My ball Gertie,

[ineedsoap16]

Finally ordered scale so I can track her growth but I have had this ball since June or so of last year. I got her her because my wife works as a groomer at a petsmart and nobody wanted her. She was not purchased with her incoming tankmates due to a slight over aggression (by their standards), She called me and said would I be interested in her for free because no one would buy her? I said yes because as far as balls go it seems that aggression is in response to two things: underfed or underhandled. Suspicions correct she was both. Most of my experience with snakes was with wild specimens, catching garter, water, rat snakes, copperheads and racers as long as I can remember. I learned to pick up a snake as if it were a stick with a sharp end and realized that in most docile snake species (ie not the racers and especially the copperheads) if it is a calm and steady motion you can grab without being bitten most snakes. GGertie came home is a box and when I opened it it was instant love at first sight. She was in a coil and ready to strike. I let her out on the bed and withing seconds picked her up with no issue. It took several weeks of "no touch" to not have her scared to be handled but to date has not once bittem me or my wife.

Sorry for the long speech but finally to my question. I spoke with the manager of the snakes at that store as she is a friend of wy wife's and she could not give me a def answer as to the bulk breeder she was from. Does anyone here know what breeders the balls that petsmart sells may come from. It is not a pressing issue but just would like to know.

Thanx

[Chu'Wuti]

Good luck. It's going to be different breeders in different areas, as our BP is also a petsmart special, but we're in Oklahoma.

[mykee]

"I said yes because as far as balls go it seems that aggression is in response to two things: underfed or underhandled"
Not sure how experiece lies with ball pythons, but I'm going to have to adamantly diagree with you on both counts. Firstly, ball pythons are not an agressive snake by any means, hence their names. When they are agressive, it is always for one of two reasons:
1. Their husbandry requirements are not met AND
2. They are OVER handled.
Ball pythons are require very specific humidity, temperatures, and living conditions. Most often, these requirements are not met completely. This causes agression.
Ball pythons are also a very solitary species of snake. They DO NOT take to handling as well as many other "beginner" snakes like colubrids for example.