Ball Python: The Mystery and the Art

Ball Python: The Mystery and the Art

Every year, ball python breeders are coming out with a original color or pattern morph to satisfy the desires of keepers and breeders alike. Over the last few years, there has been a surge in producing various color or pattern morphs, which are the envy of the snake world. These can cost upwards of thousands of dollars. There are detached plenty of normal ball pythons being bred in captivity for the pet industry but there is clear change in the market.

This change has happened before and is seeing a resurgence today. More and more people today are keeping reptiles; specifically snakes in general as pieces of living art. In the leisurely eighties, there was a man who changed the thinking of reptile keepers everywhere with a book called The Art of Snake Keeping. Philippe de Vosjoli has been a source of not only reptile keeping information but also a source of inspiration for many keepers today. Philippe reminded us then and now that a natural environment is the very best map to peer our reptiles.

Reptile collectors today are not pleased purchasing a snake, placing it into a fish tank with a mask lid, and a heater. They observe their reptiles as an investment and want to show them, as they would a Picasso painting. We detached contemplate the usual buyers of reptiles within the pet industry but there is a clear increasing percentage of individuals who are purchasing the higher demolish or more expensive morphs in order to manufacture their personal artistic statement in there home or office.

Solving the mystery

Keepers are grand more knowledgeable today as we all are about the care specifics of reptiles. Over the past three decades, many people have learned, with more knowledge about their chosen reptile they can get informed decisions about which product(s) will provide them not only a better environment but also a better plot of reptile keeping. Today more keepers are recognizing that it is not about unbiased captive care of reptiles in general, but about the natural history of the entire genre, which is now making a incompatibility in how they support their snakes. Using the ball python as an example, many keepers plan for years that this species was only a fossorial snake. Today we know that ball pythons from some regions climb into microscopic shrubs and utilize time there off the ground. With the trend of creating a more natural environment for our snakes we are observing unique behaviors; I would be willing to say, if the reptiles were bred under these conditions we would also leer an increasing trend towards better breeding success.

Product manufacturers are also more aware of this increasing trend as well. They now execute a better line of products to satisfy the needs of the discerning keeper. With the manufacturers notion impartial as considerable if not more about our reptiles, we are no longer looking through a bay window onto a vast environment but a microscope into the world that makes up the microenvironment of the reptiles we hold. With this knowledge, we are able to provide a grand better captive environment, one highlighting the snake, rather than impartial keeping it alive.

Showcasing a reptile is not fair a matter of building an enclosure and making the enclosure glimpse its best by adding plants substrate etc. Many parameters go into this type of environment. In the past, all we had were fish tanks with camouflage lids as I had mentioned earlier. Today we have plexiglass enclosures, which are easier to gain. Plexiglass not only is easier to heat but it also holds the humidity distinguished for keeping tropical species such as the ball python.

Besides the advent of unique materials such as plexiglass for the enclosure, we now have a firmer pick on our knowledge of plants, substrates, heaters, and various other pieces of equipment that are required to believe a healthy environment for our reptiles. Manufacturers taking advantage of this, are now producing some unbelievable products that manufacture snake ownership possible for almost anyone who has an interest. With all of this knowledge being available to people we collected sight the most well-liked mistake with the modern snake keeper.

They acquire the snake and what they mediate are the accurate materials for the environment and then keep all of this into the former type of fish tank enclosure. The major content with keeping most tropical animals in this type of enclosure is that there is a great amount of air exchange when cloak lids are aged. If you live in a dry dwelling such as myself this type of enclosure will require misting numerous times a day. This is a very time engrossing process. If you have made a higher raze investment this is a distinguished component of captive care to mist the snake and monitor its environment. Using the honest enclosure such as those produced by Ricky ' s Reptile Enclosures will attach you from having to go through this voice.

Now you know which enclosure to acquire, but the fun does not terminate there. It is time to rep creative; most breeders expend a rack system and one of two substrates. These are inexpensive and easy to clean; therefore, they obtain sense for the breeder attempting to withhold costs to a minimum. Breeders exercise either pine shavings or newspaper to sustain their snakes. The showcase snake though will not be prove properly on these substrates. To demonstrate off the colors and patterns of the higher kill morphs or even the 'normal' ball python we suggest going with a planted vivarium type of setting.

The factual Plant

The planted vivarium is not as hard as it may seem, it is really a matter of plant selection, placement, and the consume of the lawful soils. I expend organic potting soil that is pearlite free and landscape the enclosure so that the support of the enclosure is slightly graded or sloped towards the front. The organic potting soil is sparkling on its enjoy but to really net a nice sight to the whole vivarium I achieve a layer of orchid bark or cypress mulch on top.

As far as plants go, you can leave them in their pots or plant them directly into the soil. Not only do plants back effect oxygen within the enclosure, they also provide a level of humidity as does the soil/mulch mixture. With the ball python being such a 'heavy bodied' snake there is distinct amount of peril with using plants in the enclosure lest they be crushed by a wandering snake. lovely ferns and other such plants will not stand up to a wandering P. regius.

We must also be careful of any plants that might be toxic to a reptile. Not to mention the fact that many of the plant recommendations you observe online sound tremendous. But what they don't squawk you is that their recommendations are actually bushes that can net extremely colossal. For instance, one recommendation I saw was for Callistemon, which they also had misspelled as Callistemom commonly known as bottlebrush. Most sites list this as a TREE, which gets 10-12 feet in height. The other one that struck me as unusual was the recommendation of Bougainvillea, which has very inspiring thorns among the limbs. Why would you recommend that for a reptile or amphibian enclosure?

Here is a list of non-toxic plants that you can utilize without scare of them growing into trees or stabbing a wandering snake. Pothos Epipremnum pothos aureus, Liriope Lily turf, & Aspidistra Cast Iron plant are all plants that I have ragged within the vivarium itself and have never had any roar. Some mosses may be primitive as ground shroud as well but I have never primitive them before so I cannot do any recommendations here. Besides the plants, add a sandblasted grapevine portion angled from one of the bottom corners of the enclosure to the opposite top corner diagonally so that the snake can resolve to be either lower or higher. I have yet to watch a branch be provided that was not outmoded at some point. If nothing else, the snake will exercise this to relieve with shedding.

You must also provide some type of shroud situation within the enclosure. Personally, I like the half logs that are sold for this purpose. select one that the snake can enter and when coiled their body should encounter the sides. This is a necessary share as it allows the snake to feel win.

If you are going to invest in a P. regius whether a higher kill morph or even a normal you must understand that these snakes have a lifespan of 20 plus years in a quality captive environment. Providing a quality captive environment starts with buying the advantageous enclosure as I stated above. Be clear to visit http://www.rickysreptileenclosures.com for more information on enclosures. Most essential, bask in your ball python and learn everything you can along the design.