First thing I would like to say about ball pythons, if you browse the internet, many will tell you it is a beginner snake. However, I am one of the very few who do not recommend this snake for beginner Herpetoculturalists. This is because you have to know strategies and the proper technique to get them to eat dead food.
Many first time owners will attempt to feed dead food and if this fails they will immediately switch to live food. This can be harmful to the python, and feeding your snake live rodents can be cause injury or even fatal injury.
If you are a beginner and you are interested in purchasing a ball python, follow the feeding tips I will list below before purchasing the snake. With that said, let's move to ball python care.
First things first:
✔Temperature:
I like to keep mine at a basking temperature of 95 degrees fahrenheit. Heat lights and heat bulbs are not necessary. These can suck out the humidity and burn the snake. I simply use 2x under the tank heat pads. These are all they need for heat source. Do not let the cool end drop below 75 degrees at any time. avoid heat rocks.
Humidity:
Normal humidity I like to keep at 45-55 percent. However, when they are shedding, 65-75 is better. Don't let the humidity go above 80 at anytime, because it will cause bacteria to grow.
✔Housing:
First thing about housing, start your hatchling off with a 20 gallon tank. This will be good for 1 year. Then I recommend upgrading to a 40 gallon, and this will be sufficient for the remainder of their life. Do not put them in to too large of a tank as this will stress them out and they will stop eating.
I like to use aspen shavings for substrate. This is because it is easy to spot clean and does not grow bacteria easy.
You only need one hide. It should be tight so they feel secure.
Your snake will need 2 water bowls. One kept warm for soaking and humidity and the other kept cool for drinking.
✔FEEDING: if you know anything about ball pythons you know that ball pythons are picky eaters it's hard to get them to eat dead frozen thawed food if the food is a little to small or a little to big they may refuse to eat it but don't be fooled when your local bet store tells you that when it comes to ball pythons sometimes you have no choice but to feed them live rodents. I'm hear to tell you that you always have a choice and the right one is to feed frozen thawed dead rodents they will eat dead food all it takes is just trying a few different methods I've had three ball pythons in my life and they all eat dead food one of witch was on live food for three months an I had no trouble switching to frozen thawed food the first thing to do is give it time don't try feeding for at least a week after you bring it home then when your snake is slithering around it's cage flickering its tong rapidly that is when you know he's hungry offer it the frozen thawed mouse by holding it by the tail if that doesn't work still holding it by the tail move it around in the cage making it seem alive if that does not work just drop it in their for a 2 hours if still no Luke go to the pet store and ask for some gerbil bedding rub the dead mouse all over the gerbil bedding that all most all ways does the trick remember feed i a separate cage to avoid cage aggression one more time feed dead food and try all these tricks before feeding live food no live rodents live rodents can fight back dead food can not they will eat it it's more nutritious and less expensive.
✔handling ball pythons are fairly easy to handle they are tame and don't move around much just keep in mind that they don't see color like boas and rat snakes ball pythons see inferred so don't put your hand in front of there face and remember to support there body weight.
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