Ball Python Care Ball Pythons as Pets Ball Pythons make great pets. They are one of the smallest members of the python family, only growing 3-4 feet in length, making them one of the more manageable snakes to own. If you plan to keep a ball python as a pet please read all the information below. First of all make sure you buy a captive bred snake from a replicable breeder. A lot of pet stores sell captive bred but some import captive hatched and even wild caught animals from Africa. These snakes can be very hard to get established and can be difficult to get started eating. A captive bred snake from a breeder will be established and make a much better pet. Learn about snakes and make sure you give them a proper home. Never house two ball pythons together. They are very private snakes and like their personal space. Ball Pythons will need fresh water daily and be fed twice a month as adults. You will also need to be able to dedicate once or twice a week to handle your snake to keep it manageable. If you have further questions, go to the "contact us" page, email me or give me a call and we will discuss them. Housing All my snakes stay in reptile rack systems. These can be constructed using metal, plastic or wood. I have a metal one from Freedom Breeder and a plastic one from Vision Products. I also assisted Todd in constructing our own wooden one for his bigger boas. All the snakes in these racks are housed in plastic containers with belly heat. If you plan to keep a couple of snakes as pets a glass aquarium will be just fine. Babies can be housed in a 10 gallon aquarium. As the snake matures you will probably need to go up to 20 gallon and possibly 30 gallon depending on the size of the snake. Ball Pythons like cramped spaces. When using glass aquariums always make sure you secure the tops well due to snakes being great "escape artist". If your snake does escape look in the nearest cramped dark place, under beds, in closets, ect. After escaping, the snake will move around at night when it is dark and quiet. Most pet stores sell aquariums made especially for snakes. Always use under tank heat and can use a heat lamp on top to make a basking spot but keep a close eye on your humidity, heat lamps will dry the air and drop humidity. Your snake will also need a hide box and fresh water daily. Substrate I keep all my Ball Pythons on newspaper. It is cheap, easy to pull out and add more and you can see when your snake has messed his enclosure. Aspen or cypress can also be used and looks good but can get messy without being able to see it. If your snake lays in urine too long it can get scale rot on its belly, not fun for you or the snake. NEVER keep snakes on cedar, it has harmful chemicals in it. Temperature Ball Pythons like it warm. The enclosure needs to be two different temperatures. One end of the enclosure needs to stay between 82-85 degrees with a basking spot on the other end around 90-92 degrees. Keeping the temperature right is essential to the health of your snake. Too low heat can cause your snake to become sick and stop eating. Too high heat can dehydrate your snake and also cause it to stop eating. Your local pet store should have temperature gauges that can be mounted in your enclosure to assure proper heat. Humidity The humidity in the snakes enclosure should stay between 50-60%. You will need to buy a humidity gauge to keep a check in the enclosure. If your humidity gets too low check your heat. High heat can drop the humidity. Using a large water bowl near your basking spot can boost humidity. Misting the tank with a spray bottle can also help. If the humidity gets too low it will make it very hard for your snake to shed properly and can affect your snakes eating habits. Feeding I feed all my snakes one time a week. Sunday afternoon is feeding time for my guys and they know it. I have had my fingers mistaken for a rat more than once. Any other day of the week I can open enclosures and hold snakes with no problem, but on Sundays I have to be careful. The snakes know it's feeding day and they are ready to eat something. Ball Pythons as pets can be fed differently. As a baby they need to eat every week. As they mature they can be fed every 14 days or so. We feed every week for breeding purposes. Most pet snakes can live a long time on mice. We feed rats because they are easier to raise than mice. Mice can be bought at most pet stores for $1.50 each. As your snake grows it may eat more than one mouse at a time. Never overfeed your snake, overfeeding can cause your snake to fast for extended periods of time. I have found that it is better to feed less food more often. If you snake will not eat try different food, mice, small rats, or gerbils. You may have a snake that prefers pre-killed prey instead of live. Another thing that will cause your snake to stop eating is stress. Causes of stress can be, enclosure too big, improper heat and humidity, or their hide box being too big. Make some adjustments and try again, if all else fails call me and we will discuss some other options. Cleaning Your snakes enclosure should be spot cleaned every other day. Snakes pass white solid urine waste along with liquid urine. Your snake will also defecate about the size of a small dog. You will need to remove your snake and throughly clean its enclosure once a week. You can clean the enclosure with a 10% clorox 90% water mixture. Make sure the enclosure is dry and vapor free before re-entering the snake. Your snake also needs to have fresh clean water at all times. Sickness Snakes stay pretty healthy for the most part. They can get respiratory infections if you keep the enclosure too cold. Sickness and possible death can occur is you keep your snake on cedar due to toxic oils. (NEVER keepsnakes on Cedar). You can run the risk of particles getting lodged in the snakes mouth if you keep them on aspen or other ground up wood substrate. Scale rot is another problem if you don't keep the enclosure clean. Scale rot can be taken care of with a little Neosporin and a shed or two. Mites can get on your snake also. Mites can be harmful to your snake if left untreated, if you think you have a mite problem give me a call and we will work through it.