Wanda the Ball Python: A Fairly OddParent Duo Complete

There’s another slithery sweetheart in the house, and her name is Wanda! Our reptile-loving family has officially completed The Fairly OddParents duo with the arrival of our second Ball Python. With Cosmo already slinking around as Mom’s birthday gift, our six-year-old daughter, Kiley, took it upon herself to insist that she, too, needed a snake of her own. And thus, Wanda wiggled her way into our lives.

Mythical Exotics - Mojave Piebald Ball Python - Wanda

Brewing The Mystic Potion

We’ve been diving deep into the world of reptile breeding, from experimenting with different reptile pairs to anxiously awaiting the arrival of Uromastyx Geyri hatchlings. So, adding another Ball Python to the mix felt like a natural next step. This marks our first foray into snake breeding, as we hadn’t yet acquired Maple, our future Hognose female. Wanda officially joined us around the Fourth of July, and while she awaited her grand 4x2x2 bioactive enclosure, she temporarily resided in a cozy 20-gallon setup.

For those not in the know, the Ball Python market is packed. With countless morphs filling reptile expos and Morph Market listings, we knew we wanted something unique. That’s why we opted for Wanda, a stunning piebald Mojave mix with a mostly white body and golden saddle-like markings. When paired with Cosmo, there’s a solid chance of producing a rare and breathtaking morph known as the Mystic Potion—a pale lavender-hued beauty that fits perfectly into our Fairly Odd theme. Talk about a magical pairing!

Mystic Potion Mojave Ball Python

What’s even more surprising? Dad, the former “No Thanks!” snake skeptic, has developed an unexpected bond with Wanda. Her enclosure is positioned just a few feet away from his heat-and-massage-powered recliner, and every night, like clockwork, she emerges to silently watch him binge his favorite reptile YouTube channels. We’re convinced he’s handled Wanda more than any other snake in our collection, what a transformation!

And guess what? Our reptile journey doesn’t stop here. We still have two mystery reptiles to introduce! Stay tuned for more adventures from our ever-growing reptilian family.

Special thanks to local breeder Mythical Exotics for Wanda, she was our first pickup from them followed by Grogu a couple of months later. We see them at just about every reptile Expo we go to in the Northeast! Check them out if you are ever around, they usually have several tables with snakes, geckos, feeders, cork bark, and other various reptile things!

We care for Wanda – just the same as we do Cosmo. In case you missed it here is the breakdown:

Heat and Light: Ball Pythons are native to various regions in Africa. This means heat and humidity requirements are fairly high. We utilize an Arcadia 50W DHP and an Arcadia 75W Halogen, both on dimming thermostats to maintain around 90 degrees on the warm side, and 75-80 degrees on the cool side. We spray the enclosure down each day to maintain 50-70% humidity. NOTE: When Wanda is in shed, we bump the humidity up 70-80% to assist with a clean shed. Along with heat we provide an Arcadia Forest 6% UVB, and a 6500 Lumen LED for the plants benefit.

Diet: Currently Wanda enjoys a frozen thawed fuzzy rat once a week. You want to stay away from live food as it has a chance to injure the snake, although they feast on live prey in the wild. Frozen thawed is a bit more ethical and safer for your animal, not to mention saving you money on expensive vet bills if a live feeding goes wrong and the snake does get injured.

Tank Size: Wanda started off in a 20-gallon, front opening, mini-bioactive enclosure. As babies you want to keep their enclosure somewhat small with plenty of clutter and hides to make them feel safe. So, we made sure we had plenty of plant cover, cork bark hides, and regular store-bought snake hides, to make her feel safe. Today Wanda is now in a fully Bioactive 4x2x2 enclosure and will most likely remain in this habitat for quite a while.

Substrate: While in her 20-gallon we used a combination of organic topsoil, peatmoss, and sphagnum moss. In her new Bioactive enclosure, we opted for a custom Ball Python kit from NEHERP. Complete with a drainage layer and their own custom blend for substrate.

Tank Décor: The NEHERP kit came with plenty of cork bark, a variety of snake safe plants, and a background kit – we can get into custom backgrounds in another blog! We also added some nice smooth river rocks in various spots to help hold up the plants. Ball Pythons can grow between 4-6 feet in length and be a bit smashing on plants. She also has a sandblasted grapevine that she loves to crawl and bask on at night while Dad is watching TV. She does have a couple of generic medium size reptile hides, one on each side, that helps ensure she can maintain a desired temperature range - basically warm side at night and cool side during the day.

Great Resources:

Bioactive Supplies – The Biodude or NEHERP.

Care Guides - ReptiFiles and Bob Bledsoe's Green Room Pythons.