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.
Beyond the price of the snakes, you have many other expenses to deal with. Some are one-time expenses, such as housing, water bowls, hides, etc. Others are reoccurring expenses, like food, cleaning supplies and substrate. In the end, it's not very expensive to raise a snake. I believe I calculated my overall expenses to be approximately $80-100 per year per snake. That being said, the biggest expense is your time. It takes time to feed, clean and breed the snakes. With nearly 100 snakes in my collection, I spend about 10-14 hours a week in the snake room, taking care of the various tasks required. Dealing with the snakes isn't the only time commitment. I've also spent many hours creating my website. A good website takes a lot of work, and I try to keep mine updated with blog posts on at least a monthly basis. You'll need to answer questions from customers as well. If you want to remain relevant, you also need to make sure you keep up to date on the latest developments in the industry. You'll want to know what the latest hot morph or combo is. You'll always want to be upgrading your collection with new genes, so you'll need to research to be able to predict what will be a hot seller when you're finally able to produce them. It's very possible to get a great return on your investment in the ball python industry, but it's far from easy money. It takes a great deal of work and a passion for the animals. Our industry has seen get rich quick guys come and go. The only people who stick around for long are those who love the animals.
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Ball pythons have an average of 6-7 eggs per clutch, and one clutch per year at most. In the carefully monitored environment that we breeders keep the snakes and the eggs in during breeding and incubation, the vast majority of eggs survive and hatch, and the vast majority of babies that hatch survive into adulthood. I'm certain this is much better than they see in the wild. I have personally not hatched a large number of eggs, but I've seen statistics from a large breeder. He has approximately 90% of his eggs go full term. There are no stats on hatchling survival rate, but I'd guess it's probably 98% or higher. There are occasional development deformities and incubation issues that result in some babies not making it, but these are few and far between. As for other python species, I know they tend to lay far more eggs (20 or more), but as far as egg and hatchling survival rate, I cannot comment because I have not done enough research on those species to know the numbers.
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That depends on your definition of "living." If I were to cut you in half, you would live for a period of time, but it wouldn't be very long. In other words, it's not instant death. That being said, reptiles have much slower metabolisms than we do. You cut a human's head off, and the brain will remain conscious for a few seconds. You cut a snake's head off, and its brain will remain conscious for a good bit longer. We're talking in terms of minutes, not seconds. Cutting a snake in half wouldn't result in two separate entities that could survive independently. It's the same as cutting any other animal in half, with the exception that the snake would be in agony much longer.
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There is still some debate on this. The reptilian brain is very primitive. They have very little cognitive ability and no real show of emotion. My personal opinion is that even if the snake recognizes one person from another, they don't treat that person any differently. A snake's behavior is mainly based on interactions from their environment. When handling a snake, they can tell if you're nervous or calm, and their behavior stems from that. If you're nervous, they are more inclined to be nervous, and similarly, if you are calm, they are more likely to be calm. They are certainly not companion pets, but I see them as fascinating, beautiful living works of art.
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I have seen that movie and it's 100% pure fiction. Hollywood rarely portrays snakes in an accurate (or even positive, for that matter) way. It's a shame that the only time you see a snake in a movie is when they want to scare you.
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Ball pythons got their name due to the fact that when they feel frightened or stressed, they ball themselves up. I've read that the reason ball pythons do this is because in their natural environment, the king cobra is their natural predator, and balling up makes them more difficult to swallow. I don't recall where I read that, so I can't verify if it's factual but it makes sense to me. As for other reasons why snakes might coil up, I think there might be a few different reasons. If they find a warm spot, like a rock that has been heated by the sun, coiling up over it makes sure their entire body gets the heat. It might also help to make them less visible to predators and to feel more secure. It could also put them in a better body posture to strike if they need to.
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If a mutation is genetic, there's always a chance that it will be passed onto offspring. DNA comes in pairs. Each part of the DNA contributes something to the oganism. When a baby is created, half the DNA comes from the mom, half from the dad. Some mutations are only on half of the DNA pair, others are on both. When it's on half, there's a 50% chance it passes onto each offspring, when it's on both, there's 100% chance it passes on (but the resulting offspring may only end up with half the mutation, unless both parents pass on the mutation).
This is a very simplified explanation, but hopefully it gets the idea across. Any genetic mutation is passable. When the mutation is caused by environmental causes (usually due to temperature issues during development in the case of ball pythons), those mutations are not passed onto offspring.
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