Snakes!

[jwcarlson]

My wife used to have a few snakes (but no pythons) when she was younger, but I have never had any reptiles outside of catching a baby snapping turtle occasionally over the years. My daughter has wanted a snake for a couple of years and recently met our requirements. So we picked up this little male ball python from a local breeder a few weeks ago. He's fairly young and ate for the first time last night. Hopefully we can replicate that in a week. He seems to be getting pretty comfortable with my daughter.

Pretzel
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My wife really liked one of the snakes that breeder had and I almost bought it for her for Valentine's Day... but I've always thought that buying an animal for someone even if they want it is kind of a cruddy thing unless they're specifically picking it out. So I told her to look around and find one that she really liked instead of just becoming infatuated with one and finding out you like a different one better. She found this one (a female) from a fairly local breeder who just happened to be driving through our area on his way to show. So he was nice enough to meet us at a truck stop on his way there, so we got her on Saturday. We haven't done anything with her yet as she's settling in. But she did poop and shed the first night, so I guess cleaning that qualifies as doing something with her. I'm excited to feed her next week. The breeder said "watch your fingers". She's a nearly a year old and about 3x the size of the male (and also a ball python).

Luna
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[Iminit]

Ehh Gads!! I don’t like spiders or snakes!! Good luck with your new creatures! Keep them away from the honey!!

[brewmaster15]

Beautiful Pythons Jacob!

A word of advice. I have been bitten many times and where most snakes that bite you will bite and let go...constrictors like my rat snakes and your Pythons don't always do that...Their instinct is bit tight...coil and kill. The pythons and Boas has a mouth full of sharp teeth that curve inward. If one of you gets bit its a good idea to have some alcohol in a spray bottle. Some people say it should be vodka but I just using rubbing alcohol. It doesn't take much...a light spray will make the snake let go...They hate the smell and taste...Then once it lets go, give your hand a real good washing with that alcohol. The teeth can puncture deep so watch for infection.

Not trying to scare you but even that little one has a mouth of sharp teeth.

You do want to handle them alot but just be careful to not come at them from the front of the face. The little one is trainable. The one larger one that the breeder warned you to watch your fingers may be aggressive at feeding time.Sooner or latter its going to bite one of you. Often times the python with their poor eyes will just assume your hand is part of the rat. Gloves can really help.

hth,
al

[jwcarlson]

I won't be feeding them with anything other than tongs of some sort. The little one did bite me day one. I reached down in front of him after we weighed him. He did say she was calm unless there was a rat involved, so I think she'll be OK. The bite didn't hurt too bad. I'd heard about alcohol, I'll have to buy a little spray bottle. The only alcohol anywhere near the snakes is single malt scotch. And while I don't really drink (the last time I had scotch was when Scotland was voting for independence), it would seem pretty wasteful to splash scotch at a snake that's got my hand.

I've been keeping bees for 10 years and am well seasoned at getting dinged and remaining calm. I'm sure a bigger python would hurt a little worse, but the little one didn't hurt at all. Probably on account for how sharp they are... little tiny needles! It also wasn't a food strike, just a defensive tap... my fault. He's been good as long as you get around the backside and it seems like once you pick him up he is more interested in climbing around and stuff. But like most animals, behavior is largely reactionary and it shouldn't be surprising that a long piece of fat and protein has evolved to react first and ask questions later.

Thanks for the tips, Al!

Tom, what did a snake ever do to you?!

[Iminit]

Lol I had one snake. I bred bearded dragons and veiled chameleons. But the one snake was a Mexican gardener snake. Bought as a surprise for my son. Brought it home put it in its tank ate dinner went down to show it to my son. Wasn’t in the tank and never seen it again. Nope no snakes!!

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Jacob, they are gorgeous. I love snakes and have shared pics of me catching (wild) snakes with Al. I do not keep them however.
Pat

[LizStreithorst]

I like to look at snakes but have never had the desire to keep them. I feel very guilty about something I did years ago. I caught a chicken snake with one of my eggs in its mouth...almost all the way down. I was pissed. I grabbed the snake, forced the egg out, and dispatched the snake with a sharp spade. I felt like **** immediatly after the head was off and I'd thrown the body into the pasture. I'll never do anything like that ever again. Those snakes eat meeces and rats. They do so much more good than bad. What's an egg or two in the grand theme of things?

[brewmaster15]

I like to look at snakes but have never had the desire to keep them. I feel very guilty about something I did years ago. I caught a chicken snake with one of my eggs in its mouth...almost all the way down. I was pissed. I grabbed the snake, forced the egg out, and dispatched the snake with a sharp spade. I felt like **** immediatly after the head was off and I'd thrown the body into the pasture. I'll never do anything like that ever again. Those snakes eat meeces and rats. They do so much more good than bad. What's an egg or two in the grand theme of things?

Liz.. alot of people do similar. Pretty sure your "chicken snake" is a Rat snake. Down south they usually are Texas gray ratsnakes or black rat snakes. These are the species I work with here.

True story here. Every year for the past 4 years a large 7 foot blackrat snake finds it way into one of my chicken coops. We usually find it there. A fat and sassy male ratsnake eating our eggs. This is usually in early summer. So I remove the egg thief and keep it for the summer .. releasing it in early fall. He usually over winters under my deck in a wood pile. Im sure I will be seeing him. again in a few months.

[LizStreithorst]

Check it out. All these years I've been keeping and breeding Discus, I was working on the wrong thing.
https://nypost.com/2021/03/10/breede...t-sold-for-6k/

[brewmaster15]

Check it out. All these years I've been keeping and breeding Discus, I was working on the wrong thing.
https://nypost.com/2021/03/10/breede...t-sold-for-6k/

They are so going to get sued as soon as walmart finds out .

al

[jwcarlson]

Check it out. All these years I've been keeping and breeding Discus, I was working on the wrong thing.
https://nypost.com/2021/03/10/breede...t-sold-for-6k/

That's certainly a unique (and lucky) pattern, I suppose. It's pretty incredible what snake breeders have done. But suppose that can certainly be said about discus and just about any domestic animal breeders as well.
There's quite a few ball pythons selling for higher than $6k too!

Geckos (at least certain kinds) were the most interestingly priced thing I've seen at the handful of reptile shows I've been to. There was a lady there with probably 10-15 geckos all priced over $8k. Now, I'm a big dummy so I have no clue if they sell at that price, but would assume she's selling something occasionally. She claimed that they would sell right away at the Tinley show the following week, which is a big show in Tinley Park, IL.