is this a good idea??

[redtailedmel]

hey yall ,


the little girl, my hubby cousin, that had the iggy i was trying to save, she was so upset when i talked to her today. poor thing. they didnt know all the proper things for an iguana it was given to them, i didnt know anything about them either. i told her id make a deal with her. she wants another pet and she likes my snakes, i know more about snakes, so i told her id buy her a baby ball to keep at my house and i would come get her everyday to learn how to take care of it, and hold it. im gonna teach her how to feed, clean the cage, check temps and things like that. she is gonna help me with it. and if she dont come help take care of it i get to keep it!i love the little balls personally,they are so cute hehehe. would love to have one myself. i just dont think a boa is good for a almost 4th grader. alot of you guys have said your kids have balls as pets and i wanted something that wouldnt get too big. do yall think that would be a good tool for teaching her pet responsability?? i know alot of you guys teach your children how to properly take care of yours and their babaies? she loves to play with my babies but i think they are a bit too much for her. thanks for your opinions.

[Doug]

Re:is this a good idea??

hi,
The way petstores around here sell the ball pythons is appaling many are the first snake new herper's get, my self included.
Now the bad news. BP's can be a pain for the new reptile keeper. If you have kept boa's you'll hate that BP in about a month or two just from feeding issues.
Babies BP"S can stress real easy from handling, and can stop feeding for months for no appearent reason. I found this extremly stressfull.
Honestly, proabably a corn or king would be better. they can take the cage temp abuse real well, and most kings are great pets. They are great feeders, they do digest faster than any snake I ve owned. hehe I actually hand fed one one time holding the snake and letting him find the fuzzy in my other hand he pushed his nose thru my fingers and took the food no aggresion at all..
Kings are escape artist they can find an opening the size of your thumb nail and escape.
If you could find a 1 y/o BP thats been eating thawed that would work. But the cage will be costly because they need adequate controlled heat and a certian amount of humidity to shed and digest food. Most of the babies around here get a 10 gal with a light and hide a water dish and that loverly indoor outdoor carpet. The entire set up plus the snake is around 99.99 the bad news is most die in a month or two.. :P

doug

[Red]

Re:is this a good idea??

I would say if you are going to do this get one for you... teach the new lil' herper how to take care of it then buy her a corn or king maybe even a milk and give her that... that way you both are happy... you have your ball.. and she has a good pet...
Eric aka....Red

[redtailedmel]

Re:is this a good idea??

lol ihavent gotten the snake yet i was wanting a corn snake but they are so dang hard to find around here. but i went to ritchies site and he had some for sale i asked about one of his ball babies. i havent gotten the snake yet i have the cage and set up already to go including the indoor outdoor carpet. if i could find a corn id get her that but they are so dang hard to find here in the sticks. wish clay would let his kids breed their corns hahah, then i could go buy one hehe jk clay.

[Red]

Re:is this a good idea??

Are you willing to pay shipping....??? If so I can give you some links to killer corn sites...
Eric aka...Red

[redtailedmel]

Re:is this a good idea??

yeah im willing to pay shipping send away!!!!!!!!

[WeLsH]

Re:is this a good idea??

Yea what are those sites Red?

[Barracuda_41]

Re:is this a good idea??

8)Yeah i would have to agree a corn would be the best way to go.. There easy to care for and are total pigs when it comes to eatting they dont get super huge and dont need high heat.. For a child thats the best.... My 2 cents worth.... 8)

[sclark]

Re:is this a good idea??

Hey redtailed mel,

I put this in your other post,.. I have to agree, a corn or a smaller king, stick away from a California King (they can be tempermental) A few got me good by musking me, not fun. These would be better as a first snake then a BP.. Red has some very cool links to some super corns.. Maybe he will post some..

Steve

[redtailedmel]

Re:is this a good idea??

yeah i told him to send away maybe sometime today he will get a chance to post them!!!

[Red]

Re:is this a good idea??

There is basicly three places to get corns if you want some off the wall morph...
Here they are...
Here is the first it is called serpen-co...

http://www.serpenco.com/shop/customer/

The next is south mountain....
http://www.cornsnakes.net/ This is my personal favrite...
The last one is bill and kathy lov's site... In my opion the next best one....

http://cornutopia.com/

Oh ya' this is one more.... that is perty darn good...
It is called cherryville farms...

http://www.kingsnake.com/cherry/

Hope I could help....
Eric aka....Red

[redtailedmel]

Re:is this a good idea??

i picked out one im gonna get her its the amelanistic corn snake its only 30 dollars cant believe they are that cheap!!!!! my hubby was calling around the local places here and they were all 100+ for a normal corn!! so shipping and all would be 64 bucks not too shabby. it a really nice looking corn ill link the pic from their site. i went with south mountain reptiles. they are here in texas i like that!!! this is SMR pic im posting its not mine btw.

[Red]

Re:is this a good idea??

The ones that are mixed with rat snakes get real big... That is a cool feature....
I am glad I could help...
Eric aka...red

[redtailedmel]

Re:is this a good idea??

im going to be calling them today to get everything set up i hope it arrives before she gets back home hehe she doesnt know what i got her yet. this means i get to spend more money at rodentpro too hehehehehehehehe

[sclark]

Re:is this a good idea??

Nice looking mix there... Red is the guy with some great corn sites..

She really is a pretty one.. Good luck
Steve