“warning: contains highly addictive ball pythons. Exposure may lead to obsession and spending thousands of $$$ trying to obtain more”
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I wish I would have seen a warning like that before I bought my first ball. Lol I was thinking of something like this
I would think most people can’t tell the difference between harmless and not.
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Out of curiousity did you ever end up investing in cams to help in the event of future theft? (If this person knows you they may come back for round 2 god forbid)
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Yep, all in all I have 4 cameras through out the apartment and it notifies me of movement or noise when I am not there. I doubt even if the person tried to come back they would not be successful because the manager was nice enough to pay out of pocket for my damaged door and there are 2 heavy locks on it as well as the regular one. I also do have a few guns in the event I need to use it for self defense…or if someone were to try and break in while I was home. Oh! forgot to also mention I will be installing a ring doorbell cam just so I can always get a picture or video of whoever came to my door if needed and on top of that my reptile room has a lock of its own now.
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I’m glad you got the cameras Nathan. Still sorry about all your loss.
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I’m happy you never lost your drive and passion for this hobby during that misfortune man. I know for me it would have been hard to continue on and I commend you for doing so.
And I’m ecstatic you invested in cameras and more security. That’s the number one thing you can do to protect your collection and home. I have cameras and sensors in every entry point, and they definitely hold their value. And like you I’m always armed so worst comes to worst, I have a sidearm for protection. Nice job taking the steps you have to continue on strong.
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Cameras are a great investment. Same with the gun if you didn’t have one before. If you can it is always fun to get extra cams to put on your animals so you can see them when not home. I also like to see my thermostats when I travel.
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Thank you very much I really appreciate the kind words! It definitely was challenging to keep my spirits up during that time but like what Deborah said as well as others I should use the rebuilding of my collection as a way to heal and it has definitely helped. All in all I feel pretty safe with the security of my place and I guess one of my neighbors is just getting into the hobby (very nice guy btw) and he said he would always keep a eye out for me if I am gone so that is also reassuring on top of what I have for security measures.
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Yeah I don’t know why I didn’t invest in more of them before hand but I’m glad I finally went all out with them. I like the idea of extra cameras on my animals as well as the thermostat so I may look into getting one or two more to have set up when I’m gone for work or school.
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Awesome! Security is definitely expensive, but an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of hindsight! Almost makes me wish they would try for round 2 just so justice could be served. But honestly im sure youd feel much better just being left alone to do what you love in peace, and not have to deal with jerks causing problems
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Haha yeah kinda sorta wish they would try again while I was home. Definitely has crossed my mind as to how I would handle that lol. But yeah I’m just happy I am in the position to restart my collection…even if it is a little at a time.
Breeding update! So I noticed my female cooling and eating like crazy for the past few weeks and decided to introduce the male about a week ago to see if she was perhaps ready to breed. Sure enough she started exhibiting all the behaviors of wanting to breed such as tail wagging and musking/excreting all over her cage so today I decided to pop my male leopard het clown in there today and sure enough they are locked! My other pastel het clown girl on the other hand may most likely go late 2021. I know you cannot see from the picture but once they are locked a little longer I will get more pictures since i didnt want to startle them early on. Excuse the dirty tub! Sexy time for ball pythons also equals dirty time! Pastel leopard clowns here we come!
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Huge! Congrats super exciting. Idk if you’ll find a market for leopard clowns these days tho might be a little tough 
(JK. Leo clowns will go like hot cakes.)
Can you expand on “introducing” males? Is that something you typically do, how do you do it for how long and are you mostly looking for the tail wagging/ excretion or what? I haven’t heard anyone talk about this outside of just throwing a male in and waiting for locks.
Thanks!
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Thank you for the kind words! And yes I’d be happy to explain how I go about introducing them! I cant speak for all breeders since everyone has their own way of doing things but what I typically do is introduce them a week or so before I plan on pairing them because I notice them to be in a more vigorous breeding mood and as you can see, the ones pictured locked within less than a hour. When introducing them I do so a total of 2 or 3 times and only leave them for about 30 minutes. Behaviors I have seen first hand from my females is tail wagging, excreting, and also straightening themselves out for the male if they are curled up. Males sorta go crazy and climb all over the female until the find the right end to lock 
. This is all off the top of my head so if I remember anything else I will be sure to add it.
Edit: thought about it a bit more and I usually just introduce males that are either first time breeders for me (even if proven by the seller) or males that are in their first year of being able to breed. If it is a stud I can rely on to get the job done and and hasn’t given me any issues when breeding I will just toss him in with a girl. In this case I decided to introduce first since this is my first time using this particular male even though he is a proven breeder.
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Interesting! I put my banana pied male in with my het pied female before, and he seemed interested but either he wasn’t finding the right end or she isn’t receptive yet.
They’re both first-timers (and I’ll be breeding a few first-timers this season) so I’m gonna try waiting for a storm to hit and see if that puts them in the mood. It’s supposed to storm this week so I’m crossing my fingers I can get some first locks in for the 2021 season.
Congrats though, I hope they produce a good clutch for you!
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The show is on the road 
I’m buzzing for you Nate 
Keep us updated on every little thing as it happens
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Thank you Tom! Hopefully the odd gods throw me a bone and I get all visuals! Wouldn’t that be something? Lol
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hey Nathan! know this is super old, but I have to wonder have you found any animals? and how have you rebuilt?
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I use the newer blink cameras from Amazon. I have them throughout my house and especially on my snakes. The snake ones are all set up to record motion and I’ll immediately get a text message and it will record. Only think I don’t like is the maximum clip length is 60 seconds. It will record for 60 seconds then stop and restart for another 60 seconds if theirs still motion. Has two way Audio and the app is pretty nice. They’re also pretty cheap to. I think I paid like 30 bucks for a year of cloud storage.
I think my local pet shop had this and it stopped recording when they got stolen from and didnt resume, i like having week long playback, but its definitely more expensive