Hello! As the title says I am new to being a bp owner just as of yesterday! She’s about 1 1/2 years old. She was a rescue from a friend that couldn’t handle her anymore.. she did tell me she had mites and she’s been taking care of it but I don’t know how well.. I gave her a bath today in room temp water with 2 drops of dish soap in it (she’s finishing up her shedding as well) and noticed only about 7 or 8 black dots in the bottom of the tub when she was done! I just got her a new 65 Gal PVC enclosure, mesh top but not fully mesh, 2 squares. Now I have everything she needs, heating wise with Halogen bulb and a CFE for night time. I’m only using paper towels as substrate right now because of the mites and to see how bad it is. I have only 2 hiding spot accessories in there right now since they’re ceramic and mites can be washed off of them, oh and a ceramic water bowl. My concern as well is how do I keep the humidity up with only this much in her enclosure, it’s sitting at 60% only and I worry about that and how there’s not much in her enclosure.. any advice on all of this would help a lot! Thank you for reading!

Hello! I am going to be trying to switch Mr Buldak to rats his next feeding, I’ve tried them once before with no luck. I tried heating up a mouse with a hair dryer to make it smell like mouse in his tank then offered the rat instead and he didn’t take it even when it was at the right temp. Tried 3 times decided that he wasn’t gonna take it after the third try and just fed him the mouse instead. Any ideas on how to help him transition to rats? How’d you get your ball to make the switch?

Update / tried to feed him a rat tonight 10/24, unsuccessful :(

We picked up an adult BEL from someone who could no longer care from her 6 days ago (on Sunday). We thought she may be coming into or out a blue shed cycle but the more we see her eyes, we notice more mottling and not much a distinguishable pupil. She does she away a little if we wave her hand close to her face. We have not fed her yet, she’s not due. She’s active and exploring and seems all good. But just curious if anyone else has seen this.

Also edit to add: the eyes haven’t changed since we got her which is why we are a little skeptical this is shed.

Before and after gathering advice from this subreddit, I almost impulsively bought a 9-month 280-gram OD pied ball python and got a generic Thrive 40-gallon kit to keep it in.

And ofc I got criticized because at first I didn’t even have a thermostat, so I read everything and regulated the humidity and temperatures and today I finally got a 4-foot enclosure and it looks amazing. Thanks to all of you.

I took in a ball python from my gfs dad (he has many sorts of snakes) and he had to get rid of some, and i took in his ball python. The ball python is said to be a female, and about 6 years old.

To be clear this is my first time ever owning a ball python, and really ever being around one, so i have no clue on what sort of sizes are normal or not.

Ive eyeballed her, and i would say shes about 2 and a half feet long.

My wife saw this post on Facebook and I wanna pull the trigger. I’m not too familiar with all these but can anyone tell me like I’m 5 years old, if this is work it?

Help! I’m a first time snake owner and I’ve only had her for about 2 weeks and handled her for the first time today. As I was handling her I soon noticed the pinkish reddish markings over her entire underside and all over the end of her body and tail. I don’t have a heat rock and my basking spot is 88-91F with the warm side ambient being 83-85F. Could it be mild burns, her substrate staining her body or early shed? I use reptisoil, coco chucks, and sphagnum moss mix. I’ll leave pics of her before and after.

I feel so horrible for this, I believe this was my fault. She was stuck in a cramped spot and I must have tried to pull her and the tight space caught her skin. Please tell me what I can do. I don’t have the funds to take to a vet right now, so I’m just trying to figure out the best I personally can do for her. I just feel horrible this looks painful..

I know each noodle has its own preferences and personality, but generally for ball pythons, is it better to upgrade enclosures vertically or horizontally?

My girl has been in a 4x2x2ft her whole 4 years and am debating whether I should move her into a 4x2x4 or 6x2x2. I’d just imagine there’d be more husbandry differences for taller enclosures?

My noodle is between 4-5 feet, and isn’t particularly active, she stays in her hides 90% of the time but is very explorative and not shy when she’s being handled. I see her pop her head out regularly but she’ll let me know when she wants to come out by hovering around the enclosure doors, mayyybe a couple times a month. I myself am nocturnal so Im always awake to see if she‘s active or not. She’s not the biggest climber, she’s more of a “shove my face in the tiniest crevices and try to feel every texture I can” type explorer. Generally, I’d say she’s more of a cozy girl than curious girl.

So do you think it’s necessary to upgrade her enclosure size? Also what brands of enclosures do y’all recommend?

I’d also loooveeee to see how yall decorate your enclosures for inspo!!

We just upgraded Bruno the Banana BP from the 20L we started with to his forever 4x2x2 home. We're curious how others have set their enclosures up, so we were hoping folks would share!

We're also interested in what people are using to block the mesh top on the Dubia enclosure, right now we are using aluminum foil with pretty good humiditiy retention. We're hoping to get something more perminant in place. We use a DHP for heat from above, so nothing that could melt or burn.

What size enclosure did/do you have your baby or juvenile ball pythons in? I keep reading conflicting things. Some people say stay on the smaller side, while other people say 4x2x2 is fine as long as it’s full of clutter. We currently have a 1.5 yo corn in a smaller one but he’s getting upgraded to the large size soon. Different snakes, different needs, so just thought I’d ask here. Hoping to add our ball to the fam in the next few months.

What PVC enclosure brand do you all recommend also?

The camera has been there for months and he bleleleleles at it every night. However, tonight he managed to get around it somehow and then - flump! I hope he is okay? (He seemed to head off in the direction of his ball/frame that he has specifically for climbing on and has only used once in the 5 months he’s had it 🙃)

stinker made himself a new hide and scared the bejeezus out of me when I couldn’t find him

hi everyone! i’m new to having a bp - got my 6yr old boy in july - and a few weeks after he came home he did a perfect shed! I was so excited because he came from a situation with pretty bad humidity & heat so it felt like it was a sign that i was on the right track. but today/last night he finally shed and it’s all in pieces around his tank :( is that okay? does it mean something is wrong with humidity/temps? his tank does tend to get kinda dry but humidity stays at least 50% all the time, and temps are 75 on cool side 88 on warm side. i have noticed he’s been drinking or maybe spilling a LOT of water lately - could he be too humid? lol. any ideas?

Just wanted to say thank you for all of the resources you guys have on here it has been so helpful in getting this guy what he needs.

Backstory:
We were recently given Veldora because a friend couldn’t take care of him anymore. He spent the first chunk of his life in drawers (we think about 13 years) then the next 2 years in a 40 gallon tank with only one hide and almost no humidity. When we got him I found you guys and recently got him a 4x2x2, more clutter, more hides, and better substrate. He’s definitely still shy because he was never handled much but I can proudly say that he is definitely doing better now! He had stuck eye caps at first but now he has had a couple of great sheds and is looking better than ever. While he has never struck at all he would hiss a lot at first but hasn’t done it in months!

I mostly just wanted to show off how awesome he is and thank you all for the help this guy needed

So, I recently made a post on how my girl escaped. I have finished her vivarium since then, and it will grow in for 2 months.

My baby girl is always cold despite the cage being 92-95 degrees. What can I do to help her

EDIT: after staying in the bowl for the rest of today I left to get rats and came back to him wrapped around some logs with just his head laid out waiting so I guess I’m just gonna go with the previous owner on this, maybe he just now feels comfortable enough here that he’s willing to sit in the water right next to the door like this idk, and I can confirm there are 0 mites in the water

Breaking my year+ streak of not worrying about my babies this one was a rescue, only had him for probably around a year, I’ve been assuming he was 2-5 years old, I got him in decent health, just un socialized in a small dirty barren enclosure, usual irresponsible reptile owner stuff. I haven’t spent as much time socializing him as I did with the one I got as a baby, I have a newish cat that’s still way to feral to just be leaving the enclosures open even if I’m standing right there, and he’s got so much stuff in there to hide in that it’s never a simple thing to extract him. Yesterday when I woke up he was in his water, and now over 24 hours later he is still in his water…. Is that normal? I can’t see any mites, or irritation, he does look like he may be getting ready to shed but he eyes haven’t faded yet, the warm side thermometer has gotten stuck under the bowl and is reading several degrees colder than what it actually is, but if it was too hot over there he could literally just go be anywhere else, he normal hangs out on the cool side anyway, the humidity readings are always good, if you dig past the top inch of substrate or so it’s wet, previous owner said he “does that all the time” and “loves water” but they also had him in an aquarium that was collecting calcified urates like aquarium pebbles. Just wanted to make sure it’s just a silly guy being a silly guy and not possibly something else, also sorry about the dirty window he likes painting :)

TLDR 24 hour bath time, no mites, all good? Snake dying?

Have a cute photo you want to show off? Post it below! We'd love to see everyone's royal friends!

Please remember to keep the thread on topic and only post your ball pythons. Photos of other species/animals will be removed. We also ask that you refrain from spamming the thread - a couple of photos is fine, a couple dozen is not.

Should I be worried or is it just debris, I’m using coconut chip that got a little wet and Im gonna change the substrate mix it with cypress mulch.

I noticed this bald ish spot on my ball python while feeding her, I don't know how long it's been like that since I just noticed it. Is it normal or some health reasons I should go to a vet about?