An Alternative To Boa's - Ball Pythons?

As mentioned Boa's are my favorite species of snake, but when it come's to pets and breeding, Ball Pytons come in as a close 2nd.

While there's 100's of Boa Constrictor morphs and mutations, there's probably 1000's of ball python morphs. It seems like every week during the breeding season a new morph is proven or a new cross is produced. If your interest is in breeding snakes, the Ball Python may be a better option for a few reasons.

• They stay smaller, you can house a large Ball Python collection exclusively in rack systems.
• They're much easier to get breeding then Boa's.
• The Ball Python market is more active then the Boa market.

When I was a kid and first getting into snakes buying a Ball Python as a pet was a bit risky. 90% of what pet stores were selling were Captive Hatched babies, and those groups came into the Country with a laundry list of problems.

• Which baby doesn't eat..
• Which baby has mites (external parasites)
• Which baby has worms.. (internal parasites)
• and so on...

Ant that's just the tip of the ice berg. If you already have some snakes it's absolutely critical you quarantine any new arrivals for at least month before adding it to the rest of your collection. If your new snake is infested with mites, it will be much easier to deal with on 1 animal rather than several. Keeping your new snake away from your current collection gives you plenty of time to inspect the snake and make sure it's 100% healthy before being introduced to it's new siblings. This quarantine period should be practiced religiously and with all types of reptiles.

Now days, thanks largely in part to the Internet, and an overall better understanding of these wonderful creatures its no where near as much of a "crap-shoot". Captive Bred and born Ball Pythons are readily available, and a lot of the beuatiful color morphs which were once untouchable by a hobbyist are actually now affordable.

If your intention is just to have a pet for now, they also rank a close 2nd on my favorite snakes list. I say pet for now because everyone starts out wanting a pet, snakes are addictive and it's just a matter of time before your researching breeding and looking for a mate for you "pet".

One fact can not be over stated. No matter what type of heat source you decide to use for your new pet snake, you must make sure to have a thermostat onb it. Some of these heat source products can get far to hot for a baby snake to handle. With an inexpensive thermostat, you can regulate t5he output of any heat source. Here's and example of a cheap but effective thermostat, if your snake is already on it's way, or your picking it up soon, get a thermostat ASAP.

In my next few posts I plan on discussing breeding both Boa's and Ball Pythons...

Check Out The SSScales Logo on your right for even more information about Ball Pythons, including some Ball Pythons themselves...