what are the CONS of owning a ball python?

Question

Im still working on convincing my parents to let me get a ball python, so i want them to be COMPLETELY SURE that i know everything i can possibly know before they allow me to have it
thanks

Yall know that ball pythons usually only get to 3 to 5 feet, so they arn't that big...so i don't have to worry about a huge giant snake escaping and freaking me out at night...........any more ideas?

Answer 1

One of the most frequent complaints about ball pythons is their reluctance to eat. Many wild-caught balls will quit eating for several months, and may even fast for a year of more. Another common problem with wild-caught ball pythons is parasites. Often the pythons are infested with mites and ticks, as well as internal protozoa.

The best advice to someone interested in buying a ball python: Buy captive bred! Captively produced ball pythons rarely have eating disorders or the assorted parasites found in wild caught snakes. If you already own a wild ball python that sporadically, do not panic. Snakes with good body weight can live for several months without eating. Reluctant eaters will often readily consume gerbils, which are what balls eat in the wild. However, once a ball python tastes gerbil, it may never want to eat mice or rats again.

Answer 2

they are very docile and have good demenors though some can be a bit nippy and none handle-able if you can not feed nice or rats to an animal and are squrmish about that that then a snake is not gonna be a good pet for you when they are babies 12 -18 inches they can be in a 20 long tank till they get as long as the diagnols then you want to get a 30 gallon breeder or 40 gallon breeder tank the 40 is the best bet cuz the snake will average out around 4-6 feet. temps in the day need to be 90-92 and at night in the 80's humidity 60 - 70 percent big water dish though balls arent known to soak its good for the health of the animals and also to keep the humidity up. also house your snake on aspen bedding or reptibark

if you need to know anymore contact me

Answer 3

Well the cons of a ball python I would say is they usually aren't very active and they can be picky eaters and not eat for months. the first answerer doesn't know what he is talking about. it is a little thing called the circle of life. the mice that are fed to snakes are almost always bread solely for this purpose and rodents could breed in their sleep lol.
also when you eat a steak a cow is killed or when your dog has a bone an animal is killed but of course the first answerer doesn't mention or even consider this aspect. Also when you feed your snake you probably won't be feeding it live food, but you will be feeding it frozen food instead which is safer for the snake. A bored mouse may decide to nibble at your snake and this wouldn't be good. Good Luck! Feel free to email me if you have any more questions concerning this topic.

Answer 4

Cons:
Constant light on
Buying mice every week
The chance of the snake getting out
Cleaning it's cage
Scaring people
Sometimes they are picky eaters (mine sure isn't!)
Buying a big cage
Mites
Sometimes it will attract bugs
Watching a mouse die and eating it (and worse if she doesn't eat it, and you have to get a live or dead mouse out of the cage)
for me: Holding the mouse when we put it in the cage (because we wave it in front of her to get her attention)

Really, there aren't many cons. I recently got my first ball python, and i love her. She's very gentle, and eats wonderfully. She loves to be held, sheds good. She did pee on my fiance once, which was funny and gross, but not too many cons

Answer 5

hey blond2sassy why dont you give the website you cut and pasted your answer from credit for it?
there are a few cons one stated perfectly by the prior post...Addiction.. i bought one within 6 months i own 7!!! another is that ...... well i cant think of another but i'll list a few great sites for all the info youll ever need. the first was recommended to me by my exotic animal vet.
good luck getting your new pet, you are starting off good by RESEARCHING prior to purchase.

Answer 6

you will become an addicted herpetologist.

your electricity bill will slightly increase, due to the heat lamp and under tank heater.

your friends will think you're weird, neighbors will look at you suspiciously when you pet a kitten.

you may become a better shot with your big bore blowgun
(i did).

snake poo is stinky.
that's about all i can think of.

Answer 7

If it escapes, it could hurt somebody.

The same question can be asked about keeping a pet tiger.

Although magnificent in their environments, they are not suitable as pets.

You will be feeding it (probably) live animals like rodents, and that is a horrible feeling to know small animals must be sacrificed to keep your snake growing.

Answer 8

Selecting Your Ball Python
Choose an animal that has clear firm skin, rounded body shape, clean vent, clear eyes, and who actively flicks its tongue around when handled. All ball pythons are naturally shy about having their heads touched or handled by strangers; a normal reaction is for the ball to pull its head and neck sharply away from such contact. When held, the snake should grip you gently but firmly when moving around. It should be alert to its surroundings. All young snakes are food for other, larger snakes, birds, lizards and mammalian predators so your hatchling may be a bit nervous at first but should settle down quickly.

Selecting an escape-proof enclosure
Select an enclosure especially designed for housing snakes, such as the glass tanks with the combination fixed screen/hinged glass top. All snakes are escape artists; ball pythons are especially powerful and cunning when it comes to breaking out. A good starter tank for a hatchling is a 10 gallon tank (approximately 20"L x 10"W [50 x 25 cm]). A young adult requires a 20 gallon tank, and full adult may require a 30 gallon tank (36" x 12"W [91 x 35 cm]).

Select a suitable substrate
Use paper towels at first. These are easily and quickly removed and replaced when soiled and, with an import, will allow you to better monitor for the presence of mites and the condition of the feces. Once the animal is established, you can use more decorative ground cover such as commercially prepared shredded cypress or fir bark. Pine and aspen shavings should not be used as they can become lodged in the mouth while eating, causing respiratory and other problems. The shavings must be monitored closely and all soiled and wet shavings pulled out immediately to prevent bacteria and fungus growths. The utilitarian approach is to use inexpensive Astroturf. Extra pieces can be kept in reserve and used when the soiled piece is removed for cleaning and drying (soak in one gallon of water to which you have added two tablespoon of household bleach; rinse thoroughly, and dry completely before reuse). Remember: the easier it is to clean, the faster you'll do it!

Provide a hiding place
A half-log is available at pet stores. An empty cardboard box or upside-down opaque plastic container, both with an access doorway cut into one end, can also be used. The plastic is easily cleaned when necessary; the box can be tossed out when soiled and replaced with a new one. The box or log must be big enough for the snake to hide its entire body inside; you will need to eventually replace it as your snake grows. Ball pythons prefer dark places for sleeping and, as they are nocturnal, they like the dark place during our daylight hours; they also like to sleep in something that is close around them, so do not buy or make too big of a cave for its size. Place a nice climbing branch or two in the tank with some fake greenery screening part of it; your ball will enjoy hanging out in the "tree."

Keeping it warm
Proper temperature range is essential to keeping your snake healthy. The ambient air temperature throughout the enclosure must be maintained between 80-85F (27-29 C)-during the day, with a basking area kept at 90F (32.5 C). At night, the ambient air temperature on the coolest side may be allowed to drop down no lower than 73-75F ( 23-24 C) only if a basking area of at least 80F (27 C) remains available.

Special reptile heating pads that are manufactured to maintain a temperature about 20 degrees higher than the air temperature may be used inside the enclosure. There are adhesive pads that can be stuck to the underside of a glass enclosure. Heating pads made for people, available at all drug stores, are also available; these have built-in hi-med-lo switches and can be used under a glass enclosure. You can also use incandescent light bulbs in porcelain and metal reflector hoods to provide the additional heat required for the basking area. All lights must be screened off to prevent the snake from burning itself.

All pythons, especially ball pythons, are very susceptible to thermal burns. For this same reason do not use a hot rock. New on the market are ceramic heating elements. They radiate heat downwards, do not emit light, and are reported to be long lasting. Plugged into a thermostat will enable you to adjust the temperature inside the tank as the ambient room temperature changes with the seasons.

Buy at least two thermometers - one to use in the overall area 1" (2.5 cm) above the enclosure floor, and the other 1" (2.5 cm) above the floor in the basking area. Don't try to guess the temperature - you will either end up with a snake who will be too cold to eat and digest its food or one ill or dead from overheating.

Humidity
Ball pythons are native to generally temperate to arid areas. Depending on where you live, they may be fine with the ambient humidity. If there are any problems shedding, or feces are dry when deposited or there is straining to defecate, check the humidity with a hygrometer and get it up to 50 percent. When shedding, they will need higher humidity: increase enclosure humidity to 60-65 percent, or mist daily during the shed. If you bathe them in a warm bath the day their eyes clear, they should shed completely within 24 hours.



Lighting
No special lighting is needed. Ball pythons are nocturnal snakes, spending their days in the wild securely hidden away from possible predators. To make it easier to see your ball during the day, you can use a full-spectrum light or low wattage incandescent bulb in the enclosure during the day. Make sure the snake cannot get into direct contact with the light bulbs as ball pythons are very prone to getting seriously burned. Respect your ball's needs, however, and be sure to provide a hide box, and expect them to use it!




Feeding
Allow your snake to acclimate to its new home for a couple of weeks. Start your hatchling (about 15" in length) off with a single pre-killed one week to 10-day old "fuzzy" mouse. A smaller sized hatchling may require a smaller mouse; try a pre-killed 5-day old. Older ball pythons may be fed larger pre-killed mice or pinkie rats. If you have not had any experience force feeding a snake, you may not want to try it yourself until you have seen someone do it. Force feeding, whether of a mouse or with a formula inserted by catheter and syringe, is very stressful for the snake (and it isn't much fun for the owner!). If your new ball has gone several months without eating and is beginning to noticeably lose weight, take it to a reptile vet or contact your local herpetology society and ask to speak to someone who is knowledgeable about ball pythons and feeding problems. A good inexpensive book that covers some of the tricks to enticing reluctant ball pythons to feed is The Care and Maintenance of Ball Pythons by Philippe de Vosjoli, or the new edition, The Ball Python Manual, by de Vosjoli, Dave and Tracy Barker and Roger Klingenberg.



Water
Provide a bowl of fresh water at all times. Your snake will both drink and soak, and may defecate, in it. Check it daily and change when soiled. Soaking is especially good just before a shed. When they eyes clear from their milky opaque, or "blue" state, soak the snake in a tub of warm water for ten minutes or so, then lightly dry it off, and return it immediately to its tank; it should shed cleanly within twenty-four hours.



Health problems
Routine veterinary care for newly acquired snakes is essential. Many of the parasites infesting ball pythons and other reptiles can be transmitted to humans and other reptiles. Left untreated, such infestations can ultimately kill your snake. When your snake first defecates, collect the feces in a clean plastic bag, seal it, label it with the date, your name and phone number and the snake's name, then take it and your snake to a vet who is experienced with reptiles. There it will be tested and the proper medication given if worms or protozoan infestations are found.

A common problem encountered in captivity include retained eye shed (spectacles) and mites. When snakes shed their skin, the layer of skin over their eye is also shed, and can be clearly seen when looking at a piece of head shed. Always check your ball's head shed to assure it has shed the spectacles. If one or both spectacles have been retained, bathe the snake again in warmish water for about ten minutes. Before returning it to the enclosure, place a dab of mineral oil on that eye with a cotton-tipped swab. The spectacle should come off within twenty-four hours. If it does not come off, wrap your four fingers with transparent tape, sticky side out. Gently rock your fingers from left to right (or, from nose to neck) across the eye; the spectacle should come off. If this does not removed the spectacle, then seek veterinary assistance.

Mites are a sign of poor environmental conditions. Adult mites are tiny reddish brown dots barely bigger than the period at the end of this sentence. You may first notice them swarming over your hand and arm after you have handled your snake (don't worry--they are harmless to humans) or see them moving around your snake's body or clustered around the eyes. Mites are harmful to snakes, especially ones that have not been kept properly. On the positive side, they are easy and relatively inexpensive to get rid of, although the process is time-consuming. Read the article Getting Rid of Reptile Mites to find out the best ways to eradicate them.

Snakes, including ball pythons, should routinely shed is one piece, from snout (including spectacles) to tail-tip. If a snake does not shed cleanly, it is a sign that something is not right, either with the snake or with its environment. Newly acquired snakes may not shed properly for the first month or two as they are getting acclimated to their new surroundings. This is a sign of transient stress. If it continues, or begins to occur in a long established snake, the snake must be evaluated for possible health problems, and the snake's environment must be evaluated for humidity problems.



Humidity and Ball Pythons
Ball pythons are native to very warm, but not hot, dry areas in Africa. Many people make the mistake of trying to keep them in a too humid overall environment, using damp sphagnum moss or misting them frequently throughout the day. The problem with this is that keeping the overall environment damp leads to conditions such as blister disease where in the skin, usually of the belly, becomes covered with blisters, leading to bacterial infections of the skin, which in turn leads to overall health problems.

In fact, all a ball python needs is an area within its dry enclosure to which to retreat when it requires higher humidity. One way to accomplish this is to provide a water bowl large enough for the snake to soak in when it wants. Depending on the ambient room (and thus enclosure) humidity, this may be enough, or may be enough during part of the year. Another good, safe option for a ball python is a humidity retreat box.



Handling your new snake
After giving your ball a couple of days to settle in, begin picking it up and handling it gently. It may move away from you, and may threaten you by lashing it's tail and hissing; don't be put off - it is usually just a bluff, and snakes, like most reptiles, are very good at bluffing! Be gentle but persistent. Daily contact with each other will begin to establish a level of trust and confidence between you and your snake. When it is comfortable with you, you can begin taking it around the house. Don't get overconfident! Given a chance and close proximity to seat cushions, your ball will make a run (well, a slither) for it, easing down between the cushions and from there, to points possibly unknown. Always be gentle, and try to avoid sudden movements. If the snake wraps around your arm or neck, you can unwind it by gently grasping it's tail and gently unwrapping it from around your neck or arm - do not try to unwrap it by moving the head. Some snakes are a bit sensitive about being handled soon after they have eaten. If you feed your snake out of it's enclosure, go ahead and replace it back into it's enclosure after it has finished eating. Then leave it be for a couple of days. As the snake gets more comfortable with you, it will be less nervous and less likely to give you back your mouse

Well.. you said you wanted to know as much as you can. :]