Intro

There are a million care sheets on Ball Pythons on the web. Some are great while others aren't worth the time it takes for the page to download. Three of the best care sheets I have found are at NERD, Melissa Kaplan's site, and Ken Felsman's care sheet. Melissa Kaplans care sheet seems a bit outdated now, but there is still good information to be found on it. All three are listed in the links section on our website, be sure to check them out for all the basic info on temps, caging, feeding, and breeding.

A great site is Vida Preciosa Magazine, it's an online mag put together by Dave and Tracy Barker. I think the cost is $20 a year, whatever, it's worth every penny. Make sure and check out Tracy's breeders diary. The Barkers have also recently put out a pair of videos on ball pythons. The videos are not extremely in depth, but they still have a good amount of information in them.

Another excellent source for bp information is "The Ball Python Manual" by Vosjoli and the Barkers. This book is a must for anyone considering ball pythons. The book can be purchased in our links section .

One last link I want to add is for The Snake Keepers email list. Dan and Colette started this list to share information with people, it's always filled with good ideas and helpful hints.

Since there are other resources out there that can cover the basics far better than I can, I won't even get into that type of information. What I will try and cover is the information that the other resources leave out.

In my opinion the key to ball pythons is PATIENCE! Between feeding, breeding, shedding, cleaning, and handling it's all about being patient and working with your animals.

A little info about why I decided to write all this stuff down. I have been keeping ball pythons for about 5 years now. At the current count my girlfriend and I have about 40 ball pythons. I have read just about every care sheet available and have picked the brains of several of the top breeders, and I still have questions. I spend a lot of time on online forums and one thing keeps sticking out at me, there is no information out there that handles daily dealing with ball pythons. All the care sheets cover the basics of husbandry, but they don't tell you about what you'll see on a daily basis. This is the information that I hope to pass on here. I see alot of the same questions being posted all the time on the online forums and I'm hoping to include all these answers also. The one thing that I can guarentee is that no matter how many books and care sheets you read or how many people you talk to, your ball pythons will continue to do things that defy the experts. This is one of the things I love about being involved with these snakes, we are in a constant state of learning about them. I have read articles that were written 10 years ago by experts and they are now obsolete, we have gained so much more knowledge about them over this short amount of time. I'm sure that 10 years from now we will know far more than we do now, and we'll still be learning.

I hope you enjoy this and that you get some useful information out of it. Thank you for taking the time to read this page, it shows you really do care about your snakes well being.

Natural habitat

Ball pythons come from regions in western Africa. Ghana being the country that most ball pythons are exported from. They live in open grasslands with mainly shrubs and small trees. They spend the majority of their time underground in rodent burrows.

I recently did some research on Ghanas weather patterns throughout a year and found a few rather interesting facts. The first important thing I found is that the day/night cycle of Ghana does not change more than half an hour in either direction during the year. This goes against what many people say about photo period cycling for breeding purposes. The day/night cycle of Ghana stays around 11-13 hours of light all year long.

The next interesting thing I found had to do with temperatures. The average high and low temperatures do not vary greatly. This again goes against what most will tell you when it comes to breeding. The average highs were above 82 degrees F and the average lows were around 75 degrees F. These temperatures stayed very constant throughout the year.

What seemed to have the greatest amount of change during the year was the amount of rainfall, which seems to coincide nicely with normal ball python breeding times. Ghana has two times of the year when they get large amounts of rainfall on average. One is right at the beginning of breeding season and the other is about the time most ball pythons lay their eggs.

This may explain why a large amount of breeding activity seen in large collections is when a low front comes into the area. The snakes can sense the change in the weather and react accordingly.

Fig. 1 - "Normal" Ball Python.

Selection

I see a lot of people on forums and email lists asking what the abbreviations CH, WC, CB, and LTC stand for.

CH is captive hatched. Most baby ball pythons in pet stores are CH. In Africa the eggs are dug up or gravid females are collected and held until the eggs are laid. Once the eggs hatch the baby balls are bagged, boxed, and shipped to their destination. Once they reach an importer they are separated into smaller lots, rebagged, reboxed and sent out all over the country to pet stores, high volume dealers, etc..Thousands of these little ones die in this country every year because of this process.

WC stands for wild caught. These are normally adults that are caught and then go through the same procedure as above. These snakes have an even bigger downside, since they have been out in the wild for some time they are normally riddled with internal and external parasites. They will also take longer to acclimate to living in captivity.

CB stands for captive born. This means the parents were bred in captivity, the eggs were incubated in captivity, and the little one's pipped the eggs in captivity. CB is the way to go when purchasing ball pythons. The chances of parasites is very low, most breeders don't sell their babies until they have fed on their own several times, and the more cb babies we produce the fewer that will have to go through the importation process.

LTC means long term captive. This term is used rather freely. It seems that for some folks LTC means more than a week, while others use it for animals they have had at least a year. When purchasing a snake that is described as LTC, make sure you find out exactly how "long" its really been captive.

Just another short abbreviation explanation. This has to do with sex ratios. You will see people saying they have 1.2.3 ball pythons. This means that they have one male, two females, and three of unknown sex. It is always placed as male.female.unknown.

I can't stress enough the need to buy from reputable and respected breeders. Not only does it slowly cut down on the amount of animals imported, but your chances of having problems with your snake are reduced greatly. Even if your buying your new snake from the guy down the street that breeds ball pythons for fun that's still far better than a captive hatched animal.

There is a list of reputable breeders in our Links section that are all known for the quality of their animals and their setups.

When you are selecting a new snake there are some things to keep an eye on. Most of the care sheets do go into this so I won't make a big production about it. If you are going to buy from a pet shop instead of a breeder there are a few things to help you make and educated decision. As strange as this may sound, it's often the most nippy hachlings that will be healthy, and will feed for you right off the bat. Feeding is probably the most important aspect when getting a hatchling from a pet store, ask to see the snake eat before purchasing it. You also want to make sure the snake has good body weight for it's size. Look the snake over, check it for ticks and mites. Ticks will look a lot like scales, they will just be raised up higher than a normal scale. Mites are very tiny and hard to spot. They are normally found around the eyes and mouth, and on your hands after handling.

If anything about the snake looks or feels strange you do not want it. Feel for rock hard lumps just before the tail. This can be a sign of hardened yolk inside the body. This is almost always fatal, even with surgery. We have found that occasionally you can push out this mass and the snake may be able to live out a long and healthy life. This may sound callous but do not buy a snake because you feel sorry for it, at least not until you have the experience to deal with any problems that may come up, and a bank account big enough to handle the vet bills.

This is what we do when we bring in a new snake, no matter who it comes from. We set the snake up in a very basic cage, heatpad, newspaper, hide box, and water bowl. That's it. Before we put in the snake we will remove the water bowl and we spray the substrate with a product called Provent-a-mite made by Pro-Products. You will want to pay special attention to the instructions on the can, they should be followed exactly. Once you've followed the instructions you can put the snake and the water bowl in the cage.

We will normally leave the snake alone for at least 3-4 days to let it acclimate. At this point we will normally try and feed a thawed mouse and see what happens. If it's refused we'll leave the snake alone for another few days and try again. This part of getting a new snake isn't much fun since you aren't getting to interact with the snake, but it's a good way to make sure the snake isn't carrying any parasites, and for it to settle into your captive care.

It is a good idea to take a stool sample from your newly aquired snake to a Veterinarian so it can be checked for parasites. This is usually an inexpensive and quick process. The medicines are usually inexpensive also and treatment doesn't take more than a few weeks for most internal parasites.

Caging

Now that you know where your little one came from let's talk about what your putting it in. Most first time snake owners keep their snakes in aquariums. I'm not getting into size, that's for the other care sheets. If your a first time owner here's a secret, bp's are addictive, very soon you'll be wanting a few more. If you've been keeping bp's a while, well, how many do you have?

This is where things get interesting. There seem to be two schools of thought on keeping several bp's. One is to only have a few and keep them in very decorative cages. The other is to have a bunch and keep them in some kind of rack system. Either way you go, once you have 3-4 ball pythons, aquariums just don't seem to cut it anymore, although there are a few folks out there who will prove me wrong.

There are two more categories of people in both of the above, those who can spend lot's of cash and those who are going to become carpenters/electricians.

If you only want a few snakes and want the decorative cages then aquariums may still work for you, but there are reptile cages on the market now that blow aquariums away. Neodesha and Vision cages are the two premier makers of reptile cages. This is for the folks who have some cash to spend. The cages singly aren't really that expensive but it adds up when you need 8-10 of them. Plus they take up a bit of space. A lower cost alternative are Barrs cages, they are inexpensive, light weight, and in my opinion are about the perfect small cage. Barrs cages should probably only be used for up to yearlings, maybe a little older, unless of course they've come out with a bigger cage. The other option is to build your own custom cages. I have seen some really amazing and innovative cage ideas, just put your imagination to work.

Now if you want a large number of bp's then a rack system is the way to go. Freedom Breeder makes an exceptional rack system. Matrix, Neodesha, and Habitat Systems also make good rack systems. There are some other cage makers out there that will make custom cages that also double as furniture. These are beautiful pieces with a price tag to match, although in my eyes they would be worth every penny. Showcase Cages is one company that makes cages like this. Cages by Design also makes a gorgeous cage that while it isn't really furniture, they would fit right into a living room decor.

If you can't afford to buy one of these systems then this is another point where you become a carpenter and an electrician. We have built all of our own racks, the cost is far less than buying one but it takes some work and planning.

I have seen some decorative/naturalistic cages that are simply amazing. When someone uses their imagination to really think about their setup it's unreal what they can accomplish. The downside to these types of cages is that maintenance becomes a lot of work. Do not let that discourage you. If I only had one or two snakes I would definitely have naturalistic cages.

The hard part of the natural cages is getting your temperatures and humidity correct and stable. Once this is done you can just go crazy with the cage, your only limitation will be your imagination and your wallet. The substrate used in most naturalistic cages is either cypress mulch or Repti Bark. The hides are usually cork bark or some of the manufactured fake rock hides. I do not recommend using real rocks as the snakes are likely to move them around and could get squished. A climbing branch or two is always good to put in, your snake will use it quite a bit. Make sure that all decorations are secure, you don't want your snake pushing something over onto itself or into the glass. Ball pythons are not the greatest climbers in the world, you will see them, and hear them, fall once in a while. Not to worry as I'm sure they take tumbles in the wild also. It can really scare you when you see them fall though. Just be forewarned, it will happen.

Things to remember about naturalistic cages. Temps and humidity will be different in a bare cage than they will be in a decorated one. The best idea is to set up the cage and monitor it with a thermometer and humidity guage for a few days before putting in the snake.

In my opinion it is best to house ball pythons singly. Also if you are using the natural setup feeding in another enclosure is a good idea. This way you don't have to worry about the snake ingesting any of the substrate and you don't have to worry about the decorations getting destroyed as the snake wraps it's prey. Live plants are not a good idea for the simple reason that they will more than likely be destroyed from the snake crawling over them. I know some people who do use live plants but have to work very hard to ensure the snakes don't crush them. If you want the look of plants without the hassle get plastic plants, they look good and you can just bend them back into shape after your bp goes cruising over top of them.

Constant monitoring of temps and humidity is a must, also keep the cage clean. Bacteria and other nasties can become a problem quickly in this type of setup. Once you have all the bases covered you will be rewarded with a beautiful setup for your snakes home.

Basic Cage Requirements

Alright, you've decided what your going to keep your snake or snakes in, but what else are you going to put in with them? Well there are a few things that are a must no matter what kind of cage your using.

First is substrate ( whatever you use to line the bottom of the cage ). We use newspaper for all our snakes. No it's not the prettiest, but it's economical, easy to clean, and is mildly absorbent. A lot of keepers swear by cypress mulch, it's rather economical, can be spot cleaned, and looks a little better. The down side is that you have to watch and make sure the snake doesn't ingest any large pieces. Aspen shavings fall into this category also. Care Fresh is another product we've used. It's not nearly as cost effective as newspaper or cypress mulch, but it's very absorbant, helps keep down odors, and can be spot cleaned. Also, it can be ingested with no ill effects. These are probably the top used substrates although some folks do use other things.

Second is a water bowl, not just any water bowl though, unless you enjoy cleaning out soaked substrate a couple times a day. The main thing you have to remember is that ball pythons are heavy bodied and curious snakes. If the water bowl is too light they will crawl across it or try and burrow under it and flip the bowl over. If it's too big they may use it as a hide and stay in it for long periods of time. This can be a bad thing as it could lead to respiratory infections if they get too cool in the water. We use a dog water bowl that has a weighted bottom and is wider at the bottom than at the top. These have been perfect for us.

Third is a hide box. This is a must for ball pythons. They are nocturnal and rather secretive snakes. Two hide boxes is even better, one on the warm side of the cage and another on the cooler side. If you have a really large cage you'll want to add even more. Hides can be anything that the snake will fit in, really. Ball pythons like to feel tight and secure so the hides should be of a size that the snake will touch at least 2 of the walls when it's curled up inside. We've used empty envelope boxes, cut down cereal boxes, colored tupperware containers, cork bark, the plastic tubs that butter comes in, and molded plastic hides. It really doesn't matter what you use as long as you use something.

Fourth is heat. This is a must, ball pythons come from Africa and live in an area that is quite warm. An undertank heat pad is by far the most prefered method for aquariums or other custom cages. If your using a rack system you'll be using some form of heat tape. DO NOT use hot rocks, snakes will lay on them and get burns, this is not a good thing. Another method of heating is using heat lamps or ceramic heat emitters. These can be used in conjuction with heat pads. The down side of the heat lamps is they dry out the air and make it much harder to keep your humidity up where you want it. Whatever you use, make sure it is hooked up to some kind of thermostat. These can range in price from $30 - several hundred dollars. Also, you do not want your snake coming into direct contact with the heat source, they will get burned! One other form of heat that I should mention is using full room heating. This can be very tricky and expensive if your doing it properly. I know of a few people who have used this with great success, but it's taken a lot of trial and error to get it right. If you go with this method, make sure you have everything worked out perfectly before introducing any snakes.

If you are using a rack system the above four items are all you'll need for your snakes. If your going for the decorative look then you can get really wild about what you put in the cage.

One last thing that is a must although it doesn't go in the cage, is an escape proof lid. I don't know how many times I have seen posts on forums saying "My snake has escaped". Ball Pythons are great escape artists, if they find one weak spot they will exploit it and get out. Check with your local pet store or reptile shop, they will be able to sell or get a tight locking lid. If you get a vision cage, or make a custom cage of your own, it's a good idea to put a lock of some sort on the door.

Another item that is not really a necessity but should be considered is a humidifier. If you live in a very dry area you are going to have a very hard time getting your humidity to good levels. A humidifier can really help you out. This will take some tweaking to get just right, but it can be just what the doctor ordered.

One thing that I've seen recently at some reptile shows are odor removers. These little machines will take just about any odor out of the air. We do not use one so I can't say if they truly do what they claim, but it may not be a bad idea, snake rooms can get to smelling funny sometimes. You may not notice it, but visitors will!

Fig. 2 - Ball Python feeding.

Feeding

Okay, now you've got your snake setup in it's new home. You've got the environment right and all the necessities covered. So now what? Well the snakes has to eat doesn't it? Let's give feeding a shot.

Ball pythons have a habit of refusing food at certain times of the year, and sometimes for apparently no reason at all. I say apparently because most of the time something has changed in their environment that we haven't noticed. Ball pythons will normally start refusing food after their second year from late October - early November through to late March - early May. This is normal ball python behavior. It is usually in conjuction with the temps starting to drop for winter. We have also seen young ball pythons refuse food for a month or so around 9-12 months of age. This is something that we don't understand. Whenever a bp starts refusing food and it's not a normal time of the year you should start by checking your temps, and humidity. If those are fine the next best step would be to get a fecal exam done by a local vet, these are normally inexpensive ( around $12-15 ). Internal parasites and a change in environment are the most common reason's for a bp to refuse food. Even changing from one cage to another can spark a mini fast for a couple weeks.

I have found that if all the snakes environmental needs are taken care of that most BP's, even wild caught, will feed on their own if given enough time. From my experience one of the things that most care sheets miss is that BP's, especially young captive hatched, need to be kept in a cage by themselves. We have had a great deal of success raising captive hatched BP's when housed singly. With even two snakes in a cage we have had problem feeders. So the rule around here is one snake per cage except during breeding season. I know alot of people will disagree with that statement but remember, this is what has worked for us. These are not hard and fast rules that everyone must follow.

A short story to illustrate the above point.
We were given 13 captive hatched baby ball pythons because they were problem feeders. They were all kept together and only separated for feeding attempts. The person had offered food five times with no luck on these 13. We brought them home and set each one up in it's own cage. Three days later we dropped a small live mouse in each cage. Within 15 minutes eight had eaten their mouse. Within another two weeks the rest were eating as well.

Ball pythons in there natural habitat feed mainly on gerboas. Gerboas are similar to the gerbils you see at pet stores. Mostly in captivity ball pythons are fed mice and rats. There have been some interesting studies done lately on the nutritional values of mice and rats and the differences between the two. I think that debate is still up in the air so I won't go any farther into that.
Here's where a big controversy comes in, whether to feed live prey or prekilled. It's really up to you. There are a lot of people on both sides of that fence. There are some advantages to both sides of the argument though.

Obviously a live prey animal can fight back, and they have been known to inflict serious damage to ball pythons. But, some ball pythons just won't take anything but live prey, no matter how many tricks we humans try. If your going to feed live you'll have to pay close attention. What we do when feeding live is to only give a limited amount of time that prey and snake are in together, usually about 30 minutes. If the prey isn't eaten by then it goes to another snake. We never leave live prey in over night, I have seen too many scarred up snakes and pictures of dead snakes to give the prey that kind of chance. The upside to feeding live is that it's very easy. You simply drop in the prey and go on to the next cage.

Feeding prekilled is just the opposite. If you have to kill the prey that takes time. There are a couple methods that are considered "humane" ways to kill prey items. One is using carbon dioxide, I have never done this and have never seen it done. Another is to hold the prey by the tail, set it down on a table, place something right behind it's head, and at the same time press down against the base of the skull and pull on the tail. If done correctly this dislocates the spinal cord and kills the prey item instantly. There are a couple other ways that are not deemed "humane". One is the wacking method, take the prey by the tail, then with a good deal of force swing them and strike the prey's head against a solid object. Another method is freezing them.

Now we can move to my preferred way of feeding. Thawed. We can buy several hundred frozen mice at a time and then thaw out only what we need. This also takes time to thaw out the prey but you don't have the worry of the prey fighting back and causing an injury to your snakes. A large percentage of ball pythons will readily take thawed prey, and some more will take it after some coaxing. The other time consuming part of this is getting the snakes to take the prey. Most will snatch it up as soon as they see it, some want you to just drop it in the cage and they will get it later, other's want you to wiggle it around for a while with tongs. This is a good way to get to know your snakes though. After a few feedings you'll know what method to use with which snakes.

This is a normal feeding session around here.

I will start with the thawed mice and rats, this way I have a chance to try all the snakes with thawed. Sometimes out of the blue a snake that has for months refused thawed prey will take it.

You will learn your snakes feeding behaviour after only a few feedings. I have some that will shoot right out of their container to get at the food, others will stay in their hid box and wait for it to be delivered. Something that I have noticed is that most of my older snakes don't care if the prey is moving around or not. I can just drop the thawed prey in the cage and go on to the next one. With our younger snakes they seem to want to see the prey moving. Once I have finished feeding thawed I take a count of what live prey I will need and head to the pet store. I always get a few extra mice as some snakes will take more than one at a feeding. I never feed more than two at a time. This is just a personal preference, I'm not sure that there's any basis in fact for it, just a rule that I've made. By the time that I've dropped in the last of the live prey I can start going back and checking to see who's eaten and who hasn't. I will keep an eye on the remaining snakes. After about 30 minutes if the snake still hasn't eaten I will remove the prey and give it to another snake that is already finished with their first. I do not put prey in with a snake that is still in the eating process. This can stress them or cause them to spit out the first meal and go for the second. Thusly wasting one prey item.

All feedings are recorded, as well as refusal's of food. I will get into documentation later. Total elapsed time for feeding, not counting the drive to the pet store - 1 hour 15 minutes approximately.

Shedding

Shedding is a topic that is covered in detail in most of the care sheets and books about ball pythons so I won't go into it much.

Fig. 3 - Ball Python head closeup.

You will know when a shed cycle is starting because your snakes colors will start to look faded and a little cloudy. The belly scales will get a pinkish tint to them also. After about a week of this you will notice that your snakes eye's have taken on a blueish color, don't panic, this is normal. This will last for a few days, during this time you want to make sure that the humidity in the cage is optimal. The snakes eye's will clear back up to a normal color, at this point it's only a day or so before the snake will shed.

If your snake sheds in one piece, congratulations. If it does not then there are three normal reasons why. First is that the humidity was too low, second is stress/illness, third is parasites.

Whether your snake shed fully or not, check the shed to make sure the eyecaps came off. This is very important. We occasionaly still have bad sheds once in a while, if the eyecaps are retained we normally just leave them alone and then make sure that the next time the snake sheds that the humidity is quite high in the cage. This will usually fix the problem. If you snake retains it's eyecaps after two sheds you will need to take it to a vet and have them show you how to remove the eyecaps. This is not particularly hard to do but you are working on the snakes eyes and that is no place for a screw up. If retained eyecaps are not removed your snake can develope several problems, some of which can cause blindness or a need for removal of the eye.

When we have a snake that had a bad shed the next time we will usually soak the snake for a while to aid the shedding process. The best way we have found to do this is to put the snake in a tupperware container ( with air holes ) and a 1/2 inch of warmish water. You can even put a heat pad under the container to keep the water warm. We'll let them soak for an hour or two. We do this after seeing the eye's have been blue for a couple days.

You can also spray the snake down a couple times a day with lukewarm water, or let them soak in the bathtub for a while. What you do really doesn't matter as long as they are getting alot more moisture and humidity than normal. You don't want to over do it though, that can cause problems. A couple hours of soaking or daily mistings will do the trick.

One other method to try is to give your snake a humidity box. We use tupperware containers, just cut a hole in the top and put in some damp sphagnum moss (or other similar substrate ). Make sure to keep the moss damp by misting it every couple days. When your snake needs the added humidity it'll hang out in this box for a while.

Cleaning

Last but not least when dealing with the cages, after feeding and shedding come cleaning. Not the most pleasant job but one that must be done. A clean cage will keep your snake healthy and happy for a long time.

Changing out the substrate and keeping fresh water in the bowl is important but fully cleaning the cage is equally important. At least once a month you should clean the cage, hides, and water bowl. We normally fill the bathtub with a bleach and water mixture ( it doesn't take a lot of bleach, 1 cup will work great in a normal bathtub )and let the water bowls and hides soak for an hour or so. After that we will rinse them out and then wash them with dish washing liquid. If your using a rack you can do the same thing with the tupperware containers. When you are doing a mass cleaning like this, just throw away all the old substrate and start fresh. If you are using cypress mulch, take it out and throw it on your garden, great fertilizing material.

If you are using aquariums, commercial cages, or a custom cage your job is a little harder here, especially if you've gone through all the trouble of decorating your tank. You will still want to follow the above ideas for disinfecting all the decorations, hides, etc.. but cleaning the cage itself is a bit of work. If you can, follow the steps above for cleaning. If you can't you'll simply have to wash down the tank, make sure you get in all the nooks and cranny's. You'll also want to make sure that you completely rinse away all the bleach and dishwashing liquid. You don't want any left over fumes and odors in there.

We give the hides and water bowls the full treatment every two weeks. On the other weeks we will pull out the water bowls and give them a quick washing. You'll notice that after a week the sides and bottom of the bowl will get a slick feeling to them, when that happens it's time to wash them out. Of course since our snakes couldn't care less about our routine they will soil the water bowls and hides in the middle of the week, don't let this sit, clean up right away. We check every cage every day and spot clean as we go. This is the only way to ensure that your snakes are being kept in the best conditions. Occasionaly a snake will find a way to tip over it's water bowl and soak it's cage, this should be cleaned immediatly also, you don't want them laying around in standing water for a full day.
Following these simple cleaning rules will help you avoid a large amount of problems, vet bills, and stress.

Handling

Now that you are completely discouraged because so far it seems like all you ever do is clean and feed let's talk about the fun stuff.

Handling your snake, this is what started all this anyhow. If you didn't like holding and looking at snakes you wouldn't have one. This is where all your hard work pays off, you get to enjoy your healthy and happy pet.

A quick word about handling new arrivals. Contact with a brand new snake should be kept to a minimum for at least a few days. Give the snake time to adjust to it's new surroundings. The best way to tell if a snake has adjusted is if it will eat. Once your snake has had a couple meals then you know they have settled in. It's a good idea to give your snake a day after meals before handling, if you handle it right away there is a chance that it will give back it's meal. You don't want this, it is perhaps the most foul smell I have ever come across.

Also handling your snake while it's in a shed cycle isn't the best idea, most snakes are a little cranky when they are blue ( they can't see when their eyes are blue ).

Make sure you wash your hands before and after handling your snakes. You don't want to smell like dinner when you reach in to pick them up. You also don't want to transport any unknown bacteria or other nasties from snake to snake.

When you first pick up your snake you should do so firmly but gently. You don't want to grab the snake behind the head, unless there's a reason. Take hold of the snake mid way down the body and pick it up. We have a few that will look at your hand like it's dinner until you pick them up. If you have a snake that is striking you should try using a snake hook to get it out of its cage, normally once out of the cage they will settle down nicely. Since a lot of us don't have snake hooks just laying around here's another way to do it, simply drape a towel over the snake, once you have the snake out of it's cage remove the towel.

We have found that handling for 15-30 minutes a day, every 2-3 days, will settle down even the most aggressive ball pythons in around two weeks. While you are handling them, don't try and restrict their movements, just let them cruise. Obviously you will want to direct them away from things at times but all you have to do move them, not restrain them. Letting a ball python hang around your neck is not a good move, these are very strong snakes and can do damage unintentionally if scared.

As long as you are watching, there's no reason not to let your snake explore the room your in. Remember though, ball pythons can be amazingly quick and they will be gone as soon as you turn your head. Constant attention must be paid to what they are doing. It is fun to watch them explore and check things out.

Please for the sake of everyone is this hobby, do not take your snakes out to public places. A vast majority of the population is still very afraid of snakes and sticking one in their face is not the way to win anyone over. Just enjoy your snakes at home where you are both safe and happy. There have actually been laws passed in several cities that make it illegal to have your snake out in public. There are also laws that prohibit the ownership of exotic pets in several cities, we need to educate people on the truths of reptiles, not scare the crap out of them and make them fear us and our snakes even more.

Article written by Stu at 2am Creations
Copyright 2am Creations - Reproduced with Permission
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