Jade Tigress said:
We got my son a Ball Python on Monday. He has been wanting a snake for a while now. He had some anoles before and I had reptiles when I was a teen. They're pretty cool. But this snake is the best.
He's a baby..a couple weeks old. About 18" long. At first he was very shy. Would hide all curled up in his little "house" and when you'd take him out he would curl up in a little ball in your hand and tuck his head way down in the center to hide. Ball Pythons are head shy and will curl up "ball" and hide like that when they're nervous, that's why they're called ball pythons. He has beautiful markings and is a healthy thing, clear bright eyes, shiny skin, and ate twice before we took him home.
I have been handling him briefly everyday. This morning I went to get him and he didn't cower when I lifted the little stone house he curls up in. He kinda looked up at me and I picked him up and brought him downstairs to the computer with me. He's been crawling all over me, very curious, checking everything out, not head shy with me anymore. Oh! He just climbed off my lap onto the keyboard! I keep having to move him. Anyway, he is very cool and I am in love with this little guy.
He will grow about a foot a year to an average size of about 4 feet, and 5 feet if he's really large. He will be a super fat thing though...pythons are fat.
Anyway, thought I'd share cuz I'm lovin how this little guy is getting comfortable with me. Now my daughter wants one too so we'll end up getting her one as well.
Anyone else own a snake or other *unusual* pets?
My niece has a chinchilla.
Ball Pythons are indeed magnificent animals. The one I had managed to grow to over 4 1/2 feet in length before I had to give her up (due to apartment restrictions against pets when I moved :miffer: ). They are indeed "head-shy"
but you're doing the right thing by picking it up and handling it on a daily basis. You can pet the head if you start from the neck and work your way up with firm/gentle contact so the animal knows it's being touched there.
It's a constrictor and thus one must be on guard, especially when it becomes an adult. For one thing do not handle the snake after handling it's food (rodents and such). I had mine bite me without realizing that it smelled a rat that I had handled a few minutes before (moving it from bag to "food-cage"). This is why those with even larger (and more aggressive) snakes/constrictors i.e. Burmese Pythons must be exceptionally careful as the larger animals can kill a person. Since Balls rarely exceed 5 1/2 feet this isn't a problem with one tiny exception.
A few times when I had mine draped over my neck, she coiled all the way around as I was typing on the computer she squeezed or tightened around it. I had difficulty swallowing but not breathing. I simply relaxed and waited. If she gotten tighter then I would've simply found her neck and would just unwrap her. It never came to that. After a couple of minutes she would relax and stay where she was. If the snake does bite and doesn't let go... do NOT try to open it's jaws in anyway. They're very fragile in the sense that they can be broken out of joint (they do it themselves to swallow food but in a way that they can put them aright when done). Don't panic and use a few drops of alcohol/booze down it's throat and it'll promptly let go. It won't harm the snake but put it back in it's cage so it can access the water you have for it there.
Use a large heavy water (bowl) so it can lay in it and won't tip it over. Mine had a nasty habit of doing that until I found one of those large rock shaped bowls with a flared out base that prevented her from tipping it. She occassionally liked to lay in the water for a while. She didn't like heat rocks but each snake is different, you may have to experiment between rock and lamp.
For a guy feeding time was always the best time. Lightning fast in her strikes and then hearing the bones crunch (and an occasional eye-ball popping out of the rat's skull) always got my friends who watched a kick out of it. It may be frightening to the very young.
Study up on the habitat, find out what type of "bedding" would best suit your baby" and find out which would be best for *ahem* cleaning after it eats. The fecal matter comes in two parts. Brown and soft (and stinky) and large white chunks (large being relative to your snake's size). The white is what's left of bones after digestion.
Also don't worry if it refuses to eat for a while. When I first gotten mine (a mature adult) it didn't eat for 4 months. I became concerned but not panicky because I knew that snakes were capable of self-depravation of food for prolonged periods. Eventually they'll start eating again and go back to a regular cycle that suits them. Mine ate one medium to large sized rat a week. There's no need to vary the diet as well. Switching to a small bunny or guinea pig isn't doing it any favors except yourself. Snakes aren't the type that'll whine and say "RAT! Again?!"
I would also advise leaving it alone prior to shedding and making sure there's some rough areas in it's cage to "rub-off" on. When it's skin becomes dull and the eyes are glossed over, leave it alone because that's when it feels it's most vunerable and likely to be aggressive. Don't help peel any of the skin off until most of it is gone. When you do help out, use a wet paper-towel and go with the grain of the scales and be very gentle. Balls rarely have their skins come off in one nice long piece.
Keep the cage clean as possible. I found mine more "happier" when I kept her cage clean of debris, old skin and fecal matter and changed the bark/bedding monthly (probably due to urine smells).
Oh one more thing... be sure that the animal has voided after eating (usually a couple of days) before taking it out to "play". Snakes can't be house trained and for that matter don't really play, they'll just try to find a spot to hide/escape to and will void when the time is there.
You'll have a long time to enjoy your snake. It's indeed a pretty one.
