CapeFearConstrict
Wilmington, NC
Male, 32
I've been working with ball pythons for over ten years now. Two years ago I decided to breed them as a business. I run a small operation. Currently I have approximately 100 snakes in my breeding program and hope to produce over 200 babies in the 2013 breeding season. I've always been fascinated by reptiles, snakes in particular, and being able to work with them every day is very satisfying.
Yes, there are some laws in place that restrict what exotic animals people can have. These are usually at the state or local level. Some cities require permits, while other cities outright ban certain species. I recommend to anyone interested in keeping an exotic pet that they should research any local laws that might be in place before purchasing their pet. At the Federal level, there are some restrictions. There is the Lacey Act, which makes it a felony to own certain forms of wildlife and to transfer others over state lines. Recently, due to the supposed problem in the Everglades and a faulty scientific study, several species of large constricting snakes were added to the Lacey Act. It is now a felony to transfer a burmese python over state lines. This has effectively destroyed the burmese python industry in our country and has destroyed the way of life of many breeders who's income depended on these snakes. All to solve a problem that doesn't exist. Sorry. I got off on a tangent there... Most snakes, however, are fine to sell and own and transfer over state lines. Ball pythons, the species I work with, are a smaller snake, so there are less restrictions on them. Snakes are shipped in the mail. I have had dozens of snakes shipped right to my door. FedEx overnight is the service most breeders use to ship their snakes. If they are packed properly, the snakes are not harmed and arrive at their destination usually less than 12 hours after they leave the breeder's possession.
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If the snakes are close to the same genus/species classification and are similar in body size, then yes. For example, you can relatively easily cross a ball python and a blood python. These are two closely related species. You could not, on the other hand, cross a ball python with a rattle snake. Those species are just too far removed from each other.
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First, I want to clarify that I am not an expert in the Everglades, nor am I an expert in Burmese Pythons. I am also not an environmental scientist. So, with that being said, I will definitely share what I know and my opinion on the matter. Fear sells. That's how mainstream media makes their money. "Stopping a Burmese Python Invasion" will catch more eyes and get more reads than "A Few Burmese Pythons Found in the Everglades." It's far more intriguing to make it out to be a huge problem. The facts are actually much more boring. The media tells us that the burmese pythons are in the Everglades due to careless pet owners releasing their pets into the wild because they become too big and too much work. DNA tests were done on the pythons and they are traced back to a breeder's facility that was destroyed during Hurricane Andrew. There is no evidence that these snakes are caused by released pets. The media will tell you that a scientific study was done that shows the burmese pythons could migrate as far north as New England. The fact is, that study took the average temperatures of an area over the course of a year and compared that to the extreme survival limits of the snakes. These snakes are very susceptible to cold temperatures. If the temperature drops too low for too long, the snakes will get sick and die. The fact is, these snakes can't survive for any significant length of time anywhere in our country other than the Everglades. The "scientific" study that was done that was used to enact more laws is being challenged in court, because it is based off faulty science. The media will tell you that there are an estimated 150,000 burmese pythons in the Everglades. The people who actually have state issued licenses to hunt these pythons will tell you differently. The number is more likely 5,000-10,000 or even less. Florida actually just hosted a python hunt, where over 1500 people scoured the Everglades for a month searching for burmese pythons. The result? They found 68 pythons, and some of those are thought to be pets that people claimed to have found in order to win the prize money. If there were as many pythons out there as they claim, those hunters should have been finding them left and right. The fact is, that the cold winters that Florida experienced have killed off most of the pythons. They are not nearly as prolific as the media wants you to believe. As far as being an apex predator, that might be true for a fully grown burmese, but for babies and younger pythons, they are certainly fair game. The fact that very few fully grown pythons are found means that babies are being preyed upon regularly. They are not decimating the wildlife in the Everglades. Feral cats are a much more serious problem as far as that goes. The burmese pythons are not a danger to humans. Not a single human has been attacked by one of these wild burmese pythons. Generally, snakes and other wildlife want to avoid contact with humans. If you leave them alone, they will leave you alone. You might be interested in reading this Q&A with Shawn Heflick, who is a Herpetologist and one of the licensed python hunters I mentioned earlier: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/invasion-of-the-giant-pythons/herpetologist-shawn-heflick-answers-your-questions/5564/
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Simple answer: yes. Longer answer: Snakes can't really be tied in a knot as you might tie a string or a rope into a knot. Their bodies, while flexible, cannot bend at a tight enough angle to be knotted, at least not without fatally injuring the snake. Snakes can and do get wrapped up in themselves, but I've never witnessed one do that and not be able to easily backtrack to unwind itself.
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Yes, I've been bitten many times. Bites from babies are barely noticeable. They are lucky if they pierce the skin and draw blood. Bites from adults are a little worse, but still not bad. I like to compare it to a bee sting, except the bee sting hurts a whole lot more. Ball pythons do not have fangs. Instead they have a lot of tiny, extremely sharp teeth. It feels like a bunch of little needles. If you can handle getting a shot, you can handle being bit by a ball python. Larger species have larger teeth, and can cause more damage. I've never been bitten by a larger species, so I have no first hand experience. I do know that in some cases, stitches can be required. Generally speaking, it's the fear and anticipation of a bite that's worse than actually getting bit.
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It depends. The market is really driven by mutations of patterns and colors (typically referred to as 'morphs'). When a new mutation is discovered, either from a wild caught import, or through a fortuitous captive breeding, it is extremely expensive. Some new mutations hit the market at up to $100,000, but most new genes are introduced at a price range of $10,000-25,000, depending on the desirability of the morph. Each year, as more individuals carrying the morph are produced, the prices come down. When you combine multiple morphs into single animals, the value goes up, depending on how many morphs are in the individual and the rarity of those morphs. In addition to that, the sex of the snake affects value too. When a mutation is rare, males are far more valuable, as a single male can start breeding usually within 6 months and he can produce multiple clutches. Females, on the other hand, take a minimum of two years to mature and can only produce a single clutch. Once a morph becomes more common and less expensive, the females start becoming more valuable because more people will want them to breed to higher valued males. Simply put, the answer to your question ranges from $75-$100,000, depending on the rarity of the snake in question.
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Thank you for the compliment. I'm glad you enjoyed them. When I met my wife over 6 years ago, I was not breeding pythons. I did have a couple reptiles as pets, a ball python being one of them. So she was aware that I was a reptile enthusiast, but she really had no idea what she was getting herself into. :) It had been a dream of mine to someday breed ball pythons since that time ten years ago when I purchased my first ball python as a pet and was introduced the world of morphs and the endless possibilities that are available with mixing and matching them. It was just out of my reach, financially, as well as logistically at the time, so I had to put that dream on the back burner. A few years after my wife and I married, we had settled down a bit and she was pregnant for our first child together (she has a son from a previous relationship, who will soon be my adopted son). I had achieved financial security for us and was able to seriously consider fulfilling that dream I had nearly a decade earlier. I don't think she took me seriously at first when I brought the idea up... "You want to do WHAT?" However, after many conversations and a lot of convincing, she finally relented and gave her blessing. Hint to anyone who might want to do this: Play the education card. "But honey, this will be an excellent educational experience for our children. Not only will they learn responsibility from helping take care of the animals, but they will also learn about the circle of life, the reproductive cycle of animals, and the miracle of birth." It worked great for me, and it's true at the same time. Good stuff. Anyway, this was probably way more information than you were expecting. My wife, while she didn't come into our relationship knowing about all of this, has accepted it and supported me the whole way. She doesn't do a whole lot of hands on work with the snakes, but she enjoys them when she does.
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