almost never see them out of their hide, except around 11pm for 15 minutes tops... It were my first snakes and for that, i think, i still have them, but as for fun or making room for something more interesting, i could (should?) sell them tbh. There are 2 big groups of keepers, the ones that believe in a nice enclosure with hides and all you can add to make it look natural, and the ones that keep them in tubs/racks. I'm a strong believer of the first group, but it is proven that they 'do well' in those plastic shoeboxes... Meaning they eat and shed. Mine do that too, and you could say that them being in heir hide almost 24/7 is the same as being in a tub, but for that 15minutes at late evening that they want to roam their enclosure, they CAN  
I keep them at around 35°C for hot spot and with T5 TL)lightning, both on a timer, so everything is off from around 9pm till 9am in the winter and 22pm to 8am in the summertime. I have no UV for them, it's not really needed, but there are people testing and using UV on snakes. It won't hurt them and probably can do something good, as they do lay in the sun in the wild from time to time, but most will say that's only for the heat.

Anything else? Just ask 

PS : As for books, i got 'The Complete Ball Python' from Kevin McCurley, which most ball python keepers have i think.

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## truecreature (Jan 29, 2015)

I very highly recommend the forums over at www.ball-pythons.net

Here's their care sheet, but the search function is also a huge treasure trove of information and the people are very helpful if you have questions to ask.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?127203-Ball-Python-(Python-regius)-Caresheet

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## Rowdy Hotel (Feb 1, 2015)

Ball pythons are a great choice if you've never had a snake before. Back before the economy tanked I had a few racks going with several morphs but nothing too expensive. To this day my favorite morph is still the piebald ball python and the price has come down considerably, though a female baby might still be out of someone's price range if they're merely looking for a pet, perhaps a less expensive male may be an option. 

A couple of things I've noticed. They have more of a tendency to refuse food than do other snakes just as colubrids but is of no concern if they're being housed appropriately. When I first started off I kept my ball pythons in spacious fish tanks with screen covers and would often have terrible sheds especially in the winter time when the air is very dry unless I was misting their hides almost daily. It became too much work once I had several snakes so I moved them all into racks with cypress much, a big water bowl, and less ventilation, perfect sheds every time.

As for handling, I never handle any of my animals just because I feel like it, I only do it momentarily while doing cage cleanings. Despite never being handled, most of the ball pythons were very docile, though a few were always crabby and defensive no matter.

I don't keep ball pythons any more, instead I focus on rat snakes, milk snakes, and hognoses. I still believe the best pet snake is a corn snake, and I do keep a pair of beautiful okeetees of the Abbott line, of the Love line, and another from a hobbyist who collected some wild okeetees and has kept them relatively unchanged from their wild appearance. I think corns or another colubrid may be easier to care for than ball pythons if you find that a ball python may be too much work though if you have your mind set on ball pythons you will succeed because you're doing your due diligence first.

As far as the best housing I prefer racks though some people dislike them, there's no doubt in my mind the snakes feel comfortable in them. Snake cages also work very well, I have a few neodeshas and Boaphile cages that would make an excellent display tank. Tanks with screen will work, just be sure to give them humid hide spots and a proper thermogradient.

Try to attend a reptile show to see the great variety with ball pythons. Pastels are pretty and inexpensive. A breeder is always a better source than a petstore.

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## mmfh (Feb 13, 2015)

Have you bought one?


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## cold blood (Feb 14, 2015)

They can be picky eaters and quite inactive a lot.

A few years ago, in late October, while I was in the woods walking the dog, I came across a full grown 5 ft ball.   I'm in WI, so it had obviously been released, and I came across it just prior to the cold weather hitting that year.  I picked it up, it was pretty docile, put it in the bed of my pickup and drove it to a friends house who's son had just lost his bearded dragons...its still doing quite well.

I didn't keep it because I have had them before, and despite my love of snakes, I really didn't want another at the time.

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## Blue Jaye (Feb 14, 2015)

There are much better snakes to choose from IMO . If you don't want something that gets to big maybe try a Dumerils boa .
Rowdy Hotel gave some great info , okeetees are very beautiful and hognose snakes are super cool can hood up like a cobra and always stay very cute but can be picky eaters the trick with them is to feed them in a paper bag if they won't eat . I really 
miss my hognose he was super cool and mellow .

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## freedumbdclxvi (Feb 14, 2015)

I agree with Blue Jaye - Dumeril's make excellent snakes.  I have a big female who is very docile.  My favorites, though, are the big guys.

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## miss moxie (Feb 14, 2015)

mmfh said:


> Have you bought one?


No, no I never rush into anything. I've gotten a lot of info through here and PM. I've read 'Ball Pythons in Captivity' by Kevin McCurley too. Currently, I'm waiting for summer hatchings from a breeder.



cold blood said:


> They can be picky eaters and quite inactive a lot.
> 
> A few years ago, in late October, while I was in the woods walking the dog, I came across a full grown 5 ft ball.   I'm in WI, so it had obviously been released, and I came across it just prior to the cold weather hitting that year.  I picked it up, it was pretty docile, put it in the bed of my pickup and drove it to a friends house who's son had just lost his bearded dragons...its still doing quite well.
> 
> I didn't keep it because I have had them before, and despite my love of snakes, I really didn't want another at the time.


Gee, *glances at tarantlas* inactivity is going to be a huge issue for me... 

I'm not really worried about that. I know they can be fussy eaters, but I've got a friend who last I checked had two burmese pythons, one ball python, and a few rat snakes. He's also got an extensive collection (around twenty was the count 3 years ago) of various lizards. He's even got an alligator, the crazy *expletive*. Oh! And he has a gigantic tortoise. Like, probably two feet from nose to tail. Amazing animal, I love to feed it. So slow. Not a care in the world.

 If I have any problems, I know he's just a phone call away. 



Blue Jaye said:


> There are much better snakes to choose from IMO . If you don't want something that gets to big maybe try a Dumerils boa .
> Rowdy Hotel gave some great info , okeetees are very beautiful and hognose snakes are super cool can hood up like a cobra and always stay very cute but can be picky eaters the trick with them is to feed them in a paper bag if they won't eat . I really
> miss my hognose he was super cool and mellow .


I appreciate the suggestions, but ball pythons kind of have a special place in my heart. My aunt's sister had one when I was young, and up until that point I had been taught from my mother that snakes are 'bad'. (She had a valid excuse, childhood trauma that I won't go into.) Welp, they used that snake to teach me otherwise, and it's just a memory that has stuck with me for almost two decades now. I've even got pictures of myself with that snake, somewhere in my house.

So you see, my desire for a ball python has a more personal meaning. It's not just that I'm under the misconception that ball pythons are 'the last word' in beginner snakes. 

If I had my druthers-- and quite a lot of money-- I'd track down a boelen's python. Now that is one stunning snake.



freedumbdclxvi said:


> I agree with Blue Jaye - Dumeril's make excellent snakes.  I have a big female who is very docile.  My favorites, though, are the big guys.


I like to look at big snakes, but I wouldn't want to own one. Not at this point in my life, who knows what the future brings. But at this point, I don't have the time or space for big snakes. My friend has two burmese pythons (as mentioned above) and I know he was looking into green anacondas. Those burmese pythons are absolutely impressive to look at. 

I also don't have the desire to wrestle with 200 pounds of pure muscle either! I'd lose. Horribly. But much respect to those people who keep giant snakes. Especially giant -angry- snakes.


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## cold blood (Feb 14, 2015)

Too bad you're not nearby...my little LPS has some really nice ones that they're selling for like $40


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## Rowdy Hotel (Feb 14, 2015)

I don't like big snakes, either. In the space it takes up to house one Burm properly you can have a whole breeding operation of colubrids with room for an adult rack and a hatchling rack with space to spare. Smaller snakes are more fun in my opinion.

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## miss moxie (Feb 15, 2015)

cold blood said:


> Too bad you're not nearby...my little LPS has some really nice ones that they're selling for like $40


Ironically, the aunt in my story is the one who lives in WI.


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## Hanska (Feb 16, 2015)

Ball pythons are nice. All with the puppy face and stuff.. but why not take a real snake?


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## freedumbdclxvi (Feb 16, 2015)

Hanska said:


> Ball pythons are nice. All with the puppy face and stuff.. but why not take a real snake?


Ziiiiiing!


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## miss moxie (Feb 16, 2015)

Hanska said:


> Ball pythons are nice. All with the puppy face and stuff.. but why not take a real snake?


So I can name them Ouroboros.


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## Ripa (Feb 19, 2015)

Just take note that they can be some of the most frustrating eaters in the snake world. My ball python (I had to name him Monty) goes off feed twice a year for about 3-4 months apiece. Half of my brain seems to be experiencing anxiety spikes because of his crummy eating habits. He's a spider ball, too, and those are supposedly the best eaters as far as color morphs go (besides the natural wild ones). He's a bit underweight, too, but that may also be attributed to his ridiculous wobble genetics. They are also probably the most difficult snakes to switch from live to prekilled. They are nice snakes and mine has never bitten me for the 5 years I've owned him, but honestly, if you don't want to be frustrated by their sudden fasting, then look to the colubrids like corn or king snakes or the cute sand boas as far as beginner snakes go. Not to mention you can house a corn snake or a sand boa in a 20 gallon long nicely- ball pythons need a minimum of 40 gallon (breeder) to be comfy.

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## Dizzle (Feb 20, 2015)

Hey moxie you could try a Kenyan Sand Boa, especially if you are fine with having a pet hole lol. I personally love them and just got a male counterpart to my increasingly chubby female  
Btw my _Acanthoscurria geniculata _ is doing very well and intrigues me greatly, thanks again for the suggestion.

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## eminart (Feb 20, 2015)

BP's are great snakes. Honestly, I think if they hadn't gotten as commonplace as they are now, you wouldn't see very many people not excited about them. That said, they are very commonplace, and like others mentioned, pretty boring to watch. I've had a few over the years. All of mine were "normals" and most of them before the huge morph boom. I don't remember ever having one refuse a meal, although that's a knock they get now. Maybe some of the feeding response has been bred out in the morph process, or maybe I was lucky and just had good eaters, I don't know. All that said, they're really not for me. They're just so sedentary. But, to each his own. There's certainly nothing wrong with them, if you like their traits.


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## Ripa (Feb 20, 2015)

eminart said:


> BP's are great snakes. Honestly, I think if they hadn't gotten as commonplace as they are now, you wouldn't see very many people not excited about them. That said, they are very commonplace, and like others mentioned, pretty boring to watch. I've had a few over the years. All of mine were "normals" and most of them before the huge morph boom. I don't remember ever having one refuse a meal, although that's a knock they get now. Maybe some of the feeding response has been bred out in the morph process, or maybe I was lucky and just had good eaters, I don't know. All that said, they're really not for me. They're just so sedentary. But, to each his own. There's certainly nothing wrong with them, if you like their traits.


I honestly believe that looking for different color morphs will find you getting ones with crappy eating habits. You know how inbreeding works- they want this or that trait and keep their gene pools minuscule which leads to a bigger likelihood of genetic abnormalities. Honestly, if I had a choice in the matter, I would've settled for a normal morph over a spider ball. No wobble, probably less likely to go off-feed. This one spider I have which I'm having issues with was adopted off someone 5 years ago who couldn't care for him anymore due to financial constraints- that was the only way my mother would even let me get a snake larger than a ribbon snake haha.

Additionally, I have further evidence that terrible breeding plays a role in reptile behavior as much as it may in dog or cat behavior. The two leos I have now are both female, one tangerine and one that seems normal dominant with subtle tangerine morph markings around her hindquarters. The one that's full tangerine takes 5 years to stare at her food before taking the lunge at it (sometimes if you literally don't cut off a waxworm's path of movement, she will stare at it for long enough to wriggle out of her reach)- the one with mixed traits eats instantly. These, again, were rescues from the same source, funnily enough.


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## viper69 (Feb 21, 2015)

Hanska said:


> Ball pythons are nice. All with the puppy face and stuff.. but why not take a real snake?


That's funny I thought bps were Real Snakes.


Some have mentioned genetics and going off feed. There's no correlation between going off feed and any of the genetic mutations of bps to my knowledge, never heard this from breeders.

Going off feed is something inherent in this species in general in captivity.

I've owned 2 bps, one naturally occurring mutation and one normal phase, neither went off feed, I was lucky.


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## Ripa (Feb 21, 2015)

viper69 said:


> That's funny I thought bps were Real Snakes.
> 
> 
> Some have mentioned genetics and going off feed. There's no correlation between going off feed and any of the genetic mutations of bps to my knowledge, never heard this from breeders.
> ...


What naturally occurring mutation do you have? Because BPs can be considered inbred in many lineages just because of the intention that certain traits want to be kept. It's not different from how dog breeding is today in many areas.


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## pitbulllady (Feb 21, 2015)

I've had many, many Ball Pythons, normals, wild-caughts, and morphs.  Some were good eaters, some not.  As a SPECIES, not a particular morph, these are notorious for going on long "fasts", especially during the fall and winter months(which coincides with their breeding season), for only "liking" particular types of prey items, for "locking in" on live-only prey items.  I have found that it has more to do with how they are started out by the breeder than anything else.  Many high-volume BP breeders raise their own feeder rodents and only feed live to save on time spent thawing out frozen food items or pre-killing prey before feeding.  As a result, those snakes often quickly get "locked in" to only taking live prey, and once that happens, it is very, very difficult to alter that course.  I have found that when a snake is hatched and started out on f/t from the get-go, it tends to be a much less-fussy eater, regardless of morph.  Of the BP's I have now, my most-reliable eaters are a young adult female that was sold to me as a BEL, which I suspect is actually an Ivory, a Mystic Potion juvie male and a Spider juvie female, all morphs.  My adult breeders are all still off-feed, including the normals, and I've simply come to accept that as a Ball Python "thing".

pitbulllady

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## Ripa (Feb 21, 2015)

pitbulllady said:


> I've had many, many Ball Pythons, normals, wild-caughts, and morphs.  Some were good eaters, some not.  As a SPECIES, not a particular morph, these are notorious for going on long "fasts", especially during the fall and winter months(which coincides with their breeding season), for only "liking" particular types of prey items, for "locking in" on live-only prey items.  I have found that it has more to do with how they are started out by the breeder than anything else.  Many high-volume BP breeders raise their own feeder rodents and only feed live to save on time spent thawing out frozen food items or pre-killing prey before feeding.  As a result, those snakes often quickly get "locked in" to only taking live prey, and once that happens, it is very, very difficult to alter that course.  I have found that when a snake is hatched and started out on f/t from the get-go, it tends to be a much less-fussy eater, regardless of morph.  Of the BP's I have now, my most-reliable eaters are a young adult female that was sold to me as a BEL, which I suspect is actually an Ivory, a Mystic Potion juvie male and a Spider juvie female, all morphs.  My adult breeders are all still off-feed, including the normals, and I've simply come to accept that as a Ball Python "thing".
> 
> pitbulllady


Thanks for a clarifying a lot of points. I knew BPs were difficult to transfer from live to prekilled, but I didn't know it involved them being "locked in" to a certain feeding regime, as well. The ball python I have originally came from a breeder (at least that's what the girl told me who I adopted him off of), so that may explain his reluctance to even take to prekilled. Although, this same snake hasn't eaten since late October. I even tried to slip a warmed prekilled mouse head into his mouth (tried to even get live mouse urine scent on it) to see if he wanted to eat, and he just spit it out. Honestly, I would still take up a Kenyan sand boa or a corn snake as beginner snakes that don't come with as much frustration when it comes to feeding (and probably more readily switch to prekilled), but that's just me.


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## viper69 (Feb 21, 2015)

Ripa said:


> What naturally occurring mutation do you have?


Piebald, love it

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## Ripa (Feb 21, 2015)

viper69 said:


> Piebald, love it


Honestly, piebalds are my favorite, lookwise. They are on the pricier side it seems, though.


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## viper69 (Feb 21, 2015)

Ripa said:


> Honestly, piebalds are my favorite, lookwise. They are on the pricier side it seems, though.


Price is relative. They are really cheap now compared to only 5 yrs ago. You can get a high white (80% or more) from a good breeder sometimes for only $300 and that's not even a show price. However that's a lot of money for people who are used to buying animals for only 20$ for example.


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## cold blood (Feb 21, 2015)

viper69 said:


> Price is relative. They are really cheap now compared to only 5 yrs ago. You can get a high white (80% or more) from a good breeder sometimes for only $300 and that's not even a show price. However that's a lot of money for people who are used to buying animals for only 20$ for example.


Man, I think my LPS just got one of these...its super-cool looking, I'd never seen one before...they're selling it for like half of that.


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## Ripa (Feb 21, 2015)

viper69 said:


> Price is relative. They are really cheap now compared to only 5 yrs ago. You can get a high white (80% or more) from a good breeder sometimes for only $300 and that's not even a show price. However that's a lot of money for people who are used to buying animals for only 20$ for example.


Well, I got my spider for free because I adopted him, and I know those guys can fetch quite a bit higher than normal morphs (around $120- $200 or more). I know some rare morphs can singly go as high as $1000+. Maybe if I wasn't dorming far away from home, I'd consider a piebald for another birthday present lol. I would just hope he's a better eater than my spider. My spider, having not eaten since October, was enough time for one of the adult male feeder mice to die of apparently natural causes. I bet that snake can fast an entire mouse's lifespan.


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## viper69 (Feb 21, 2015)

cold blood said:


> Man, I think my LPS just got one of these...its super-cool looking, I'd never seen one before...they're selling it for like half of that.


You should have asked, I would have sent pics of mine. The first time I saw one in print, I was HOOKED. Of course I waited about 10 or 15 yr before I could afford one.I've never seen a more interesting phenotype, let alone one that is both a color and pattern morph.

---------- Post added 02-21-2015 at 03:31 PM ----------




Ripa said:


> Well, I got my spider for free because I adopted him, and I know those guys can fetch quite a bit higher than normal morphs (around $120- $200 or more). I know some rare morphs can singly go as high as $1000+. Maybe if I wasn't dorming far away from home, I'd consider a piebald for another birthday present lol. I would just hope he's a better eater than my spider. My spider, having not eaten since October, was enough time for one of the adult male feeder mice to die of apparently natural causes. I bet that snake can fast an entire mouse's lifespan.


1,000 is relatively inexpensive for a bp morph in my opinion. The type of snakes I'd like to get in the future start at about $8k. The BPs that I'm really interested in, aside from pieds, are unfortunately at a price point I'm unwilling to pay. They are five figure snakes.

Here's my Pied, Jack O' Lantern

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## Ripa (Feb 21, 2015)

Ooooh nice...
Hmm...
What would a 50% white pied cost? Would it be less than an 80% white pied?


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## viper69 (Feb 21, 2015)

Ripa said:


> Ooooh nice...
> Hmm...
> What would a 50% white pied cost? Would it be less than an 80% white pied?


I don't know. Yes it would, the less white, the lower the price.


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## Ripa (Feb 21, 2015)

Well, between a 50-80% would be ideal if I wanted one. Too much or too little white would turn me a bit off. Maybe it's because the sudden breaks in the color patterning draw me to it more than other morphs. 

Anyways, judging by your comments, you seem really knowledgeable on this sorta thing. Is there a particular reason why my ball python would go on two fasts every year? He did this every year I've owned him except my first year (when he was a yearling and was more voracious). I could understand the breeding season fast, but the month after he stops that fast, he fasts again until around June/ July. I could understand one bigger fast of 6-8 months at a time more than I could two spaced out 3-4 month fasts. I've been trying to find answers for the years I've had him. The first time this happened, I took him to a vet about the fasting, and she mistook his extreme wobble/ tremors and his delayed reaction to flip himself over for IBD symptoms (wut...). But nonetheless, he has not died since then (which was 3 years ago), so obviously he must have some neurological disorder? 

To put it in perspective, he's a 4.5 foot long male and only weighs 3-3.5lbs. Shouldn't they weigh in at least 4-5? Because he's definitely not a small male.


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## viper69 (Feb 21, 2015)

Ripa said:


> Well, between a 50-80% would be ideal if I wanted one. Too much or too little white would turn me a bit off. Maybe it's because the sudden breaks in the color patterning draw me to it more than other morphs.
> 
> Anyways, judging by your comments, you seem really knowledgeable on this sorta thing. Is there a particular reason why my ball python would go on two fasts every year? He did this every year I've owned him except my first year (when he was a yearling and was more voracious). I could understand the breeding season fast, but the month after he stops that fast, he fasts again until around June/ July. I could understand one bigger fast of 6-8 months at a time more than I could two spaced out 3-4 month fasts. I've been trying to find answers for the years I've had him. The first time this happened, I took him to a vet about the fasting, and she mistook his extreme wobble/ tremors and his delayed reaction to flip himself over for IBD symptoms (wut...). But nonetheless, he has not died since then (which was 3 years ago), so obviously he must have some neurological disorder?
> 
> To put it in perspective, he's a 4.5 foot long male and only weighs 3-3.5lbs. Shouldn't they weigh in at least 4-5? Because he's definitely not a small male.


Some people prefer 10-20% pieds, at that level, I think "what's the point" hah. I'm a high white pied person 

Thank you. I'm really a snake/lizard person first, and a T person second (they came much later in my exotic pet ownership)

I think he should weigh more, but I'd need to see it in person, or at least a pic with something to gauge size. Length doesn't tell me anything. I've seen BPs shorter than mine and they are physically more massive because they were fed more than mine. I cannot explain the fasting, this species is known for it, case closed. Like I said, I never had these fasting issues EVER, I'm lucky. NOR have I ever had a problem switching my balls from live to prekilled. They took prekilled the very next meal, same with my other snakes. All my snakes eat consistently.

As for the Vet, she clearly didn't know that spiders have neurological defects, all spiders do. Not all mutations created by man should be created, the Spider is one of them. Everything the vet observed is simply because it's a spider, nothing more. It's those neurological defects which made me decide to never own a BP with any amount of spider in it.

Some mutations are genetically inferior and in the wild these animals would likely die, albinos are a good example. The spider mutation is another example, and had it occurred in nature would most definitely have died off quickly in my opinion.

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## Ripa (Feb 21, 2015)

viper69 said:


> Some people prefer 10-20% pieds, at that level, I think "what's the point" hah. I'm a high white pied person
> 
> Thank you. I'm really a snake/lizard person first, and a T person second (they came much later in my exotic pet ownership)
> 
> ...


Excellent points. Some mutations just shouldn't be bred into fruition, just like the extensive breeding of bulldogs and their life-threatening deformities. I guess he's just a case I can't really help- I could only just watch and care for him as much as I can. I dedicated myself to him when his previous owner left him- I feel obliged to keep him for however long he lives, despite my previous frustration causing me to reconsider handing him off to someone who may be able to work with him better. You might very well make me reconsider ownership of these snakes in the future after this one (or when I finish college and could manage another one- hopefully a nice piebald).

As far as my current snake goes, here are some images of his fluctuations in weight, as much as I could find.

Some pictures for reference- here he was when he may have been at a healthier weight (about a year and a half ago, right before he went on his breeding-fast).
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd...._=1434956870_79746fdfa0bb6595811e4b955c17524b
https://scontent-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/h...=eb8bd576754faebd4113296a9744401f&oe=55808E4C

Here he is during his fast in June of last year:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd...._=1431245390_3fe4c65a852c07aa5606f28e3fbe00c5

Sorry the pics aren't high rez. At the time I had a really crummy phone. I will try to get better ones for my own referencing purposes when I get back home.


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## viper69 (Feb 21, 2015)

Ripa said:


> Excellent points. Some mutations just shouldn't be bred into fruition, just like the extensive breeding of bulldogs and their life-threatening deformities. I guess he's just a case I can't really help- I could only just watch and care for him as much as I can. I dedicated myself to him when his previous owner left him- I feel obliged to keep him for however long he lives, despite my previous frustration causing me to reconsider handing him off to someone who may be able to work with him better. You might very well make me reconsider ownership of these snakes in the future after this one (or when I finish college and could manage another one- hopefully a nice piebald).
> 
> As far as my current snake goes, here are some images of his fluctuations in weight, as much as I could find.
> 
> ...


It's hard to tell, but he is pretty. I like the spider mutation phenotype, but not the side effects. The main thing you want to make sure his tail is fat, that's where they store excess food, like leopard geckos do. And you don't want to start seeing his spine. I wouldn't give him away unless it was someone that truly knew the issues a spider has.

When I put fresh water in my Pied's ball, he comes out, dunks his head and starts blowing bubbles and you can hear him do it. It's funny as hell, then I googled it, turns out quite a few BPs do this! I don't know about other snakes. It's really amusing to watch and to hear.


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## Ripa (Feb 21, 2015)

Lol... mine does the exact same thing. I won't lie, it's kinda of cute. Even my mom thinks it's cute when he does it.


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## viper69 (Feb 22, 2015)

Ripa said:


> Lol... mine does the exact same thing. I won't lie, it's kinda of cute. Even my mom thinks it's cute when he does it.


My other snakes don't do this. I wish I knew why balls do this.


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## freedumbdclxvi (Feb 22, 2015)

viper69 said:


> My other snakes don't do this. I wish I knew why balls do this.


Oh my good god almighty, so sad this is a family friendly website.  Wanting to know why balls like getting wet..ohhhhhhhh myyyyyyyyyy.

Reactions: Like 1


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## miss moxie (Feb 22, 2015)

freedumbdclxvi said:


> Oh my good god almighty, so sad this is a family friendly website.  Wanting to know why balls like getting wet..ohhhhhhhh myyyyyyyyyy.


I'm more concerned about the blowing bubbles...

Reactions: Like 1


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## viper69 (Feb 22, 2015)

freedumbdclxvi said:


> Oh my good god almighty, so sad this is a family friendly website.  Wanting to know why balls like getting wet..ohhhhhhhh myyyyyyyyyy.


There's nothing about the word balls in this discussion that isn't family friendly

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miss moxie said:


> I'm more concerned about the blowing bubbles...


It's quite normal.


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