When I purchased my first normal ball python as a pet years ago, I had no idea the journey it would lead me on.
Blame it on Roy
I got introduced to ball pythons as pets through my brother in law, who is a grade school science teacher and had a ball python as a class pet. He explained to me that balls are great pets because of their gentle temperament. He had the snake home for the summer while I was visiting. Well, my kids got hooked, so off to the pet store we went and purchased Roy (short for Royal Python), a normal male ball python.
Being a custom home builder, I constructed a custom built home for Roy. The cage is built into the wall, with a maze at the back, duplicating a ball python's natural habitat of living in rodent burrows and old termite colonies. I put an automated humidistat in the home as well as automated lighting. I couldn't help but brag about how easy it was to have a ball python as a pet.
Roy had a happy and healthy home environment. I was also glad to spread the word on how wonderful it was to have a ball python as a pet. I am still amazed at the reaction I get when acquaintances find out I have a "snake in the house".
Then we grew...
One of my friends approached me because they heard about our "state of the art" home for our pet ball python. Their daughter didn't want her ball python anymore... did I want a second python?
I thought why not and introduced Rusty another male normal ball to my home. Rusty and Roy got along well, even though I was nervous about having two males in one home.
After a year, Rusty got restless and kept crushing Roy in a dominate state. This got me researching the ball python and realizing Rusty wanted to breed. The more I researched ball pythons, the more I was intrigued! Ball Pythons were totally capturing my attention.
Breeding Time
I had a friend with a female ball and we set Rusty up on a blind date with Penelope, a female normal ball python. I was amazed at watching the mating and enthralled. It also made me realize there was a lot to learn. I visited the reptile show in Mississauga, Ontario. I also researched reputable breeders on the internet and I also got my hands on two excellent books, The Complete Ball Python, by Kevin McCurley, and Ball Pythons by David and Tracy Barker. I read them from cover to cover and was hooked on the various morphs that could be bred and wanted to get into this hobby. The other great resource I use time and time again is the video Dr Mark Seward's Ball Python Breeding with Dan and Colette Sutherland. Dan and Colette are very knowledgeable ball python breeders.
Special Housing for my growing collection
After visiting some reptile shows in Mississauga, and doing a lot of research, I quickly recognized the importance of purchasing from reputable breeders who looked after their pythons with utmost care. These breeders supply high quality ball pythons and that is my number one goal too.
I started purchasing specific ball pythons for my collection and needed to expand the housing available for my new friends.
Using my construction background, I renovated a room in my home and sealed it off from the rest of my house for sterility and to keep my collection safe. This room is heat and humidity controlled with separate herpstat controls for each rack. There is also an alarm system on the heat, so if it drops too low and alarm will sound. (Good in the cold Canadian climate!)
In the new snake room, I custom built a racking system to house all my snakes individually. In this racking system, the ball pythons all have their own hide box. The home is large enough that the ball can chose to be warmer or cooler simply by being closer or further away from the heat source. It is good for ball pythons to have the freedom to make their own choice. I use fresh aspen bedding in each home, and each snake's home is carefully labelled.
Walk-in Incubator
At this point I had successfully bred several morphs and needed a proper home for the eggs. I was able to build a walk in incubator as a separate insulated room with an insulated door (with a window in it for easy monitoring). I wired up a Herpstat Thermometer and an internal heating system with a fan in the ceiling to keep the temperature consistent throughout the room. Research has shown that this is very important for successful hatching.
Now I have a medium sized collection of ball pythons and a variety of different morphs collected with the utmost care from only reputable breeders, or hatched in my state of the art facility. I pride myself on raising very healthy ball pythons. Each and every ball has a name and is considered a family pet. My family helps with the care of the pythons and we all take turns handling the pythons, which keep them very tame and friendly.
I'm excited about the future of ball python breeding!
