Snakes make a lot of people squeamish, but for reptile lovers, they are a docile, laidback pet that is a pleasure to care for. That said, some snakes take a lot more care than others and some can be a real handful. As long as you have patience and a willingness to learn how to care for them, snakes are fascinating creatures.
The Candino ball python is a morph snake that has been bred to produce a certain coloration. These contrasting colors of light pink stripes and yellow background color give the Candino morph a beautiful color.
Before you decide to get a ball python, there are a few things you should know about how big they get, when they shed and how much, and what you can expect to pay for one of these cool snakes. Read this guide before you bring a Candino into your home.
Are Candino Ball Pythons Dangerous?
Just hearing the word ‘python’ can be enough to send shivers up your spin. This is understandable as some of the largest snakes in the world fall are a part of this family of snakes. It is true that some of these larger species have been known to cause harm to their owners, the ball python is far too small to constrict a human. Not only that, but the Pythonidae, or python, is a family of non-venomous snakes.
Ball pythons are one of the most widely bred snakes in captivity. This wouldn’t be true if they were a danger to pet owners. Many people who are new to owning reptiles as pets may be concerned about whether Candino Ball Pythons are dangerous. Due to its miniature size, it cannot constrict humans. They will not look to harm or attack humans under normal circumstances.
However, just like any animal that feels threatened, they respond to their fear by hiding. If provoked by aggressive people, they can bite. But the bites are not life-threatening or dangerous, just temporarily painful. Pythons are also a type of non-venomous so there is no danger of one injecting you with lethal poison.
How Much Do Candino Ball Pythons Cost?
Candino Ball Pythons typically start as low as $350 up to about $3,000. However, on average many of the Candinos available cost under $1,000.
How Big Does a Candino Ball Python Get?
Ball pythons are the smallest breed of African pythons. The maximum length these serpents grow to is about 182 cm or 72 inches. They average about 2-5 feet in length but can grow up to 6 feet.
Are Candino Ball Pythons Good Pets?
For many new snake owners, the Candino Ball Pythons is a tremendous first snake to have. These pets are relatively low maintenance and, in general, are friendly. It’s best to adopt them when they are young, so they can adapt to their human surroundings and be more sociable. Once they get to know you, they love to be picked up and even slither around your neck as a sign of affection.
These snakes aren’t very active, so keeping them in a 10-30 gallon tank should be sufficient, depending on their size. Like many snakes, they can easily escape, so make sure the top is fastened securely.
As for raising the snake, it’s as simple as feeding their food and water. You can typically feed them small to medium-sized dead mice or rats every 1 to 2 weeks. You may give them little branches and hiding places within your tank, so they feel safe at all times.
In the early phases, you may have to quarantine them for a few months to prevent the risk of body disease. Sometimes, they may fast and refuse to eat. But enticing them with different colored mice or dipping it in chicken broth while dangling it in front of them usually helps.
Candino Ball Python Cool Facts
You may already think that ball pythons are cool critters, but here are some other cool facts about this fantastic reptile.
- Candino’s are very submissive and friendly if trained at an early age
- The average lifespan is about 20 to 30 years, with the longest being 45 years.
- No two snakes look exactly alike due to their colors and patterns
- These snakes love to be held and sometimes will curl around your neck
- A female Candino can lay up to 11 eggs at one time
- These snakes love to play in the water
- The babies are more colorful
- Candino’s are nocturnal meaning they are excellent hunters in the night time
- Python babies are called hatchlings
Candino Ball Python Genetics
There are dozens and dozens, hundreds perhaps, different snake morphs in existence. Despite this number, however, there are only two categories of morphs. There are wild-caught snakes, called base morphs and then there are the designer morphs that result from the breeding of two different morphs to create a new category of morph snake.
To make a Candino, and Albino and Candy need to be bred. Their colors of light pink and bright yellow create their small pink stripes and bright solid yellow. Candino contains genes from both the Albino and Candy.
How Rare are Candino Ball Pythons?
Candino Ball Pythons are rare due to the nature of their breeding. Since they need two recessive gene ball pythons to make one potentially, they are not a common form of ball python.
In the 1990s very few breeding pairs of ball pythons existed in the US. It is also very difficult to breed a wild-caught python in captivity. Importing snakes from Central and Western Africa was relatively cheap—cheaper in fact than the cost of breeding. This made it easier and cheaper to get an adult ball python as a pet than to try to breed them.
Things have changed over the years and the breeding of morph snakes is a fairly common practice. While this makes them less rare than they were two or three decades ago, they are still not a commonly found snake.
Breeding Candino Ball Pythons
Since Candino’s come from a recessive trait, you can’t just mix two Candinos hoping to make another one. In the best-case scenario, you’ll receive a 50% chance to have a Candino as their offspring. We’ve broken down the likelihood that a Candino will be born based on their partner breed.
The sure-fire way to make a Candino morph is to put an Albino with a Candy to create a Candino. This works 100 percent of the time. If you breed a Het Albino with a Candy, you’ll have a 50% likelihood of landing a Candino. Below are a few scenarios with the chances for a Candino to be born.
- Candino with another Candino: 50% chance of being a Candino, 25% chance of being an Albino, and 25% of being a Candy.
- Candino with a Het Candy: 50% chance the baby will be a Candy or Het Albino. And 25% chance of Candino and 25% of Candy.
- Candino with an Albino: Chances of landing a Candino is 50%. And the other 50% will be an Albino.
- Candino with a Het Albino: 50% chance the child will be a Candy or Het Albino. Then a 25% chance the offspring will be Candino. And another 25% chance it will be an Albino.
- Candino with a Normal: 0% chance of producing a Candino. Your babies will be a Het Albino or Het Candy.
Candino Ball Python Shedding
It’s natural for Candino Ball Pythons to begin shedding, primarily to aid in their growth and weight gain or weight loss. A few signs that you can look out for when shedding is about to begin are: loss of appetite, your snake looking lethargic, defensive behavior, wrinkled skin, dull scale coloration, and opaque blue eyes.
As your snake is still growing, expect to see your Candino shed their skin every 4 to 6 weeks. To help facilitate a successful shed, prepare a large water bowl for the snake to soak in. Have a moist hide inside the bowl and fill the hide with some damp sphagnum moss. It will typically take your Candino Ball Python about 36 hours to complete their shedding. Ball pythons in general do not have a difficult time with shedding as their humidity requirements are not terribly intensive.
Most Popular Candino Ball Python Morphs
Since the Candino has hundreds of different morphs, it can be difficult to distinguish. There are two types of morphs, which are base morphs and designer morphs. Base morphs were imported from the wild for breeding purposes. Designer morphs are when one morph breeds with another type of morph to create something new.
Here are some of the most popular Candino Ball Python morphs out there.
Candino Pied: This Candino has large, isolated spots of the solid yellow and pink stripes.
Candino Banana: The Banana Python has small black spots on their pink pattern, and their heads are darker than their bodies.
Candino Cinnamon: They have one distinct dot instead of two and usually shaped like a heart.
Candino Enchi: The Enchi has a broad spectrum of colors. They are a banana yellow at the top and darker yellow, close to orange at the bottom.
Candino Pastel: Similar to the regular Candino but has a much lighter pink color.
Candino Black Pastel: These snakes have a dark brown and black body texture along with a red, brown and gold pattern.
Candino Clown: Same colors, but just with additional clown patterns where the patterns are a hodgepodge of wobbly lines instead of defined stripes.
Candino Leopard: Similar to Candino, but just more sporadic stripe patterns.
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