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Tips for Buying Ball Pythons
Characteristics of Ball Pythons
How to Set Up Your Snake Terrarium
How to Handle a Ball Python
How to Avoid a Python Strike
More on How to Avoid a Python Strike
How to Keep Your Ball Python Healthy
How to Prevent Mouth Rot in Ball Pythons
How to Keep Morph Ball Pythons
How to Determine the Sex of a Ball Python
How to Breed Pythons
How to Feed a Python
Tips for Raising Pythons
Summary: Learn how to set up your snake terrarium in this free video.
Nichole Bragg is the reptile expert at the Pet Kingdom in Cottonwood, Arizona. Call them at 928-639-4283.read more
"On behalf of expert village, I am nicole and I here to tell you about Ball Python. Ok, this is an adult Male Ball Python, he is about six feet long now and he is ten years old; this is as big as he's gonna get. As you can see; they tend to stay fairly chubby, but they stay short. The care of a Ball Python is fairly simple, compare to some other species of snakes; the Ball Pythons do require high humidity, they are from the jungle so they're used to the high humidity in the Rain Forest and a place to burl. The care for Ball Python would require a humidifier. They need to be kept in a large glass tank; something that's big enough for them to stretch out in, if they were to do so, they usually stay curled up, so that's perfect size for a Ball Python. Now, they need to have a glass cage with a screen top. The screen needs to be metal, because you'd be setting heat lamps on top of the cage to keep the cage warm. Now this needs to be something that's not going to catch on fire. For sub stray inside the terrarium, you'd want to use something like the forest bark, there's a product called Jungle Earth that works really well; something which has a nice dirt with bark that won't hold moisture. This stuff is really easy to spot clean, for when you're trying to clean out the terrarium, you only have to change it about six moths, so spot cleaning is very simple. They also need something they can hide in, such as a hide cave. Ball Pyhon do tend to get too big for hide cave, per say, but what I do with mine; I get a big tupperware, cut a hole out of it and let them hide in there, so something like that will work for a Ball Python that's an adult. Now, they also need high humidities, so frequent spraying is recommended. A spray bottle works just fine with plain water; spray his cage down several times and just keep it dirt moise and the snake will be happy. They also like high temperatures; Africa gets pretty hot, so you'll want to keep it around the upper nineties during the day, and only get to a low about seventy five minimum at night, during the winter hours. During the summer you would probably want to keep it around eighty degrees during the night. Supplemental basking lights for a few hours during the afternoon is helpful for the snake, not required, but it is helpful; they will go and bask in the hot lights, a couple hours out of each day."
eHow Article: How to Set Up Your Snake Terrarium
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Comments
jay36 said
on 8/2/2008 On behalf of Pet Kingdom Cottonwood these vides nor the scripts were ever reviewed by the ownership. We are sorry for any misinformation contained in these videos and again assure you Nicole is no longer employed with this company. Once again We are sorry.
ballpythonlover said
on 8/2/2008 100 gallon? How many people have successfully gotten their husbandry correct in a 100 gallon glass enclosure with a screen top? You should be completely cleaning once a week. Humidity is fine at 50%. Belly heat aids in digestion, you never recommended belly heat. You shouldn't have night drops if you aren't breeding, and even then, I don't drop temps when I breed. Because they are nocturnal, they also don't require basking. I hope that people will do more research than just watching these videos, because some of this advice isn't just wrong, it's dangerous!
wingedwolfpsion said
on 8/2/2008 I think it would be challenging, but certainly not impossible to keep a ball in a 100 gallon tank. A 6 ft female would be a bit cramped in a 60! A ball that big is rare, but it happens. There's no need to cramp a pet ball--most ball pythons are fine in slightly larger cages as long as they have proper hides. My roomate has a yearling in a 76 qt tote, and he's thriving--he roams all over at night, even climbs, and eats like a champ. He's been in there since he got him as a hatchling last year. The little one is far from shy--he's docile, doesn't ball up when handled, and never strikes or hisses. I don't like glass tanks for reptile cages, but it's an easy way to talk about cage size.
I do have a yearling female ball who is in a 16 qt bin because she went off her feed when moved to a 32 qt...so there are individual animals that prefer a small cage, but others appear to appreciate the space.
sugarmagnolia02 said
on 8/2/2008 I just wanted to tell people looking for accurate information on keeping ball pythons to do other research. This woman's videos are full of misinformation. If you keep a BP in the high 90's, you will burn it. If you keep it in "high humidity" and spray it frequently and keep it on wet dirt it will get scale rot. If you have the correct temp gradient you will not need to use heat lamps. "Africa gets pretty hot, so you'll want to keep it around the upper nineties during the day". What kind of reasoning is this? MY ADVICE TO EVERYONE WATCHING THIS: Do other research. Go to a website of a reputable breeder and look at their caresheets. You will find they differ drastically from this woman spewing her mouth.
bpguy said
on 8/2/2008 A problem here, "reptiles need high humidity, a glass tank with a screen top" screen tops dont hold in humidity and lamps will kill the humidity in the tank...
YOU WILL NEVER NEED A 100 gallon tank, a 20g long tank will hold a ball python its entire life, they dont need big spaces. Large open spaces in the tank will make the snake feel insecure and possibly go off feed...