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Hey folks! I'm in a funky mood - we had to put our dog down on Friday - and I've been reminiscing about pets past. So it's snake story time! When I was in high school (in the early 90's), I got a ball python. I'm pretty sure I was not the best owner - I was a dumb kid - but he and I got along great, and I brought him everywhere with me in a dumb basket with padding. It wasn't really even secured; he was so chill it didn't matter. Parties, campouts, youth group, Burger King, everywhere. And he was a chill snake like they usually are, and was very forebearing with us. Anyway, one summer I brought him to a friend's backyard party, and met up with my brother there. He'd ridden his bike, and his girlfriend dumped him at the party, so I had to haul my crying brother and his bike home. This was like April 1992, give or take. While he was despondent in the back seat, Monty (of course he was named Monty, I was a dumb kid) got out and simply disappeared. Since that was the back seat, and I had the trunk bungeed open, I was pretty sure he'd crawled out and ended up on the highway somewhere. We tore up the loving car, and couldn't find him, and I was just despondent. I was pretty sure we'd never see him again. Anyway, cut to August. I headed off to Gen Con for the week with some friends, and when I got back, Monty was back in his cage. I was floored. While I was gone, my dad enlisted his mechanic friend to drive my car to his place and get it all checked out. So they were driving down I-80 eastbound, my dad following his friend in my car. About 20 minutes into the trip, my dad sees my car just swerving left and right in front of him like it's gone out of control. His buddy pulls it over, jumps out of the car and yells at my dad, "THERE'S A GODDAMN SNAKE IN THERE!" I have no idea how he'd survived the summer, but sure enough, Monty was the picture of health up until I had to give him away when I headed off to college. And that's the story of how I got my snake back. --- And in more relevant news, my older son wants a ball python of his own, especially after losing our dog. I want him to be a better caretaker than I was back then, so want to make sure we've got the right stuff to keep a new snake happy. What's the best resource for these little dudes?
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Oct 16, 2018 02:45
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| # ¿ Apr 20, 2024 00:28 |
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Samila posted:This is a pretty good care guide to start with. I appreciate it!
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Oct 16, 2018 13:54
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snake and bake posted:Spiders are my dipstick for judging breeders. If someone breeds spiders, they obviously care more about profit or appearance than the health of their snakes. I have zero respect for that.
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Mar 21, 2019 16:58
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Electric Bugaloo posted:The issue isn’t crazy stuff, the issue is breeding sound gene lines, not breeding for risky morphs like spider, and not inbreeding. https://www.facebook.com/Kerrsballpythons/ He looks to keep good track of his lineages, with ID numbers and whatnot. I feel a lot better about getting a snake from him than from the local Petsmart.
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Mar 21, 2019 19:02
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My kid got his first snake today. A pastel ball python. 
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Mar 23, 2019 20:20
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Electric Bugaloo posted:That snake is lovely but repeat after me: you guys a snake together   Also the coconut hideout was way too small, but he was game to give it a shot anyway. 
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Mar 24, 2019 01:14
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Good to know. We already replaced it out.
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Mar 24, 2019 02:34
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Wait, that guide says you can use brown listerine to disinfect enclosures? Tell me more, please...
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Apr 8, 2019 01:22
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Leperflesh posted:listerine is a disinfectant But it was mentioned that you don't need to rinse the cage? That seems weird.
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Apr 8, 2019 05:23
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Cowslips Warren posted:My loving god, I know ball pythons are picky as poo poo when it comes to eating but it's been a MONTH, will you assholes at least pick a schedule! My albino girls look all excited and exploring and eager to eat until I offer them a mouse. Then they sniff...sniff....head off to do something else. Yeah our new guy hasn't eaten for a month, but that's not exactly weird for ball pythons. Trying again tomorrow; problem is he was raised on live, so he's being picky about frozen. (I don't want to risk getting live, and then having him not eat that either, and then having a pet mouse/rat for my younger kid to get attached to.)
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Apr 29, 2019 20:10
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Speaking of, I am thinking of hooking both the undertank and the CHE to the same thermostat, but not sure how dumb this is. I may just unplug the undertank entirely since it's doing gently caress-all after we added cypress for humidity.
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Apr 29, 2019 22:38
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Our ball python ate.  I was worried he would never make the transition from live to dead rodents, but he finally did.
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May 11, 2019 02:27
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Hey herp thread, my kid almost lit his dresser on fire with the ceramic heat emitter after moving it from his snake's cage. We got it before there were actual, like, flames. Charting, cracking, varnish bubble... His room smells delicious now... But yeah, those things get kinda hot!
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Jul 16, 2019 19:31
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Speaking of balls, we've now had 3 successful feedings in a row. We've finally figured out how he likes to eat, and how he shows us he's hungry.
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Jul 28, 2019 02:45
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Electric Bugaloo posted:That sounds about right. Or in the tub/sink really. I’d use 50/50 water/vinegar if you need a pet safe solvent. I made heavy use of a spray bottle full of the stuff with my rabbits’ enclosure and it’ll cut through dried up poo poo/piss no sweat.
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Aug 6, 2019 20:17
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Electric Bugaloo posted:Tortoises get pretty drat chill with interaction and people argue that they bond with them.
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Sep 6, 2019 15:41
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I have never seen a ball python that lifts his head to look around near as much as my kid's pastel. (And it's not the straight upwards "I have respiratory problems" kind, it's literally the "getting a better look around" kind and he only does it while my kid has him out.)
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Feb 16, 2020 17:27
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My kid's pastel ball wanted to say hi. Is putting the head up to look around common for balls? He's the first ball I've ever known to do this.  
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Mar 29, 2020 05:56
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| # ¿ Apr 20, 2024 00:28 |
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HungryMedusa posted:Very common. They call it telescoping. Cute snke!
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Mar 29, 2020 16:36
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