A beginner asking for SERIOUS help!

Dangerboy121 · 08-05-15, 01:53 PM

This is my first post here, i was attracted to this forum because i recently decided to buy my first ball python.

Now, i have some few questions:
1 i want to buy a couple of ball pythons, can i put them in the same terrarium?

2 what are the necessary stuff i have to put in the terrarium? Especially the lighting and stuff, because i have no idea about the heat and temp, keep in mind that i am living in the miiddle east,UAE to be specific.

3 do i have to buy an incubator for eggs?

4 i know this question doesnot belong here , but i hope someone can help
I was planning to buy my couple from BHB located in the US, so i just wanted to ask, if i sent the snakes to my friend's house, and he send them back to me here, will the snakes stay alive this whole time ?

Dangerboy121 · 08-06-15, 07:35 AM

Hello everybody, thiz is my first post in here as i decided to go in the path of snakes, ball pythons to be specific.
however i had some few questions i hope to find some answerz in here:

1 i will be buying a couple of ball pythons, can i put them in the same terrarium, or only in the breeding time?

2 can anyone explain to me how to setup a cage, i dont mean like the hideout or stuff, no i mean the heating and cooling systems that will take place , because i live in an extremely hot area where in summer the temp is 45-52 degrees C.

If i am willing to bread ball pythons, is buying an incubator necessary?

**Aaron_S** · 08-06-15, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dangerboy121

This is my first post here, i was attracted to this forum because i recently decided to buy my first ball python.

Now, i have some few questions:
1 i want to buy a couple of ball pythons, can i put them in the same terrarium?

2 what are the necessary stuff i have to put in the terrarium? Especially the lighting and stuff, because i have no idea about the heat and temp, keep in mind that i am living in the miiddle east,UAE to be specific.

3 do i have to buy an incubator for eggs?

4 i know this question doesnot belong here , but i hope someone can help
I was planning to buy my couple from BHB located in the US, so i just wanted to ask, if i sent the snakes to my friend's house, and he send them back to me here, will the snakes stay alive this whole time ?

1. Highly don't recommend. 1 snake per enclosure.

2. You're going to have a difficult time with this based on where you are. You need a 90F hot spot, 80F cool side. 60 - 70% humidity. I know where you live but I don't know your exact home/situation so you'll have to figure out how to achieve this.
Also, substrate, coco husk is a good choice used by many. Water dish big enough to soak in for the snake and two hides. 1 on the cool side and 1 on the hot side. Make sure they are snug to the size of the ball python. Everything else is decoration.

3. No. You can build one if you plan to breed them. If you don't plan to breed them then no.

4. Where does your friend live? Yes snakes can live for a couple days in travel accomodations but they need to be packed for the weather.

Side bar: Corey Woods has fantastic animals here in Canada and is familiar shipping around the world. (Not sure about UAE) Very easy to deal with and talk to. You can try him too.

Dangerboy121 · 08-06-15, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

1. Highly don't recommend. 1 snake per enclosure.

2. You're going to have a difficult time with this based on where you are. You need a 90F hot spot, 80F cool side. 60 - 70% humidity. I know where you live but I don't know your exact home/situation so you'll have to figure out how to achieve this.
Also, substrate, coco husk is a good choice used by many. Water dish big enough to soak in for the snake and two hides. 1 on the cool side and 1 on the hot side. Make sure they are snug to the size of the ball python. Everything else is decoration.

3. No. You can build one if you plan to breed them. If you don't plan to breed them then no.

4. Where does your friend live? Yes snakes can live for a couple days in travel accomodations but they need to be packed for the weather.

Side bar: Corey Woods has fantastic animals here in Canada and is familiar shipping around the world. (Not sure about UAE) Very easy to deal with and talk to. You can try him too.

Actually my friend lives in Egypt , he told me about a site called US Go Buy , basically this website gives you a US address, he planned to send the animal there, then the company (UsGoBuy) will give you the method to ship it to your home country.
thanks for your valuable info.

**Aaron_S** · 08-06-15, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dangerboy121

Actually my friend lives in Egypt , he told me about a site called US Go Buy , basically this website gives you a US address, he planned to send the animal there, then the company (UsGoBuy) will give you the method to ship it to your home country.
thanks for your valuable info.

Ensure that company ships live animals! You do understand you need CITES paperwork to ship ball pythons across borders right? Otherwise it's smuggling and you can be charged if caught.

**Aaron_S** · 08-06-15, 07:07 PM

Merged your threads. Try to make only one thread.

prairiepanda · 08-06-15, 08:21 PM

I would suggest looking for a breeder in the UAE or a neighboring country to purchase your ball pythons from. Shipping live animals, especially CITES listed animals, overseas is extremely expensive and a time consuming process due to all the permits and paperwork involved. If you have your heart set on getting them from BHB, then be sure to look into the live animal import laws of the UAE as well as the export laws of the USA, particularly pertaining to CITES listed species. Also, US Go Buy doesn't handle live animal shipments so you'll need to make alternative arrangements for shipping. Airlines quite often offer their own live animal shipping services. But ask BHB about shipping as they do have experience with international shipping.

As for temperature; is your home normally 45-50C or is that just the temperature outside? If your home gets that hot you'll need to set up an air conditioner(a low-end portable one would be fine) for the room the snakes will be in, as well as a heat lamp for the enclosure, so that the snake can have a cool end and hot end in the enclosure to thermoregulate. You want about 25C at the cool end and 32C in the hot end, so both temperature zones must be much cooler than the temperature range you stated. Note that air conditioning will dry out the air a lot(which is probably already quite dry in that region to begin with), so you'll have to make sure you can maintain high humidity too. In your case an automatic misting system or possibly even a fogger might be a good idea, but you'll have to experiment to find out what you need.

Dangerboy121 · 08-07-15, 10:59 AM

I hope i can find some local breaders in here, but raising reptiles is very rare here.