Ball python?

[Night Stalker]

I had a lot of visitors over at my house last night. It turned into a mini- party with quite a few people that I didn't even know. This girl saw my turtles and offered a baby ball python to me. I've got room for one more reptile enclosure, so I said maybe.

Problem is she says it won't eat. She just got it not too long ago and it's been two weeks since it's last eaten according to her, and it doesn't move much. Do you think this snake is sick? I'm not real desperate to adopt another animal but I'll take this one if there's any chance it will survive. She got it just because it looked cool and has it in her appartment.

Also, is this type of snake good at escaping, and how do they do it? Will it kill my dog or eat my turtles if it escapes?

If I get it, I'll buy a care booklet and leave 'yall alone. =)

[Winnowill]

Easily domesticated??? Have you heard the sounds that come out of those things? Or the poo-flinging tendencies? What about the biting?!?

Not saying they can't be tamed, just saying it's not "very easy".

[daroz]

Try live. Many a ball python will not eat f/t, and its hard to switch them over. Just make sure you keep an eye on the live prey item when feeding in case it decides the ball python is food.

Two weeks isn't so bad. I've had balls go for several months without food, and its very frustrating. Just make sure its care needs are met-there are several good care sheets out on the web.

Ball Pythons do not eat turtles in the wild, and I highly doubt one would kill your dog-it would probably be the other way around.

[Winnowill]

They need lots of space and lots of attention. Easier to bond with when kept alone then in pairs. I think of them more as flying squirrels. I think they are awesome, but a pipe dream in my world... my husband has imposed a No
More Mammals rule. We also have a No Captive Avians and One Large Boid rule in effect here. It's all I can do not to talk myself into a monitor, or worse, a Dreaded Iguana.

[gemuesekrieger]

They hatched from the eggs of a my corn snake. Generally I don't feed snakes to other snakes, but this ones had a kinked spine in more than one point.

[gemuesekrieger]

Especially gerbils. The snake learns fast to eat nothing else. I have
Kingsnake that was a good eater before it came to me. Here his first two meals were two tiny snakes and it was a pain in the ass to switch him back on rodents.

[NoNoSeriously]

two weeks isn't that long to go without eating really. if it doesn't move much it could be from poor living conditions, i.e. not enough humidity or not warm enough, or if she just got it then maybe it's still stressing from that.. either of which would make food seem less exciting. if she's trying frozen you might try live.
i wouldn't adopt it if you're not desperate too and just think it looks cool (even tho they do) cuz ball pythons get old.
so, probably not terribly sick with anything but it's always good to have a vet check out your new animals.

[Night Stalker]

I've had so many dogs and cats that I just can't do that anymore. I'd much rather take in reptiles. They're really great animals. I'm all alone here so I like having animals around to keep me company, even though they're confined. Caring for them gives me something extra to do in my spare time.
Thus far I've bought and raised three turtles, a tortoise that didn't survive the harsh winter we had a few years ago, just adopted a snapper not too long ago, and now I've got a chance to get a snake.

If I wanted to get an animal, though, I'd get a sugar glider or another tortoise. Sugar gliders are mammals, kind of like squirrels but are very easily domesticated. I really like tortoises. They're such tame animals.

[Night Stalker]

Wow, never heard this. My cousins have a couple of these things and they were apparently no problem, but perhaps they were just not telling me. Odd.
But I still think it was a wonderful pet. They are very tame.

[Kasaii]

Umm, never had poo-flinging happen. We used to have three pair of breeding sugar gliders. They were all pretty in sync with breeding, we would have
4-6 babies at a time to hand feed. They are not difficult to tame at all if they are hand fed. They are extraordinarily sweet then. BUT, get a parent raised baby that has some age on it, yikes! They can be a lot more difficult.

They do take a lot of space and time though, and their diet is as misunderstood as most reptilian diets are. I am quite happy with our one female now...but I do get that baby twinge every one in a while.