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Wow KingBeast!! You sure do have a menagerie going on! I absolutely love your snakes!! I’ve always wanted one but was afraid of all the upkeep that is involved with them. Lucerne is so beautiful I can easily see why you’d fall head over heels for her/him!
The upkeep for a snake is not nearly as much as you’d think – especially for a ball python. By no means should you neglect them… But they’re called ‘pet rocks’ by the industry for a reason. Honestly my upkeep for them includes thus: A daily check over to make sure they’re still breathing, spotclean for poops, make sure their water is clean and topped off, and a pat if they’re out (I don’t bother them only to do a quick visual). Lucerne gets a little bit of handling every other day because she’s a baby and still getting used to being touched but it’s minimal because there’s a bit of a balance between handling and stress.
Feeding for Lucerne is every week (and is now getting bumped to bigger meals and thus is being moved to every other week), and Nero is fed every 2 to 3 weeks depending on how big his meals are.
So really, their upkeep is NOT that much. THe big thing with snakes is their upfront costs – They’re lovely pets honestly. Calm and quiet, don’t make too much of a mess…Until they tip over their waterbowls or poop in it..(LONG STARE at Nero.)
Absolute Godtier wishlist
Contusion Male Dragon painted by Brandi Wise
Bantam Kickstarter dragon #102, "Alien", red/black colors with black eyes. Clone is fine. If you get one and want to get rid of it, PLEASE message me.Snakes are seriously one of the easiest pets to care for- don’t have the touchy lighting requirements of lizards and chelonians, don’t need that much handling and attention, are clean basically… a great pet for someone who may not have the time to devote to a more conventional pet but wants more than a plant. I’ve known some awesome snakes, and my sister’s corn snake (AKA red rat snake) Worm is almost housebroken. Okay, it’s my sister that’s trained, but she rarely has a poop to clean up. She takes him out for a ‘walk’ 3 days after eating (takes him out to the front lawn and lets him cruise around for awhile) and he poops first thing. It’s gotten so pooping in the cage seems to stress him. And he is such a mellow and calm creature. Perfect for her.
Yeah, like Pip says, once you have their routines down it really can be that simple! I also have all my tanks set up as bioactive enclosures so that if I miss a poo or a bit of shed or anything, the isopods and springtails will clean it up.
Plus then I get a bonus of keeping rolly polly bugs!
Absolute Godtier wishlist
Contusion Male Dragon painted by Brandi Wise
Bantam Kickstarter dragon #102, "Alien", red/black colors with black eyes. Clone is fine. If you get one and want to get rid of it, PLEASE message me.That is so freaking awesome!! I may have to do some more research and have to get one. I really want one like Lucerne. Where did you pick her up from? She is so amazing! How big will she get?
Yeah definitely do more research, but as a whole ball pythons are not too difficult of a species to own. Their biggest difficult is the fact that they need a touch more humidity than some of the other “””beginner””” animals (which is why I don’t always consider them beginner animals myself) and they’re notorious for going off food / can be very very picky. Nero, my adult male, once went 9 months without food. That was fun….
Lucerne was picked up at a reptile expo (repticon Nashville) from a small breeder called BND Morphs, but you can find a ball python just about anywhere. Sites like morphmarket are good starts to look into a particular breeder and let you narrow down your searches by morph (color change) if you want. There are some specific breeders/places to avoid like the plague, and the big industry names I wouldn’t so much as put a single braincell of thought into would be backwater reptiles (nope nope nope just nope absolutely not), underground reptiles (they regularly import farm raised animals and wild caught animals) and BHB animals (that guy is just…ugh….I can serenade the ways I don’t like or respect his animal practices).
She, like any other adult female ball python, will only get 4-5 feet long in total. Nero, my male, is 4 feet on the nose tip to tip – Luce, being a female, will get a little bit bigger than he will. Snakes are one of the species where females tend to get a little bigger than the males. As a whole the BP breed is pretty calm and sedate, not too nippy but it does happen and I have gotten a bite from a ball python – nothing too bad though, not nearly anything to shriek home about (nothing compared to a bite from a cranky 9.5ft boa bite. That one suuuucked). Any animal with a mouth can bite though, and it is something to keep in mind – they’re much more apt to doing what their name implies though – curling up in a ball iwth their head in the middle.
They’re a great species and some of my personal favorite snakes. If you do like the all white look, there are corn and kingsnakes that do come in white that also make great beginner keeper pets that you can also look into. Corns are probably the easiest snakes imo to take care of, the only issue I can think of with corns is that they’re little teeny ragenoodles when they’re newborns (but lets be real, if you were the size of a pencil, you’d be scared and defensive too).
Absolute Godtier wishlist
Contusion Male Dragon painted by Brandi Wise
Bantam Kickstarter dragon #102, "Alien", red/black colors with black eyes. Clone is fine. If you get one and want to get rid of it, PLEASE message me.Yay, more snekkerdoodles! 😛 You have beautiful ball pythons, KingBeast. It’s good to see another snake keeper on the forum.
I have acquired a couple more snakes since my last post, but I figured it’s been a while, so I will post a pic of each of my snakes.
This is Namira, a 2 year old common boa, 4′ long. She’s an absolute sweetheart, easily the gentlest of my snakes. She does everything slowly and thoughtfully.
This is Tiberius, a 10 month old half dwarf burmese python, 37″ long. He’s my “lap snake”, in that he will usually curl up in my lap and be content to just hang out when I take him out of his enclosure.
This is my newest acquisition, Ridley the 20 month old super dwarf reticulated python, 7’6″ long. We’re still in the getting to know each other phase, so I’m working on building trust with him during handling sessions.
And last but not least, my tiny girl, Rowan the 11 month old common boa, 28″ long. She’s such a cutie, and likes to watch everything that goes on, with her head always poked out of one hide or another.
Not my pets, but I thought of this thread when Melody posted a photo on Facebook.
Melody’s female guinea pigs (she might have a male as well) … “My new Guinea pig, George. George is a female. She makes a fine companion for Tornado, my other female pig. George is the red and white one.”
Melody also has turtles, and goldfish, and maybe other creatures that don’t have their photos on her Facebook page. 🙂
January 23, 2021 – Look how gold my gold fish is turning!
April 8, 2021 – my beautiful new turtle house.
Question – Wow is that custom Made?
Melody’s reply – yes
September 22, 2021 – Turtles love climbing
She also raises African Violets and other house plants from seed. Maybe they qualify as pets too!
June 12, 2021 – Streptocarpus flowers. I grew these from seeds. Not sure why I’m so proud of these , they did the work. That’s what plants do.
5 fledgling Quail.Houdini,little one,Leghorn,the big one I think is a rooster,Buddha,the brown one that just sirs and eats,2 more to name😁Made them a scratching pen from a dog kennel.
Every act matters.No matter how small💞
(Wanted......Brimstone Lap)
Male Hearth....one day🤞Dream on.Houdini is so tiny.The eggs are as small as my thumb nail.
Every act matters.No matter how small💞
(Wanted......Brimstone Lap)
Male Hearth....one day🤞Dream on.They sure are.Very tame and I can tell I have a Rooster already.The biggest one,always craining his neck and watching the sky or trying his wings trying to get out.I don’t know what the heck to do with the little things.It takes 6eggs to match 1 chicken egg.lol
Every act matters.No matter how small💞
(Wanted......Brimstone Lap)
Male Hearth....one day🤞Dream on.
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