re: Any ball python owners?

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One big tip here. DO NOT feed in the aquarium that the snake lives in.

They will start to expect food when you open the lid and can start snapping at you

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I've read that, but then I watched a video where a guy said that's not necessary if you get them out more frequently than you feed them. I can see the logic behind not feeding them in their home though.

Nonetheless, the person I got it from said it was hungry and due to eat within a day or two. I just wanted to make sure it was comfortable and got a meal in her before trying any other techniques. I've only had it about 48 hours and it just ate about an hour ago. I think that's a good sign.

Its a long term play/strategy. It teaches them that the bathtub or wherever is food. Snakes can be very finicky with eating.

There are a variety of reasons I wouldnt feed in the living space.

-They think the top opening is food and can attack you or someone else
-When they get dropped into the tub, they know they are there for food and only food
-They wont waste any time with the mouse/rat
-In the living space, food might be a surprise and they arent ready to eat. The rat/mouse will often run straight up to the snake and startle the snake. The snake usually wont eat now
-In that situation, the snake is vulnerable to getting bit by the mouse.
-Bites can be harmful depending on what the mouse may be carrying and that scar can be forever


My first snake pretty much was handled all the time because of roommates and friends. But when he was put in the tub, it was go time.

The guy could be right in his video about all his snakes, but they are still an animal that you can 'train' in a sense to decrease the chance of biting you. Ball pythons wont inflict much damage to a grown man but they could mess up a small kid

Word.

Plus its an easy cleanup for the occasional blood, guts, piss and poo

Beautiful snake though!

My 8yr old and I have bought everything but the snake.

We’ve been on Morph Market but I’m trying to go to the New Orleans Show in a couple weeks to buy.

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One big tip here. DO NOT feed in the aquarium that the snake lives in.

They will start to expect food when you open the lid and can start snapping at you

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Most people now consider this outdated information. It used to be the prevailing thought, although I've never fed in a separate enclosure.

Either way can work fine. However, one important point is that some snakes are finicky eaters. And ball pythons are infamous for this. If your snake is already a reluctant eater, it's almost guaranteed not to eat after you pick it up and move it to another place.

I think we currently have 10 snakes (a few of them are actually my daughter's, but I help her take care of them). I feed every one of them inside their enclosures. I have one snake, a small boa, that WILL bite you if you just stick your hand in his enclosure. But, he's extremely food motivated. The thing is, he would do the same thing if I put him in a tub to eat, and then went to get him back out. To get around being bitten, I do what snake nerds refer to as "hook training." I open his enclosure, reach in with a snake hook (could be any kind of stick) and start to touch him, or gently pull his tail toward me. He immediately snaps out of hunting mode and goes into, "ah crap, that big monster thing is going to pick me up again" mode. You can see him change. He stops watching the movement at the front of his enclosure, ready to strike, and starts trying to escape the thing touching him. At that point, I can just reach in and pick him up. He's never once tried to bite after I've picked him up this way.

Anyway, like I said, you CAN do it either way, but most people now recommend feeding in their enclosure, especially for BP's. If you have a food motivated snake, you may find that putting it in a separate enclosure to feed causes it to associate the tub with food and you end up with the same issue you're trying to avoid, just in a different spot. On the other end of the spectrum, if you have a typical ball python, you may find that it refuses to eat if you handle it at all near feeding time.

sounds about right to me

You just gonna let it go when you get tired of taking care of it like all the other snake owners?

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You just gonna let it go when you get tired of taking care of it like all the other snake owners?

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This is like assuming all hunters are poachers.

There are shitty reptile owners just like there are shitty dog owners or anything else. But, it's rare for anyone to release them into the wild. Most of the problem in the Everglades is due to a breeding facility that was destroyed in a hurricane. Not many people are releasing animals they can easily sell. Dumb people see photos of a dead ball python somewhere and assume someone released it. But, usually, it died and someone dumped the body in the woods. Sure, it happens, but not commonly.

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Yes, but poachers and dog owners are not ruining an entire ecosystem.

From the story above it doesn't sound like you have to be a shitty exotic snake owner for one to get loose. It can happen to anyone.

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Let's not dumb up this thread. There are literally MILLIONS of reptile keepers in the US. Nobody needs your approval.

Our pythons werent reluctant unless the mouse or rat ran up to them and touched them. After that, it was a no go for feeding.

Yea I never used a hook, always my hand so that act never symbolized food imo. The tub meant food.

I guess it all depends the method you choose.