How Often.................

[Ceelo]

How often does your BP get sick.

[mykee]

How 'bout never? It wasn't even an option!? How often does your ball get sick?

[Drew S]

What do you mean get sick? If your BP is getting sick enough to vote any of those options, you must be doing something terribly wrong. I don't understand this poll...

[elevation24]

Never :eek:

[BoidKeeper]

Never, ever had a sick BP and I've had about 17 or so.
Cheers,
Trevor

[emroul]

Never. (Why wasn't that an option?)

[fateamber]

I would of said never too, never so far anyway. But I voted rarely instead, one of them could get sick any day now, but they haven't been sick so far.

[sapphire_moon]

never, I've had one BP for 3 years and he has never been sick. My others have never been sick either.

[Ceelo]

I see some people getting ticked off. Im just asking just curious since i go to other forums and see so many people asking for help. Its a shame cause some people are getting BP for the he first snake, and in Had my opinion their not as easy to take care of for a first snake,because of their humidity, heat , and all other neccesery objects that first timers somtimes dont get. In my opinion first timers should start of with ribbons, garters ,or waters snakes. Dont get me wrong BP are easy to take care of, but for those who have knowledge or experiance with snakes. And some People might have their BP for their first snake and do perfect with it but i bet they do research, and thats where they get their knowledge and experiance from. I've had my BP now for six months now and he only got sick once. And that because when i bought him off of the pet shop he was cold. The enclosure he was in was like about 40-48F. I rescued him. I took him to the vet for an enormous price just because im here in the Bronx,NY. They were selling a blood it had ticks and mites all over it. and the burmese was under wieght and died before i could buy it. but now my BP is doing fine. He was like around 11in whan i got him now hes 27in. hes also spoiled,sometimes i feed him 3-4 mice a week as a treat.he is also very active at night. man im tired of typing LOL.

[BoidKeeper]

Please next time put two spaces between sentences.
No one here is getting upset.
As for your opinion on balls being a good first snake, they are not I agree with you 100%. It's teh pet industry that markets them that way because they are cheap for the pet trade to get.
As for the mice, mice aren't treats, they are food and in this case the wrong food. If you want to take care of your ball start feeding it one rat equal to or slightly larger then it's girth once every 7 days.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Ceelo]

Im not saying i feed him mice as treats. I feed him 1 or 2 extra mice a week for a treat. And im getting on the rat process. look at the A Rat 2 1/2ft .... post. I was just making sure if he was ready for one. There i put the spaces between the sentences

[sapphire_moon]

Also, a good cb Ball Python is a good choice for a person that does their research first.

Also on the heat (90-95 hot side, 80-85 cool side), humidity (50% NOT in shed, 70-80% when IN shed, use a spray bottle, or put water dish over part of heat pad) and what not (2 hides and a water dish, and a lamp dimmer to keep the right temps? newspaper is free so you can use that for substrate)?

I am sorry, but how hard is that?

Most snakes require a heat source.
Alot of people think that a good first snake is a corn snake. Low heating needs, and humidity can vary.

Also if the snakes cage was like 40-48F, then the rest of the store must have been pretty cold considering your in New York and it's probably about that outside (if not colder).

Also if he can actually take that many mice, then maybe your not feeding him enough. 27 inches, he could probably take something a little smaller than a small rat.

[Ceelo]

yes your right.PEOPLE WHO DO THEIR RESEARCH

[mykee]

Any responsible pet owner, who has any real interest or love of animals would do research well before buying their animal, reptile or not. It's unfortunate that in the 'other forum' you speak of, that there are as many irresponsible pet owners as you say. Sad. Also, if you've had your ball for six months now and still eating mice, you should try to get him over the rats ASAP. Good luck.

[Vengeance]

Well the thing is unless there are some real tendencies that would ba hazardous like for an example an ATB which is very nippy, or a burm or retic that gets huge, as long as you do your research first I don't see why any snake would be a bad beginner snake? Sure some snakes like BRB have very high humidity needs but as long as you read and make sure those needs are met I don't see why they couldn't have it for a first snake instead of like a corn or king. As long as they are aware of what needs to be met and make sure those needs are met any snake could potentially be a beginner snake. It's just that some snakes are easier to take care of then others.

As far as I'm concerned if the owner didn't do their research then there isn't such a thing as a good beginner snake because it's needs could be as extravagant as needing really high humidity and very specific temps, or as simple as just a hot an a cool side, but for the new owner that doesn't do his research they wouldn't know what the needs are and for that fact, there is no such thing as a good beginner snake.