re: Advice on keeping ball pythons as pets

it sounds like you and your kids do have actual interest so i would recommend looking at some good online guides. i did a quick search and found this one that seems decent enough LINK /

Ball pythons are not my general recommendation for brand new snake enthusiast. they have some environmental parameter needs that are a little more challenging (no overwhelmingly so) and can at times become picky eaters. i would put them in the more challenging beginner snake to intermediate. its not insurmountable if thats the exact animal you want though. if its just a snake in general you want to have and not necessarily a ball python, i always recommend corn snakes or king snakes, both are very easy beginner snakes and hearty animals. some of the kings species are quite pretty imho.

you got some pretty decent advice from the other fellow. i would have to disagree on one point. i dont like heat rocks. its a piece of plastic that has an electric element that heats up in it. it make the rock hot so the animal wants to lay on it for warmth. if those elements over heat they can give some devasting burns to the snake. I prefer the enclosure to have a heat gradients (cold side and hot side). either from a heat lamp or specialized heating mat that sticks to the underside of the enclosure.

start there, read some stuff. if you have questions I'll keep tabs on this post to try and answer. the number 1, absolute at the top, most important thing for snake care is the environment for the animal. not enough heat, too much heat, not enough humidity, etc. if anything will make your snake sick or kill your snake, that will be it.