Splat, the Ball Python

[jeanette]

she/he is beautiful, i do love ball/royal pythons i find them to be very social snakes when they have been raised and handled well. slash my own ball/royal python is so friendly he will climb his way into my clothing and stay there, problem is im usually wearing it at the time.

[Snake lover 3-25]

lol CUTE SHOT!!!!!!!!

[dashnu]

She is awesome! My new one is about 6 months, she just ate for the first time yesterday. Not F/T but at least she ate. Not as plum as yours but pretty plump.. Maybe I will get her a couple small mice today and she if she will take both than hold off for a week.

Great pic jeanette, I hope to make Tessy as friendly as Slash!

[jeanette]

Originally Posted by dashnu

She is awesome! My new one is about 6 months, she just ate for the first time yesterday. Not F/T but at least she ate. Not as plum as yours but pretty plump.. Maybe I will get her a couple small mice today and she if she will take both than hold off for a week.

Great pic jeanette, I hope to make Tessy as friendly as Slash!

you definately will they are really quite social as soon as they get used to being handled. we have got some really nice weather here atm so ive been getting slash out in the garden for a slither around. the more they get to explore and feel safe while they are doing it the more social they become. slash is 18 months old give or take a couple of months and he has never bitten, he has hissed at people and had a few false stikes (close mouthed) but only when he felt threatened.
your little beauty will have no trouble settling he has had a great start just by coming to live with you

[adamanteus]

Over the years I have had countless 'rescued' Royal Pythons and I have a theory that none of you will like or agree with.... they don't like human contact at all.
They are a very placid and quiet species, and they don't show their stress levels through flight or aggression as many snakes do, but that doesn't mean they aren't stressed.
I have found that when they are given dense cover in which to hide and a bare minimum of contact (even visual contact) they always thrive.
I think that because this species is so 'easy going' people handle them and bother them way too much. In the correct environment, left in peace, they invariably do very well, and happily eat frozen/thawed rodents.
In my experience.

[Zephyr]

Originally Posted by adamanteus

Over the years I have had countless 'rescued' Royal Pythons and I have a theory that none of you will like or agree with.... they don't like human contact at all.
They are a very placid and quiet species, and they don't show their stress levels through flight or aggression as many snakes do, but that doesn't mean they aren't stressed.
I have found that when they are given dense cover in which to hide and a bare minimum of contact (even visual contact) they always thrive.
I think that because this species is so 'easy going' people handle them and bother them way too much. In the correct environment, left in peace, they invariably do very well, and happily eat frozen/thawed rodents.
In my experience.

James has spoken... Some one write it down. :P

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

James, I agree with you 120%. Splat is only handled when I clean her cage and occasionally to show her growth progress to eddie. Otherwise, I leave her be, and she is very happy that way. Ball pythons do not "enjoy" handling, they just tolerate it, at most. The reason ball pythons are msitaken to be social animals and targeted by newbies to the reptile world is because instead of biting and hissing as a primary defense... they simply either curl up in a ball or just slowly try to move away, and when they don't do either of that they just sit tehre and tolerate you... I am sure some balls tolerate us more than others... and some even get a little adventurous when they are out... but I don't think that they are jumping for joy when picked up... lol!! I have definately found that the less you mess with a ball python, (more so babies than adults) the more consistently they will eat for you and thrive.

[dashnu]

I agree. However this could be said about any pet short of a dog or cat. This being said dogs and cats where breed throughout the years for us by us.

My personal opinion is someone who takes in a new animal is truly fascinated by it and its behavior. They want to learn about it, they want to spend time with it, and they want some sort of interaction with it. Again in my opinion this is the way the ball falls no pun intended.....

If problems arise due to stress in a snake’s case, I would point to handling, poor habitat, and things of that nature...

A good owner should know and understand the snake and its actions/behavior and recognize problems/stress and take the needed action even if this means not handling the snakes for months and months.

I am doing the best to learn all I can and treat my snake well, however handling the snake is important to me. If I do see issues I will keep the words of James in mind...

In my case this poor girls was at the local petshop with no hide away or anything.. just a stick and a bowl of water.. I am sure it was being held daily if not multiple times a day.. I feel like I did her a favor All though on the flip side of that it is sucker assholes like me who keep the animals going to petstores like this. There was another one there yesterday and I almost bought her to I felt bad....

<sarcasm>
...who knows people are breeding balls like crazy maybe someday they will roll over and take a bone
</sarcasm>

[adamanteus]

No criticism or judgement intended, Brett. I'm simply stating an opinion based on what I've seen. I know that handling is very important to a lot of snake keepers, personally I keep such interaction to a minimum, and content myself merely to observe and learn from my snakes.

[dashnu]

Originally Posted by adamanteus

No criticism or judgement intended, Brett. I'm simply stating an opinion based on what I've seen. I know that handling is very important to a lot of snake keepers, personally I keep such interaction to a minimum, and content myself merely to observe and learn from my snakes.

None taken, and I respect your opinions. You clearly have more experience and have spen a lot more time with these little guys then me. I hope to learn more from you, and so far this fourm has been very very valuable to me.. Just wanted to toss my 2 cents out..

When you say "rescue" do you go to your local animal rescue center and bring these animals home or are you in some sort of program?