Why Ball Pythons?

Just to satiate my own curiosity, why does it seem like Ball Pythons are the snake of choice for breeding? Granted I'm more of a Corn Snake fellow and don't know much about Ball genetics, I was just curious to hear why they seem to be such a popular (if not the most popular) snake to breed.

Personally, I think it's a combination of a few things. First is temperment. I think everyone would agree that ball pythons tend to be the more docile of the more popular breeds. Now I know that corn snakes can be docile as well but my experience is that they can be a little jumpier, especially as babies. Another thing is size. Ball pythons are big enough for someone to think they are "cool" but don't get as big as a red-tail or a burm or retic. They don't take up much room and husbandry is rather simple if you ask me. Last is all the morphs. There are so many different colors and patterns available with more being discovered everyday. I know alot of people who would love to be the first to name the next exotic morph, me being one of them. May take a few years but if you are in it for the love of the breed as well, then spending a few years or even a lifetime doesn't faze you. I guess that's just my take on it, and I just sold a collection of breeding boas and several other animals to focus mainly on ball pythons. We are still doing a few different lizards as well but that will be the only snake. Hopefully some of the other ball breeders on this forum will come on with some input too. Good question!

I'm fond of corns, too, but don't want to deal with the legalities and fees involved with breeding and selling colubrids here in Tennessee. I absolutely love ball pythons because they don't grow large and usually have really good dispositions. There are so many morphs out there so it makes the breeding projects really exciting if you have the right "ingredients".

For me, I've always prefered the heavier-bodied snakes--I just seem to like their looks more. Plus, corns are pooping machines--they have such a higher metabolism (which keeps them skinnier than most pythons) than ball pythons that they digest much faster, so you spend much more time cleaning cages. On average, my ball pythons use the bathroom once per week, though sometimes they will hold it for two weeks (typically, I've noticed the females doing this more so than the males). Either way, you aren't having to spend nearly as much time cleaning cages with the heavier-bodied boids.

Otherwise, I agree completely with Rob (boggylizard) on all the other reasons. Like he said with corns, they can be a bit jumpier as babies, and is the main reason I would recommend a ball python as a first snake for a child. I would recommend either one for a teen or adult, though. Teens or adults might not be as frightened by the jumpiness some corns can have, so no issues with them getting too scared to continue properly caring for the animal.