Are ball pythons good pets?

Question

I am wanting to get a ball python, I have always wanted one! Would it make a great pet? People have told me that male and female go through mating season and can be very aggressive? is that true? I want one soo bad! but i dont want to take a risk of getting bitten by it though?

Answer 1

they are great pets my is oly a few weeks old and they are no aggressive. they are very docile snakes and the reason they are called ball pyhtons is because when they feel threatend instead of biting they curl up into a ball.they do go threw one small fase where hey might nip at you but it will not be for a very long time and you can keep them in the simplest inclosers because i breed them and i cannot aford the money for all the cages so i use tubaware containers and heat pads

hope this helps

Answer 2

Ball pythons are great pets! i have one that i love dearly, she is the calmest and most docile of any of my snakes, and she has never bitten me, most ball pythons are docile, though they can be a bit jumpy while eating, as is any pet, and just like any other pet, at some point you could be accidentally bitten, remember it is still a wild animal, even if it is captive bred and raised by hand its entire life it is not ever going to be perfectly tame and can at any time could strike, though like most pythons, they store a scent and remember that as food, so its not going to bit at anything that moves, once again though, while feeding it is more than likely you will get that scent from the food on you and you could be bit, constrictor bites, however are one of the quickest healing and least damaging of bites as long as you do not pull your hand away, so if you do get bit just stay still, he'll let go, if you pull, its teeth are like hundreds of little needles, so you could get rather damaging bites or even teeth left behind,

hope that helps a bit, snakes aren't for every one but i sure love them, if you have any additional questions feel free to email me!

Answer 3

i got my first ball python a year ago. since then, i now have 5! they get very addicting because they are very docile and rarely bite. the ages of mine range from 2 months to 7 years and i have never gotten bit before. my first one was a rescue and now and then he hisses at me, but you cant blame him. do not buy from pet stores please. my 5 and 7 year olds have tapeworm because the previous owners (more rescues) got them from petsmart when they were babies. this is not because petsmart took bad care of them, its because they were shipped from africa. imported snakes carry lots of diseases and it spreads from snake to snake by mites being transferred. i only say this because it cost $281 for the vet bills. plus my snakes could possibly die.

as for the mating season, you have to re-create the mating season. like someone else said, you cool the temps down by 5 or so degrees and you make the "days" or hours of light shorter. if you do not do this, they dont get aggressive. my snakes that i dont breed never get aggressive during mating season because i leave their hours and temps normal.

good luck and have fun. ball pythons are great pets :)

Answer 4

They only go through a mating season if the temperatures suddenly drop (in their cage) for a prolonged period of time and they're put in the dark for longer periods during the day. (14 hours). This is mainly if you're trying to mate them, otherwise I don't think they go into mating seasons unless you choose for them to. They're from Africa, so they think drops in temp, less light, and a presence of a male or female is a sign of mating time!

Ball Pythons are the easiest and nicest snakes to have. Go for it.  

Answer 5

I don't know about the aggressiveness, but my friend has one and he's awesome!  I was terrified of snakes, but I got over it quick.  He's very relaxed.  Even when he's hungry (friend forgot to feed him once and went out of town, called, and I had to do it), he was still very mellow and friendly.  He's had him for a few years now, and tons of ppl have held him and not one person was ever bitten.  

I'd say go for it, but just watch around children.  Kids and pets that are unpredictable don't mix, lol.