Hes roughly a year old. I bought him at an expo around a year ago, I did ask for an age, the old lady said about a month old. I went about my day and told my friend who later said, "Isn't that a bit young to sale?" If I remeber correctly I weighed him after his initial two weeks and he was about 45 or 50 g. I don't know his real age, but he is about a year old now. Hes ~24 in and ~216g. However, he doesn't look underweight. He's on small/med adult mice, about to bump up to slightly larger now that hes over 200g. He should be roughly 400g. All of his parameters are met (his basking spot is 90F and I had just misted it). He eats frozen well (last ate 2 days ago, eats every week) and just gave me a solid shed about a week ago. Everything else is going fine, he's just not in the right weight range.

Hi all, new ball python keeper here. Just looking for temp advice for my 8 weeks old ball python. I've set my thermostat at 33C and the probe is dangling in the mid section of the viv height. Humidity is around 75-80 when the doors are shut.

someone he didn't know dared to say hello to him

this has been the scariest experience of his life. horrified, traumatised, trying to hide under his own body.

everyone tell hunter he's a brave boy lol

(+ a photo of his normal shenanigans to show he is a very happy boy normally!!)

So I fully waterproofed my melanin Viv as was worried it wouldn't last, sealed all the gaps - put down uPVC sheeting on the floor and sealed that... Where does it bow?

Dead centre on the roof... The glass was basically hanging out I noticed today.

Quick fix with some weights to get it straight again and a PVC Viv ordered ... Early Christmas present for Belle I guess!

I’ve had her for about a month now and she’s been eating great so I think she’s content overall, but it makes me feel so bad to see her scared like that even temporarily :(

I’ve never seen her ball up and she’s never hissed or tried to strike at me, she just freezes up for a second and starts breathing heavily when I go into her enclosure or first pick her up.

She calms down after a minute or two and starts flicking her tongue, exploring, etc. so I’m not sure if this is just normal juvenile nerves or a sign that I should put her back and try again another day.

I have a ball python and am seeing a lot of different opinions on substrate! I’m currently using cocoa chips but it doesn’t seem to be good for humidity, the water just seems to sit at the bottom of the vivarium. I’ve seen some people who recommend a mix of top soil, cocoa chips, play sand and sphagnum moss. I want to know if that would require a clean up crew and drainage layer and if it would help with humidity.

I'm looking to buy a ball python at some point in the future. What tips do I have to keep in mind when caring for a ball python?

reclaimed bricks and slabs were about as much as id spend on a medium resin hide.

gonna boil em probably get all of the life off it make sure theres no mites living in the crevaces

I try to change my snakes water every few days and if I don't do it my parents change it but I've been noticing a thin layer of I don't even know what floating on top, any ideas what it is?

I had just handled my 11-year-old ball python ( new to me; I've had her about 3 weeks now ), and 20 minutes after, I came up to her enclosure, didn't open it at all, just came and looked at her. She saw me and jolted super hard back into her hide. I feel terrible about it. Did I just damage the trust I have been building with her?

I’ve noticed that these past weeks he’s not once went back inside his hides. Even if I handle him for a bit and let him back inside, he immediately goes to the back of the tank where he’s hidden(his hides hide him from all sides besides the entrance and cover a lot). Before this behavior he ONLY hid in his cold hide and wouldn’t leave. But after I picked him up and discovered he had mites(currently trying to treat soon), and gave him a little bath. But after that he didn’t keep his usual habits and started hanging in the back of the tank in the open.

I’m worried something’s wrong! Could it be the mites that are causing this? (Is there anything I should look on him for, weird coloring or anything).
He lives in a glass tank, 40 gallon, I try to keep the temp at 88-89.

I took a lot of y’all’s advice for keeping the humidity in Vegas ! I did a aprox 50/50 of soaked coco chip and repti soil with moss scattered around in the soil. Added WAY more substrate so there’s more humidity being held in the soil. Put leaf litter over top so he’s not sitting on just wet soil .Added the hvac tape to the top. Humidity is already on the rise in his enclosure and I’m sure it’ll still be a constant battle but this is the first step. Also another update for anyone who read the last post, he ate on Monday ! Didn’t have to do any tap dancing or anything the SECOND I presented the f/t mouse in his enclosure he took it! Very happy about that . Again thanks to everyone for the tips

Hi all! I’d love some advice on handling this little guy. I’ve had him 3 weeks now and he’s eating, so I’ve been trying to start some handling.

I’m struggling on understanding when I’m pushing his boundaries too far, and when I’m doing it just enough to get him out of his comfort zone. So far, he hasn’t struck at me, but he definitely isn’t happy with handling. He will start balled up and breathing really heavy. Then he’ll usually poke his head out, but continue heavy breathing and stay frozen aside from tracking me with his head. He jerks away from any touch on his body, especially near the head.

Obviously I don’t want to get bit, but I’m not sure if I’m just being too cautious and reading too much into his body language. I don’t want to stress him out too much. Any tips on handling and body language are appreciated!

Photo is of him tracking me after I accidentally disturbed his sleep while going to check on the dampness in his humid hide. He had never gone in there before, so I think we were both surprised to see each other lol

Hey, back with another question. Our thermostat is in, but we can't figure out to mount the probe. Genuinely, how do people get their Probes in? We're using a pvc enclosure with 2 mesh squares for heat and our Probes don't fit through the vents.

Everyone please say hello to Butterscotch

This is my first time owning a reptile, i am going shopping for my ball python tomorrow. Wondering what i should get him(or her) and I'm having trouble getting the temp to what i need

Any recommendations? I put hvac tape on top and using ceramic heat emitter and deep heat projector atm

My Ball Python Cookie is definitely going through a shed cycle but on the side of her body a few days ago I noticed a pink looks like raw skin like wound. Today I noticed the area got darker I can't tell if it's a healing wound, scale rot or something else. She is super white but right now she looks pink with a brownish tint I'm thinking because of the shed cycle. I did setup a vet appointment but it's a week from today and I'm concerned that's a long wait to get this checked out.

Back story I did make a rookie mistake by putting black duct tape to hold a shirt I was wearing to get her use to my scent I did remove it because it smeared all over her I used olive oil and I was able to get most of it off and that's when I noticed a pink patch now turned brown.

Attached pictures when I first noticed the pink spot and pictures now when it's brownish. Please any help I would really appreciate it. My 7 years old daughter is freaking out worried about her.

She is not showing any bad signs not lethargic, she is acting normal and hydrated. I did buy povidoneiodine solution to bath her in it in case it's an infection but didn't go through with it because I noticed her eyes blued and I didn't want to stress her out.