finally getting my first bp today!

Its just a normal but I'm just getting into snakes although I have been wanting one for quite some time and have done quite a bit of research. I'm pretty stoked though and any tips or pointers are welcomed and appreciated!

Great! However, they are like potato chips - hard to stop at just one. If you have any questions, post away.

Welcome to VAHERPS!

i bought my first last year i now have 15bps 2 corns and a Brazilian rainbow boa and still tryin to get more

Welcome! So what are you getting next?

I love the quote I keep seeing in someone's sig on ball-pythons.net. It says "BPs are like Pokemon. You start with one and pretty soon you gotta catch 'em all."

Completely true

Congratulations on your new baby

Thanks everyone! I definitely plan on getting more not exactly sure what yet probably something simple like a pastel I wanna stay on the cheaper end at first but there are so many that I really like

Pastels are a great place to start, and can really turn up some interesting stuff! Plus, they're getting cheaper and cheaper. I've seen males going for as low as $70, and females as low as $100. Plus, no matter how many morphs you get, pastel can always throw something cool in

Congrats, and get the ones you like. It makes it funner.

What does the 0.1 represent in front of everybodys morphs? Lol like I said I'm new

Or any of the numbers for that matter

Male.Female.Unknown

Out of personal experience, I suggest that whatever you choose, you get a female! At least until you have a good group of them.

Is that because they're more docile?

DaganGecko wrote:

Out of personal experience, I suggest that whatever you choose, you get a female! At least until you have a good group of them.

Females are incredibly valuable because they can actually carry the eggs and have the babies. Females are almost always more expensive because of that. Plus some morphs and their ability to be inherited is determined by gender. Well, seems to be inherited, I should say. I'm no geneticist

Oh ok

The exception would be new morphs--when a new morph comes up, the males are generally more valuable because they can spread the gene to many females whereas a female can only lay one clutch a year herself. Sometimes when new morphs appear on the market, the "producers" or discoverers of the morph will withhold the males and release only females for a few years in order to control the market.

But yes, if I could start over in my ball python acquisition, I would go back and inform myself to purchase as many females of the single-gene morphs as possible. It is better to have double or tri gene males if you have long term breeding plans...unless you have a very specific project, a low budget, or just want to hobby around

Since you are just getting started, a female normal, pastel, or spider would be a really good place to start!

Thanks for the info dagan!

The reason to start with females first is because they take at least a year longer than males to reach breeding size. Males can breed in about a year. Females take two or three to reach size. So buy your females the first couple of years, then buy the male.

Anybody know where to get nice morphs at a decent price?

Expos are a great place to start. You can also try online classifieds, like the ones on this site, as well as the Ball Python sections at Kingsnake.com and Faunaclassifieds.com. There's also Ball-pythons.net, which has some great information, as well as hosting some classifieds.

Don wrote:

The reason to start with females first is because they take at least a year longer than males to reach breeding size. Males can breed in about a year. Females take two or three to reach size. So buy your females the first couple of years, then buy the male.

This is a phenomenal point that I did not even think about XD

yup, I started with some king snakes.... now I own many snakes... cobras, rattlers, tree vipers, corn snakes, tree boa, one ball python, rat snakes, garter snake, and I recently got a woma python (found a great deal on one) unfortunately my death adder died.

blazinyabreezy wrote:

Anybody know where to get nice morphs at a decent price?

The season is in full gear now so you should see hatchlings start popping up. I sell everything cheaper here than anywhere.

Herpexchange is another source but it's limited to Hampton Roads.

There is a forum called "expos, shows and venues" on here that members update with reptile shows in Virginia.

yeah, i got into balls last year and now i have 10, but i'm only 17 so that number would skyrocket if i had the money lol

Welcome and congrats on the new bp! They are very addicting. I started by buying a snow corn snake in December of 2006. I now have almost 30 snakes in my house and plan to expand.

Trying to upload a picture to show you guys the new snake

Here's a link on how to post pictures:

http://www.vaherps.com/t832-how-do-you-post-pictures

If you don't have one, I would suggest an account with www.photobucket.com
It's free and you can easily upload all of your pictures and they are stored forever

Congratulations!

blazinyabreezy wrote:

and have done quite a bit of research.

Far too many new keepers skip this step. Thanks for doing it the right way!