Fact-They are more specific in their requirements AND they are more picky than most North American colubrids.
Fact-Kingsnakes and cornsnakes top the charts when it comes to ease of care and also in popularity as first-time reptile pets.
Fact-Feeding f/t prey is safer, cheaper, and more convenient than live prey in 99% of instances. The fact that BPs are more reluctant than other common pet snakes to get into a consistent f/t feeding pattern makes them "more difficult" in captivity.
F/t is the industry standard for a REASON. Justifying a snake's reluctance to take f/t by saying "it's their preferance" is ludicrous at best. NO snakes get f/t in the wild, therefor NO snake has a preferance for f/t. Yet *most* convert with relative ease in captivity. Ball pythons are more reluctant than other highly recommended first-time-pet snakes at this. This makes them "more difficult".
Facts, eh? Prove them as fact. Show me any part of literature, any and all documentation; anything that proves so.
What you define as 'picky' is more a life cycle for these animals. When, and I repeat when they do go off feed, it is for reason. Their body doesn't need at the time. does it mean they are being picky, simply due to the fact that they won't feed that specific time, due to the fact that 'you' would like them to? If they're not losing body weight, and are showing signs they simply don't need any sustenance during that particular time... where's the pickiness? Really....
So by your logic, when colubrids go off feed during their cycle for reproduction, or another environmental factor in their life, they're being 'picky'. By your 'standard', around 99% of all species in the industry, if not 100%, are completely picky. Hmmm.
Prove to me that F/T is safer. I don't care what you use, there is a risk to everything. There's a risk to the prey that is thawed, sitting too long and building bacteria, which could in turn harm your animals. There is risk of rodent's not being completely thawed, even if you use the 'pinch' method. If you're not pulling an over kill, and giving your animal a prey item that is too large... there is little to no risk.
Show me the benefits outside of a possible scar that may occur with f/t. Any nutritional benefits, aid in digestion, etc etc? Show me how they are more convenient.
I think you simply refuse to accept the fact that they're built differently for different reason. Ball Pythons are specifically built to handle mammalian prey. This is why they have heat pits. If you can't handle feeding off live, don't buy a Ball. Live isn't exactly a hard prey to come by, and most stores have been carrying live prey for how long? 30 years? 40? Frozen prey is just now coming onto the scene, and it hasn't gained too much momentum, comparative to what you believe.
Look at how ever many breeders... actual breeders with a collection larger than 30 animals; and tell me exactly how many feed f/t? If convenience is thawing out rodents for 4 hours, going tub to tub, and dangling them due to risk on intestinal impaction from bedding sticking to wet rodents if you lay them down, when I can simply drop a live rat in the snake's cage, and let them do what they're built for.... count me out. I'll stick to live.
I'm not one to run off at the mouth without having some knowledge, experience, and information with which to back my position. Nobody ever said ball pythons were particularly difficult to care for. I, and others, said they are MORE DIFFICULT THAN CORNSNAKES. This is an indisputable fact, no matter how you try to slice it.
Actually, your original posts argued the fact that they were more difficult snakes in general, and how they go off feed. The original argument was that they were
-a expensive
-b picky eaters
-c need spot on temps
Perhaps you should go back and re-read? Corn snakes came onto the scene with your posts. As I've said, this isn't a Corn snake vs. Ball Python thread. It never was.
Anyone can care for a BP properly, even as a first-time owner, with some effort. It is a fact that this effort is more "intense" than that required for proper corn and kingsnake care in general.
If you really call buying a live rat, and actually having to use a heat pad more 'intense', you should really re-think your logic here.
Is it difficult to properly care for a ball python? No. But ONLY if you understand a few basic things about ball pythons in specific. These basics include their reluctance to feed f/t readily, their natural tendency to go "off feed" at specific times for extended periods, and that their humidity and temperature ranges are more specific than other commonly kept introductory pet snakes.
You still refuse to accept the fact that, in order to care for any species, you need a basic knowledge of that species. I really don't care if it's a Kingsnake, a Garter, a Burmese Python, etc. Add to that the insult that you're looking at, due to the fact that they do not burmate like colubrids, it's automatically blacklisted as being picky, rather than being a natural part of their life.
I recall this thread being started by a person that owns a cornsnake, on a cornsnake website, where the majority of the members are cornsnake owners. Anytime someone on this forum posts "I'm gonna get a ball python!!!!!11", the general consensus is to inform those individuals that comparatively speaking, they are more difficult than corns and kings.
And if they own a Corn Snake, they really don't need a lecture about how different they are. They need tips on actual care, husbandry, and medical aspects to better prepare them. You're not here to dissuade them from buying one, and go into buying another Corn. The job here is education. To state that they are, again-
-a expensive
-b picky eaters
-c need spot on temps
Is not helping, nor aid. It's lecturing when on a Corn board, where do any of the Corn Snake breeders stand to give much more than basic information on the species? Point?
Not only that, in my first post in this thread, I made certain to specifically speak in comparative terms, as I have done with every post I've made.
Yet here you are...addressing me as though I've no idea what I am talking about, trying to prove my comparative arguments as false when they are, in fact, quite true. And relevant.
You specifically addressed me, trying to prove my "ignorance". I made a very distinct comparative analysis in the post which you addressed. Don't get mad at me because you can't keep track of your arguments...
And why? Because you had specifically addressed me in the same fashion. Obviously you're not a fan of criticism, and it show's. If you can't argue your point without taking shots, such as calling information nothing more than excuses; you really don't have a leg to stand on.
I want to see these facts as actual facts. As a breeder myself, am I supposed to believe you simply because you say? Or am I to look at actual facts from working first hand with well over what the normal 'keeper' holds in their collection, regarding this species? I think that seems pretty obvious. If I were blowing smoke out of my butt, how have I been so successful in what I do in regards to both husbandry, and reproduction, with this species this long?
Hmm. It seems to me, you're the one all butt hurt over the fact that you jumped in here to debate, yet you have absolutely nothing to really prove your points.
Is that a threat? My name's Chris Morrison. I live in Bishop, California. Stop by anytime. Excuses are like butts. Everyone has one, and they all stink. Yours are no different.
I'll have to look you up sometime
To call information another breeder puts forth, an excuse. It's ignorance. It's a cheap shot trying to win an argument. If it could be turned any which way, your information could be looked at as an excuse in order to promote another species. That would be the more logical view.
I'm comparing recommended first-time-pet snakes, as I have since my first post, on a website dedicated to oranges. Reading comprehension is a wonderful thing.
I bet it is, yet if it were, you would have understood where the argument first stemmed. Correct? Who would be better to talk Ball Pythons? A Corn Snake breeder or a Ball Python breeder? The original poster did not ask for a comparison. There's no need for one. They stated they want a Ball Python.
I wonder how delicious apples are. I better ask an Orange Grove.
*This is in no way an insult to the Corn Snake keepers here. Just a simple debate.
