#//But if I had the room and the money I'd have a ball Python!

[takebettercareofyourself-blog]

Continued from here @coldsnxp

While Mei-Ling liked the outdoors, some of the inhabitants of planet Earth still have her the heebeejeebees. Snakes were one of those animals.

“Uhh.. yeah Angela, he’s uh… he’s really cute.”

Angela chuckled as Hippocrates flicked his tonge at Mei from where he was settled on her shoulders.

“He’s harmless.” She assured Mei. “But if you’re really worried, I can put him back in his terranium?” Angela offered, sighing as she felt Hippocrates wrap his tail around her leg. “It may take a moment, but I’ll get him in there.

[kirstielol]

random ramble post ✨ i went grocery shopping this morning and picked up a freshly baked baguette, and grabbed an iced coffee on the way out.. so for breakfast i had some fresh baguette with my coffee and it was amazing. 10/10 breakfast.

i've been doing some planning this weekend, and i picked out a nice spot i'd like to put my two adult sized ball python enclosures! i've decided to go with 4'x2'x2' pvc enclosures, and i'll probably get them in the spring. my two ball pythons are still really small so i don't need to rush this, but i am starting to feel bad that they dont have tons of room to climb around currently. especially maya, she's always out in the evening climbing around her enclosure. (and some people insist ball pythons don't climb and that tiny snake racks are okay 🙄)

so yeah i can't wait to get their big enclosures so i can start decorating and turning them bioactive. should be a summer long project to get them both done. but again that's fine since they're both still babies.

i've also decided that i'm probably going to attempt to breed my two regal jumping spiders. i read that they actually make great clean up crew additions in bioactive tanks, so now i'm not really worried about having too many babies than i know what to do with. i think they'll do really well in my snake enclosures, even my toad and frog enclosures since they make their webbing at the top so i don't think they'll get eaten. they'd definitely get eaten in my geckos tanks though so that's out of the question lol. but i mean they might not even breed, the female might just eat the male when i introduce them so we'll see 🤷‍♀️

one last ramble. last week i bought a bunch of food, treats, and toys off my local animal shelters amazon wish list, and they made an instagram post about it yesterday personally thanking me (they do it with all the amazon donations) but it just made me so happy knowing i helped feed the cats and that they're going to be playing with toys i bought them :') so i've decided now that i'm budgeting regularly, every month i'm going to put a little money away for donations, and every year on my birthday i'm going to donate it somewhere.

[beautysnake]

Hello :D I was considering getting a snake, particularly a ball python, and I was wondering if you could give me some advice and/or tips? This would be my first one, but I love them so much and I'd love to have one as a pet.

as someone who got a ball python first, i dont recommend a ball python as a starter snake

they’re pretty tricky and are a lot easier to care for with a bit of experience with other snakes. if you’re not prepared for that it can end up being a really costly investment at the risk of the animals health. I’d recommend a colubrid, like a corn snake, instead and here’s why: 

I’ve had charlie for 4 years and I’m still learning new things about proper ball python husbandry: They dont like open spaces but that doesn’t mean they can be stored in a small tub. I tend to determine the size of the tank by the size of the size of the snake--if the snake is longer than the length+width you should consider an upgrade. I know this works for corn snakes but I also apply it to my ball python. Thing is they dont like open spaces so load that shit up with leaves and rocks and places to hide--all snakes require the cold and warm hides but ball pythons need more than just 2--dont have to be enclosed containers just little crevices and stuff. 

humidity is a big issue you have to deal with too especially with large tanks and heat lamps (Ive found that heat pads work better--never ever use a heat rock for any of your snakes) you should invest in a hygrometer and keep the humidity around 70%. 

ball pythons are tricky eaters and will refuse food for any number of reasons: the mouse is too small, a different color, frozen thawed as opposed to live (or vice versa), snake is in shed (or about to start), hasnt passed the previous mouse yet, is in hibernation. Sometimes my ball python refused food when another person was feeding him (since i was at college 240 miles away), but luckily he grew out of it. Also, Charlie refused food for close to a year once and didnt really lose any weight, the vet said it was completely normal and ball pythons just do that sometimes. he said sometimes dipping the mouse in chicken broth helps but each snake is different, and it costs time, patience, and money to get to know yours. 

I got my corn snake bailey around 4 months after charlie so I’ve been taking care of both of them at the same time and i havent had nearly as many complications with her. If you’re like me and you live in north america you typically dont need to worry about humidity with them because they’re native here so normal humidity is fine--ive never had to deal with patchy sheds with bailey. 

My corn snake always eats at least one mouse when I offer it. They dont need nearly as many decorations because they’re definitely a burrowing species (they need thicker bedding tho)

but since corn snakes burrow, I don’t recommend an under tank heater--I have a thin black plastic hide under a heat lamp and it stays around 85 degrees on the top. (you’ll also need the cold hide on the other side) 

lastly, corn snakes are far more expressive and active snakes. They’re really curious and tend to acknowledge you’re presence more, as opposed to ball pythons who are more active at night (still you can go days without seeing either one, snakes are lazy sometimes)

a lot of sites will say ball pythons make great beginner reptiles but a lot of owners will say otherwise. As far as temperament, they’re fantastic, but husbandry can be difficult

If you’re still interested in getting a ball python, here are some good resources:

more stuff like I said above-  X X X

general bp information- X X

husbandry- X X X This post is from 2006 and may be out of date but i like it because it includes a “shopping list” and prices for each item I dont know if ive included this already 

aspen bedding get incredibly dusty and i recommend removing your snake from the room when changing it since ball pythons have very a very sensitive respiratory system and develop problems easily (that being said dont ever smoke around your animals)

also I recommend looking around your area for reptile expos because you can buy supplies a lot cheaper--stores like petsmart will charge you $50 for a common morph but you can buy one at an expo directly from a breeder at about half that price. These expos are also a really good place to advice and information from breeders and owners