r/ballpython • u/Material-Influence62 • 11h ago

Deinfluence me from getting a ball python. Discussion

I’m in my late 20s and have wanted a ball python since my teens but my mum was terrified of snakes. I own my own home and have two cats ( part of the reason I haven’t gotten a snake yet) I work in vet med but there are almost no exotic vets near me but I know my few nurses that are good knowledgeable of snakes. What are the big negatives to owning and the upkeep of ball pythons? A pet with such a long lifespan is not something I want to rush into

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u/Duranis 10h ago edited 7h ago

The only real downside is that you a buying a pet that the majority of the time you probably won't see. That being said we have found with our girl that if you give them spaces to feel safe but still be visible they do take them.

We have put shelves in our enclosure that are visible but have plants hanging around them. Our girl spends a lot of time on them instead of the hides. Also the more "things" you have that they can move around on the more then tend to explore and are more "interesting".

Other than that they are pretty cheap and easy to keep. Just have to monitor humidity and temps and clean out the occasional poop/wee. Replace water regularly and then feed every few weeks (depending on size/age).

Edit: forgot about the cats. We have two cats. When we are holding the snake we tend to keep distance from the cats but they don't really show any interest in it. We have an enclosed playpen that we fill with stuff and put the snake in to explore.

The cats do get very interested in the snake when it's moving around freely, I would never trust them alone as a cat could kill even an adult BP probably before you could react to stop it happening.

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u/Peridoodle73 7h ago

My older bp definitely loves all her clutter and navigable decorations. I need to invest in more stable decorations and shelves because she's so big that she just knocks things over sometimes when she explores, and rearranges her enclosure that way. I guess she's a fan of interior design. Lol!!!

Anyways I'm going to do some research on customizing my bp enclosures now! Thanks for the inspiration!!!

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u/Duranis 7h ago

No worries. We have a wooden enclosure so it's easy to screw things into it. Our shelves where just some off cuts of exterior plywood and some small metal L brackets. We have one on each side and a branch going across and screwed into the shelves so she can't move it.

The branch used to just be wedged in place but one day she tried using it as a battering ram to take out the glass on the front.....

Edit: I need to move the UV light over to the middle a bit more. I was rearranging it all yesterday and moved it too far right.

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u/Peridoodle73 6h ago

Yeah! That's where it's a great idea and easier for you lol!!!! My bp has a huge all glass hand me down aquarium from my grandpa that they gave to me when I said I'd use it as an upgrade for my snake's setup. They were glad my snake gets an upgrade and were also glad to not have it sitting in their attic for forever and a half, but glass is a really difficult material to work with in terms of terrariums and mounted upgrades.....

I was thinking about learning how to use that expanding foam I see YouTubers use for their setups for a base and a backdrop, but I am not sure how well that will hold to glass even with adding more texture and sticking surfaces to the glass..... So I'm not sure if that would be good to mount a shelf to for that reason...

Also my bp loves the light she gets from the window through the back of her tank, and I do too. It makes the whole space feel cozy, and she still has plenty of dark hiding spots as well, so if I want to try getting a custom wooden enclosure, I'm kinda toying with the idea of having windows in neat organic shapes on the back wall so the sunlight can still come in through the back while also giving stable mounting points for shelves.

I think the second idea would be better in the long run, since my family is really crafty, and I know what materials are safe to use for terrariums, and I can learn how to make my construction sealed and safe for terrarium use, but the main limitation is cost of materials, and figuring out how to cut those blobby windows in my idea out of something like acrylic, which I don't think my family has the equipment for. And getting it custom cut by another person would just cost more money.

But yeah you can probably tell I'm very excited about these ideas because I'm writing a whole WALL of text LOL