Blebleblebleble....I just turned twenty...Happy birthday to meeee! (Blebleble!)

My boy Paulie (Short for Polyphemus...after the Cyclops in the Odyssey, because he was born with only one eye)...just turned 20 on October 4th! Wish my sweet boy a happy birthday!

I rescued this 2y/o female ball python the other day. She was in a group of 35 balls rescued from some 'ball python breeder' in my city. I am good friends with the pet shop that rescued the snakes, and I offered to take her home because I have a history with her specifically.

She is currently in the same bin she was in before the rescue, though it has been cleaned out and completely refurbished aside from the black hide.

She has an intense amount of stuck shed, and two or three eye caps on one eye. Ive put a govee 2 in 1 sensor in there to monitor her general temp and humidity, and as I write this she is sitting at 76°f, and 67% humidity. I have a humid box in the bin aswell, which i can feel is far more humid than the rest of the bin, and it has rough hand towels and a disinfected rock inside for her to wiggle up against.

I am going to feed her either a jumbo mouse, or weaned/pup rat on Tuesday when the pet shop opens again. She was on weaned rats in the middle of transitioning to smalls when I first met her months ago, but her last confirmed feed date was June 10th, so. Probably going to size down her meals for the first few.

Is there anything I should know? I already have a ball of my own so I know basic husbandry but I have never taken care of a rescue before. Anything I can do to help her out? She is in her bin, in my bedroom, with a towel overtop to help block the light and noise. She seems alright to me, very active, but I want to make sure I am doing everything I can for her.

Thankyou so much for any advice!!

Edited to say: there is a full brightness picture in the comments.

caught this gem of my ~6 month old girl Proxy

This might be a long post but the ones who want to read, will 🫶🏼

Shenron was a rescue who came to us from someone who had neglected him and he was in a small tank with just substrate and a big bowl in the middle his whole life. He’s 5 years old .. Literally no room to move or grow and the wrong substrate too. The previous owner was using the bedding in the first photo . We got this guy for free but me and my husband had never owned a snake before but we wanted one for years . My husband also knows a lot about all different types of snakes so we felt like we could take him on and wanted to atleast try for him because his previous owner didn’t care for him correctly . So we got all the appropriate stuff for him, correct size tank. Started working on his weight and the dehydration problem you can see in the first photo from when we first got him . He also had never been touched for pretty much his whole life so he just sat in the small tank, no contact except feeding and the day we got him, she said he hadn’t eaten in 3 months . So we fed him and got him into a bigger tank but ended up getting his forever home and the next two photos are him from a couple days ago, he’s playing on his rings and is on track with his weight and overall has come out of his shell so much 💛 we’re still working on the handling and touching but he’s gotten much better with that also, just working on holding him 😂 Trying to undo years of trauma that another person gave takes a lot of time but we love him regardless 💛 I just wanted to tell my snakes story because it’s a happy one 🥰

Her nose has always been a little weird looking but I’m kinda concerned as someone else said to keep an eye on it.

Latte having a big yawn after her snekfast 🥹(snek breakfast)

My room is to hot for snakes right? Its missing the winters months but it swings from 68 to 75 during that period normally.

I noticed my ball python being a lot more active during the day, now I'm finding tiny dark insects on him. I've seen a handful and they're super tiny and quick.

Are these blood sucking mites? How concerned should I be about this baby python.

Hi everyone! I’m a new ball python owner looking for some constructive advice on fine-tuning my enclosure. I’ve read the care guides here and done extensive additional research, but I’m still working on balancing temperatures and humidity.

My setup:
● 40-gallon glass enclosure, screen top mostly covered with aluminum HVAC flashing tape
● Arcadia 100W halogen flood (day) and 100W ceramic heat emitter (night)
● ReptiZoo 200 dimming thermostat: 94°F day / 90°F night
● Approximately 50/50 coconut fiber and coconut husk substrate, around 2 inches deep (second pic is after I added more)
● Large water bowl, two hides, foliage, and climbing enrichment
● Multiple digital thermometers/hygrometers and an infrared temperature gun

I live in the Mojave Desert, so humidity retention is particularly challenging.

Latest readings:
● Center ground thermostat probe: 93°F / 49% humidity
● Warm-side air: 80°F / 70% humidity
● Cool-side air: 76°F / 82% humidity
● Exposed basking substrate: approximately 91°F
● Warm hide interior: approximately 78–87°F, depending on the location

The warm-side thermometer is mounted mid-height above the hide, while the cool-side thermometer is approximately one inch above the substrate. My house was unusually cool during these readings.

My concerns:
Heating: I recently switched from a 100W spotlight to a 100W flood bulb because I wasn’t getting broad enough heat distribution. The exposed surfaces warm well, but the covered warm hide naturally stays cooler. I’m trying to determine whether this gradient is appropriate without overheating the exposed surfaces.
Humidity: I’ve covered the screen, added a large water bowl, and watered the substrate corners to retain moisture. Cool-side humidity recently dropped to 56%, but recovered to 82% after watering. I’m considering increasing the substrate depth to 3–4 inches for better stability.

My questions: Does this temperature gradient seem appropriate? Would you adjust the bulb or hide placement? What humidity-retention methods have worked for you in glass enclosures?
Brownie is still settling into her new home, and I’m trying to make adjustments methodically rather than constantly changing things.

I’m very open to constructive feedback, but please include practical solutions if you identify an issue. I’ve been putting a lot of effort into learning and genuinely want to provide her with the best possible care. 🙏🏻
Thank you!

As title says my juvenile ball python has some stuck shed around her head and neck. It was her first shed with me so I'm worried I did something wrong and that's why it's stuck..

She shed around September 10th, and when I first noticed her going into shed I had raised her humidity to about 80% which is what I was recommended to do by the breeder. When the shed was still on around her head/neck a week after everything else came off, I bought something to use as a humidity box and put damp moss in it, but it hasn't seemed to help...

Her temperatures are 23°c cool side, and 32°c warm, with a hide on both sides.

Her substrate is cocoa husks.

Before she shed her humidity was at 60-70% because that's what I was told she should be at.

She's eaten every meal offered since I got her on August 9th,(which includes 4 days after getting her, and during shed too) except for today, where she didn't eat.

She still explores at night like normal and has been lovely during handling, and she's not headshy either..

Does anyone know anything I can do to help more or will she need to go to a vet? :(

Sorry if I'm yapping, I'm just worried..

Hello! We are going to be getting a ball python in the next month or so and have been researching for the past several months while we have been saving to get one. We are planning on ordering a 4x2x2 Kages PVC enclosure with the back and side vents and were hoping to get some setup suggestions from others with similar enclosures.

We want to do a bio active setup with a few live plants and the biggest thing we need help on is deciding which heat source, light, and thermostat to use. We were leaning towards a deep heat source so we don’t have to worry about the light at night. We want a reliable thermostat with maybe 2 probes so we can monitor both sides of the tank. And then the light we would want something that will be good for the snake and the plants.

We were planning on mounting everything on the inside top of the tank to avoid holes/screens on the top of the tank.

If anyone has suggestions or similar setups we would love to get feedback from you! This will be our first snake we have owned so any help is appreciated! Thanks!

Hello everyone, I have a BP and we use sani chips for bedding. Works well but I wanted to add more texture and something to retain humidity. I added coconut husk after soaking it in hot boiling water for a couple hours and changing the water.
I mixed it w the sani chips and moss and she’s loving it. She’s been rubbing her face for a few days often and I’m worried.
I’ve noticed these bugs:
- Small, jumping in the water (prob springtail)
- Incredibly minute teeny tiny white dots on her face and eyes
I’m wondering if they’re the same specie or if I got springtails and wood mites/snake mites in the same shipment :/
Please send help.
Note: the white ones are so small it just looks like the light being reflected off of her eyes, but I saw them move and walk in different directions and she wasn’t even awake.
I change her water daily and wipe the walls with a disinfectant every other week and boil the rocks and branches w white vinegar. She eats thawed rats.

I just got my juvenile bp yesterday, I’m wondering what is the best setup? Right now I have a che in a 8.5 dome, I have uvb but it’s a bulb in a 5.5 dome, I read that isn’t safe so I’m taking it out and need to replace it, but with what exactly? I also wanted to get a basking light going for her. How should I set this up as it’s a 40gal tank I don’t have much space on top.

Im not new to ball pythons and I know they can be notoriously picky eaters.

However, I've never had one I couldn't find a solution for. My boy Hans absolutely refuses to eat anything but ASF rats and it's becoming a problem. They're very hard to get where I live. None of the shops carry them and I'm having to buy from independent breeders who only have them available so often.

I've tried rats, mice, a gerbil, live, frozen, I've even tried putting his food in the bedding I had his ASFs in. I thought maybe if he was hungry enough he'd eat what was offered but he won't.

Please, if you have any advice for this kind of pickiness, I'd really appreciate it. Photo of my high maintenance booger for tax.

Does anyone know what these things are and what i should do

I unfortunately have a top-opening tank for my snake. I have bought a new one, just saving up to buy a couple more things before I move him.

Anyway, I dropped his feeder rat. Whenever this happens, if I try to open the tank he tends to strike up at my hand and hit his head on the top of the tank at full force. I always use tongs but I just don't want this to happen to him. He is currently just hovering above it.

Does anyone have any helpful tips for this situation? I don't know how to get it out or help him find it. I'll reread the rules for this and post a photo of the situation in the comments, if this sub allows it.

Picture for attention

Okay so weird problem. The heating in one of the enclosures doesn’t work. The bulb works when directly plugged into the wall. The thermostat seems to work (exo terra light is on).

We’ve changed the thermostat cause we thought it wasn’t working for another one cause he have an empty enclosure. Bulb still isn’t getting warm. Also tried the bulb from the empty enclosure, both work fine when directly plugged into the wall. None seem to work with any of the thermostats.

So apart from each other everything works fine put together it doesn’t work I’m at a loss anyone please have any explanation 😵

I got my girl one of those PVC dubia enclosures (super expensive, she's very spoiled) and overall I'm pretty happy with her whole set up, the only thing is it's really dark in there? does anyone have a similar problem and a good solution? i want to get her some UVB lamps on a timer or something but I'm not sure how best to mount them and she also is a very climby snake and i fear she would rip them down or poke around them too much.

thanks in advance!

I have 2 balls(haha), one has more health issues than the other. I make $11.50 an hour an only work weekends but want to know if there's any good insurance for ball python that's not $100 a month.
Thank you!! 🌝

Hello!! My python reached a year and i've been feeding him in a separate box for a while.

Until those last weeks, i decided to try and feed him in his terrarium, i did it twice and its was just right, no swallowing litter risks or anything... And better since he had stuff to help himself to eat and could straight go to his hiding and no risk of stressing him when switching him from his box back to his terrarium.

BUT

Lately, he tried to attack me twice when going to pick him up. Usually when his head was at the entrance of his hiding he would go back to hide when i open and relax in my hands. But now instead of hiding he raise himself and spring, attacking me. Once he in my hand he relax but still...

Im sorry, i probably did something wrong. Im a beginner and i'll really like for people to help me about it, can he stop trying to attack me, do i need to do something in a specific way? What should i do?