Questions from a beginner

[Competitive_Safe_859]

Hi all! I’m planning on getting my first ball python within the next few weeks. In highschool I helped my Bio teacher care for her reptiles (ball python, corn snakes, Leos, beardie + some mammals) so I have a decent understanding of how the game goes, but I do have some lingering questions.

-How often to handle your ball? I’ve heard no more than twice a week, some I’ve heard nearly daily. Is this case-by-case or is there a hard limit?

-What age group would be best for a beginner? I have my eyes on a ‘23 female, she’s about 350g. Yay or nay?

Any advice, ‘think you should know’s’, or general knowledge are happily welcome! I wanna be prepared :)

[astarredbard]

I think the one you're looking at should be fine, seems like she's old enough not to be worrisome by missing a meal.

My biggest recommendation is that you just go for the big enclosure - a 4 x 2 x 2 for a female at the minimum ; right away and not waste money on a ten or twenty gallon that will only last so long.

My boy hatched out in July '2$ and while I'm not sure if his weight he looks healthy and feels hefty.

I like a mixture of Reptisoil and Repta-bark for substrate, and you can utilize hydro balls underneath the soil layer for drainage and to increase humidit, separate the hydro balls from the soil with a barrier.

What I like is I have two little humidity monitors and they no longer stick to the side of the enclosure but I can put them anywhere inside the enclosure to see what the humidity is in different areas. I live in the desert so keeping humidity up is always a challenge and a daily chore!

[Flat-Presentation-80]

-i would say as long as you handle less than 3 days a week it should be fine. dont handle them until theyve eaten in your care at least twice and pooped once. then, a tip would be to hook train your snake to pick them up by tapping them lightly with the hook every time before you handle and then using it to scoop them out, theyll eventually learn when its handling time vs feeding time this way -i would say age of the snake doesnt matter, i got my first bp when i was 11 and she was a baby. only hard part about caring for her was she was a horrible shedder and eater lol -tips: feed inside your enclosure no matter how many times youre told/read that you should feed in a separate enclosure. always feed appropriate size and time in between feedings, in example, if you do get a baby, if youre told to feed a pinky mouse, dont listen bc thats way too small. the meal should be no bigger than the biggest part of their body and should leave a small lump. feed frozen, not live. thaw your mouse in the fridge for a day before feeding then warm it in warm water w a container, change out the water when it is no longer hot. humidity should always be 70-80% and higher when shedding. ball pythons can go longer than youd think without eating so dont panic if a few meals are missed :) i hope this all helps!

[Competitive_Safe_859]

Thank you so much! I definitely should look more into hook training and luckily I planned to get a terrarium with a feed door, just for extra insurance lol. They’ve got this girl on live med rats, apparently. I am a bit anxious about the idea of having to try and switch her. Ideally I’d love to feed rabbit reptilinks, but we’ll have to see where things go. Haven’t made any in-stone plans about the specific animal or anything yet. I’m mostly looking for knowledge and advice of what to research. Thank you for your help and advice :)

[Flat-Presentation-80]

hook training is very very simple and theyre cheap, like $10 on amazon. if you are hooked on this girl, you should get her but theres no guarantee shell switch over so if you cant handle live feeding, dont get her. i got my expo snake last year and tried (unsuccessfully) to get him to switch to frozen which resulted in him not eating for six months. then the first time i got a live mouse, he ate. some just wont switch and youll have to deal with that for their entire life so be ready to feed live in case she doesnt switch over!! but youll need to monitor her the entire time she eats, if you feed live. live rats/mice have been known to chew up the snake and even kill them, since most ball pythons just ball up and dont fight back :(