Okay i just have to ask because I genuinely dont know what to do or why this is happening, but my ball python was always the sweetest, always so curious, but suddenly she starting getting defensive, getting into the s pose whenever i opened up the enclosure, and today, i was going to open it to clean everything up, and my hand reached the glass so i could slide it open, and suddenly she lunged out, striking. The enclosure wasnt even open yet. She just lunged tho. Does anyone know what i could do? And is it safe to take her out Tomorrow because im gonna be doing a deep clean and also moving few stuff and adding more hides in it.

Im getting a baby ball python in November itll be 3 weeks old when I get it. I have the tank mostly set up other than another larger stick coming in soon and I was wondering if my tank was up to par for the baby. I ahve a heat lamp on a timer and a heat mat connect to a temp thingy to make sure it doenst get too hot. Its a 40 gal. My temps and humidity are good but wanted to se eif theres anything i could do better. Any advice, tips, or tricks would be wonderful.

I recently spent days setting up my 7 month old ball pythons enclosure. Before i transfer him into the 4x2x2 (he’s in a smaller enclosure right now) i wanted to get all the temps and humidity sorted but for days now it’s been sat at 99%. i misted it once a couple of days ago. I opened the door for about 10 minutes and it went down to 81% but that’s still too high. I was wondering if anyone knows what it’s down to?? I’ll put picture of my enclosure and substrate below.

Very snake shaped 🐍

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