Gearing up for Ball Pythons.

I've wanted a Ball Python since I was 12, many, many years ago. At the time my mother said "Oh my god ew it eats fuzzy things, NO! Let's get you an iguana" (and I shall not recount the epic, Tolkien-esque tragedy the first Iguana turned out to be. The second Iggy had a good long life until a surgery took him out). Over the years I watched, elated, as the prices on morphs came down, and breeders were gracious enough to share expertise with hobbyists and "it's just a pet" owners.

I've finally gotten to the point where I feel I won't be moving around a lot and upending my life, so I'm looking at making the "I want one of those wicked-cools snakes" dream a reality. First thing I want to do is state: I am not new to herps in general, having had frogs, turtles, lizards, etc. since my tweens. I'm also not new to general animal husbandry. I grew up on a small rabbit farm, and have kept lots of small pets and fish over the years (including rats). And have kept nano and pico reef systems off and on. However, I am utterly unfamiliar with any community politics - so if I post a reference to someone or something that's anathema, please let me know and I'll edit it out strait away.

I am most definitely looking for feedback, so if you want to weigh in on any of this, please do!

What I'm looking at doing is making a DIY "rack" similar to the one posted by rabernet on b-p.net. Instead of housing lots of juvis, I'm really only interested in enough space for two adults and the possibility of a clutch worth of hatchlings/juvies. I'm not entirely sure whether I'd rather UTHs, or flexwat. I'm familiar with the former, but not the later.

One question I have is: Is it okay to house feeders in the same room as the snakes, or will this cause hissy-spitty snake fits?
If it's okay, I'd planned on making a set of rat bins (again, like those stickied on b-p.net - specifically the kind by user jben) to grow and "stock up" on frozen rats BEFORE the pythons even enter the equation. If they cannot be housed in the same room, I'll look back into the prices of FT feeders. Though, having had pet rats I've gotten especially picky about rat husbandry, which makes it hard for me to buy feeders. Yeah, I'm fine with feeding them to snakes, but I still want to treat them like pets first (I know, it's a little weird...)

The rack and bins would be ready and waiting for the snakes, proven stable, etc. before I picked up the first one - that way I'd hopefully be able to address any issues with the setup before it landed me in dire straits. It'll also allow me to walk through the daily routines for a time and make sure I really do have the time to invest.

My "plan" is to either get a couple of plain, old, normals for pets and/or possibly a pair of het-for-something (albino has always been the morph I've had my eye on) to try my hand at breeding "at some point."

I have both rats and snakes in adjoining rooms and I don't have hissy fits that often. The babies seem to be a little more on point when I open their tubs but tapping them gently on the head with a hook or pen it seems to calm them down.

Kris,

I would not keep mice / rats and snakes in the same room.

I would not go so far as to say it will cause "hissy-spitty snake fits", but it may

increase the chances of you getting tagged from time to time and IMO snakes should

not be able to sense food all the time.

My 2 cents.

Thank you both for your feedback.

I'm taking my time with plans, and adjusting as I go along. I've already swapped some ideas around in my head to make things work - hopefully my washroom will be remodeled well enough that the rats can go there and reduce the chance of bites.