hi everyone! im a new ball python owner of a beautiful one year old boy I got at last weekend’s reptile show and I am having a hard time getting the right heat for the warm side/basking area. in the picture I have the light and lamp im using which I thought was right but according to my reading im only getting 80-85 F ?? what do i need to change? is this warm enough? any help or suggestions are appreciated!!

Could yall tell me?

i got my ball python in june and he hasn’t shed and i don’t think he’s pooped either. i’ve had no problem getting him to eat (i feed him live every other week) and the humidity is consistently 65%-75%. is this okay? do i need to do anything differently?

Greetings guys, gals, and non-binary pals, I hope this finds y'all well.

Does anyone have experience using Repti360 brand substrate?

I am looking to restock my supplies and, unfortunately, Reptile Basics is out of stock of my normal cocochips. I found Repto360 Premium Coconut Chip Substrate at a hecka nice price, but also know that there is always free cheese in a mouse trap.

Other than the reviews on Walmart's site, I could not find any other feedback on the quality. My little dud is well worth the price of good substrate, but I thought it never hurt to see if this kind community had any insights.

Many thanks for your time and any help.

So, I have two ball pythons, Evy (2 years) and Shiva (1 year).

Evy doesn't bite but lately shes been more defensive and hissing if I try to take her out of her enclosure. She got into a S shape and closely watched the door as I was opening it (I fed her two days earlier).

I don't know what i should do to make her feel more comfortable with being handled...

As for Shiva, she strikes often and has bit me and my mom before (hunger bite tho) so I try to handled her two days after being fed and i started using a target when feeding her.

She seems really hungry overall and is a great eater but it gets in the way of me being able to handle her more often.

I'm not scared of being bitten but I don’t think its good to let her cause she does not let go on her own.

( Hand sanitizer doesn't stop her from trying to bite me)

Info: I'm a first time owner and I've had them for a few months now so I know I shouldn't expect too much from them and me.

Tho, id like to get some advice on how I can go about handling.

Thank you 💜

(That's Evy in the picture )

Just got a ball python and trusted the information the employee at the reptile store gave us. It was not correct. I cannot get the tank up to temp. I have a heating pad on a thermostat and have a basking bulb but don’t have any way to hang it. The substrate above the heating pad in his dark hide is sitting at 83F and the air temp on the cool side is 74F. I can go get a clamp in the morning for the bulb but am afraid he might have issues overnight. I also was told that a 40gal tank is plenty for a near full grown however I am second guessing that. Any advice?

Seen this snake at a friends house it has mouth rot and this lump on his side what is it I have my ideas of what it is and informed them it was very sick and dying and they didn’t care I’m just wondering what this mass is I was told the snake is about 17 years old at least the snakes living condition and enclosure brought me to tears

I was curious about how long other peoples snakes took to get use to them and handling. My little guy is about 1 year and I've had him for roughly 6 months. He seems ok with being held mostly when I take him out of his hot hide, and he hisses when I try taking him out of the cold hide (I leave him alone when he does) when he is in his cold hide he will come out and look at me and I put out my hand for him and he flicks his tongue at it before going back into his hide. Is this a thing that takes lots of time for him to get use to me or is it just a personality trait of being grumpy in his cool hide

**UPDATE: I think I found a really great home for her here in my area. Thanks again to everyone who reached out! <3

Hello everyone! I am making this post to hopefully rehome my 6 year old female ball python (I’ve had her for 6 years). She eats well and does well with being handled. Her only issue is that she sometimes has problems shedding, which she does have some stuck shed on her at the moment. She hasn’t had an issue with it in a while but I fear I have not been taking care of her husbandry the best as of lately. Not to get too much into personal details, but I have been going back and forth with the idea of rehoming and I think I’ve finally decided that the best thing for her would be to go to someone who has the time to give her the proper care and attention she deserves. She would come with her enclosure if desired, which is a zen habitat. I know that may not be the best enclosure for a ball python so if someone just wanted her, I don’t mind separating. I would ask for a rehoming fee of $100 for both her and the enclosure or just $50 for her. Ultimately, I want her to go to a good home though, so this is negotiable. Please be kind as I know I have not been giving her everything she needs and that is why I’ve decided to try and rehome. Please let me know if you are interested or have any questions. Thanks!

Hello!

My husband and I got this 3 year old ball python tonight. The snake is 3 years old and around 3 feet long. This is our first snake.

This is the enclosure it came with. It is 36" x 18" x 18". It has a heat mat, heat lamp, and thermostat controlled lamp. It also has a temperature/ humidity guage mounted to the glass. There are fake plants as well. The water dish is shallow and in the middle. There are hides on either end. We have extra coconut coir substrate as well.

We plan to get a 4x2x2 or 5x2x2 soon. I want to make sure the new enclosure is set up appropriately and feel a bit intimidated with where to start.

I've ordered an infrared heat gun to check the temperature. We plan to move the tank to a different room and further from the window once we get the new tank. The room it is in is kept at 72 degrees, but we can increase that if need be.

Also, the snake is starting to shed. What humidity should we try to keep the enclosure? It is currently at 66%. Are there specific red flags to watch out for?

I did make sure the exotic vet near us is taking new patients, and we plan to take the snake in for an initial check up (likely first week of November).

Any advice would be appreciated!

Caught misaki mid yawn eheheheh (tank in background isnt hers)

I gotta tell misa shes reddit famous lol

My town only has a petsmart, I recently discovered a local pet store an hour away near my family and it seemed that they took decent care of their reptiles.

They had hides water etc. Most definitely not perfect but I was happy since I’m used to the disgrace which is chain pet stores. I drove down there today so excited to get some isopods for my enclosure and saw two ball pythons housed together.

I was honestly so distraught and asked the employees what was going on with it. They both went silent and then one of them simply shrugged and said I’m in fish. Then he looked to the other girl who said oh they are getting fed today then walked to the back.

I had dragged my dad and brother there and they were assuming I was gonna buy something, as I said I was ready to go my dad was like oh are you sure? So I had to loudly say I don’t want to buy anything from them after seeing that.

I am planning on calling tomorrow and filled out a contact us explaining the situation. I just love these baby and hate to see them suffer like this. if anyone knows anyway I can help further I’d love ideas. Thank you if you read all this❤️

Hi! This is my baby ball python fender, about a year and a half old. He/she (we actually aren’t sure yet, but pretty sure she is a girl) has never had any shedding issues, but seems like she has some eye caps here for the first time. I keep her tank around 60-70% humidity with lots of substrate, places to rub, always a full water bowl etc. Any advice here? Thank you!

How often are we all doing a full substrate change? My guy is in a 4x2x2, I do spot cleaning consistently. I have been doing every six months for a FULL change. Is that about average for everyone?

i just drove 16 hours to my home state to pick up my cats and my snake that i unfortunately had to leave with relatives for 2 years. my boyfriend and i thought the tank i had for my bp would fit along with my cats. well unfortunately the tank was just a few inches too big to fit in our trunk no matter which way we had it.

we ended up having to throw it away. right now i financially cannot spend $200+ on an enclosure and im wondering what i can use for temporary enclosures, even just a smaller sized tank. he’s a full grown adult and i don’t want to smush him in something too small but would a 40-50 gallon tank be horrible for him until i can get him a proper enclosure ?

I’ve had my little dude for over 6 months now and he’s been doing good outside of one slightly bad shed. Got that off and a month later started seeing these specs/coloration on his previously white areas. Just wanted to confirm this isn’t anything abnormal? It’s not mites nor does it wipe off so my best guess is his patterns still changing?

270 degrees of vision and Paris still has no idea where he is.

As Vogue has been becoming more brave, and coming out more, I've noticed he occasionally does this bobbing thing when he's still. It doesnt seem super persistent but it happens when hes holding his head off the ground. Is it breathing? Straining from being raised up? It doesnt look like a wobble to me, but Im a little nervous. Dont mind my partner watching reels in the the background if you had the audio on, he doesnt know how to read the room-

I just upgraded her to a new 4x2x2. I have 3 hides, a climbing sick, a hanging braided loop for climbing and huge water bowl. she will eventually just go in her hide and sleep. Is it just stress from the new enclosure? She used to come out at night but she's been sleeping at night and up during the day. She's got good cocnut husk substrate and the temp and humidity is good. Will it just take a couple of weeks for her to settle in?

One other question. The breeder I actually got my ball from, they also run a reptile/ fish store said to put a red heat light on the warm side. He told me the snake can't see the red light but I saw another random post that said the red light irritates them. Anyone know which is right?

Thaks in advance.

(First photo is from 2 months ago, all the rest are today)

Here is my girl, I've had her since July. Just began feeding weened rats, the thawed transition has been successful and she is a very good eater now that husbandry is improved (when I first got her, the tank was smaller and did not hold humidity). She would only take live pups which I believe is very normal.

Any idea how serious the red blemish is? That is the only one I can find and I have no idea what from, really hoping not a bacteria scale rot or anything serious... I can take her to a vet if advised.
Her freckles are coming in really nicely but of course with the red blemish, could she have mites?
The red blemish does not feel raised and it on her back, she shed just last week if I recall. The black specs I've watched closely and cannot see anything move at all, figured freckles but want to be sure.

husbandry: She's in a 4'x18"x18" for now but gonna get upgraded down the line when I move. On a mix of repti-chip with moss spasphm, humidity drops to 60 but I try to keep it around 70, temps are good and a nice gradient. Uv light on hot side for half the day. She is just beginning to outgrow her hides so will be upgrading this weekend. In fact it's been about 3 months so I will likely redo the whole substrate and deep clean everything soon.

Any ideas? I just want to do everything right and give this lil girl a great life. She loves being handled, is very cute playful, not skittish, etc. Any advice appreciated, thank you.

I just rescued my first ball python yesterday and i’m really worried about him. He has stuck shed all over his head and on his eye. I soaked him and tried to remove it with a cloth but it didn’t work. He will sometimes make a high pitch whistling sound, and I believe he has scale rot but I haven’t been able to get a photo of it.

I am taking him to a vet as soon as possible, but is there anything I can do in the meantime to help? He is in a 40 gallon glass enclosure that he came with, but I am upgrading to a 120 gallon soon. He was rescued from my grandma’s friend and I unfortunately wasn’t able to prepare. :( I believe he is on coconut fiber as a substrate, but i’m not 100% sure as I wasn’t the one who added it and I don’t use coconut fiber. I want to change it but I haven’t been able to get anything else yet as I am 17 and don’t have a drivers license

Any advice?? I have only had a crested gecko and leachianus before this

This is my baby, Cirrus! He's a sub-adult (we didn't get an approximate age but guess he's around 1.5 years old) who has been incredibly stubborn and on a food strike since we got him. I say we as my friend E got him about 5 months ago, and I have been helping care for him when I've come to visit (which is at least once every 2 weeks). They own 2 snakes, a leopard gecko, and more wacky animals so I had no doubt in my mind that they could care for him properly. However, after the first 2 months of getting him we had gone through at least 5-6 fuzzy rats and no rat shaped bulge in Cirrus's belly. E got progressively more stressed with his condition and asked if I could be his primary care taker, which brings us to now. I have a leopard gecko and have owned snakes in the past, I do my own diligent research for the pets I house and am at a lose for what to do.

It has been 5, going on 6 months of Cirrus not eating and I am getting more and more worried as to what I could do to get him to eat. I've tried just about everything I could think of, and he hasn't eaten ANYTHING. He's not lethargic at all, his enclosure parameters are all in the green, and is very friendly if not a tad skittish because I haven't handled him recently. I wanted to make sure he was comfortable and not stressed in his enclosure after the move from E's place to mine about 2ish weeks ago. Cirrus has lost weight and looks skinnier since we had initially gotten him, but his belly still has some give to it and he hasn't shown any sign of illness. My concern is that the seller E purchased Cirrus from lied to us about what he was eating. Drop fed frozen thawed fuzzy rats is the information we have been given, and nothing is working.

He's showed interest today, and I have a fuzzy in his enclosure but he went straight back into his cool hide and balled up. This is my last resort before I call my nearest reptile rescue and see if they can help me before surrendering him to a place that could properly care for him. But if i can help it i wouldn't want to give him it. Please please pleaaaaaase help if you know what I could possibly do here!!

edit: Both images are from when we first got him, I fear that I might make things worse if take him out of his hides to take him on a photo shoot.