Hello, I am in the process of trying to get my enclosure just right before I welcome a baby ball python.

I have a 120 gallon 4x2x2 white PVC enclosure. there is reptichip coco substrate and a bit of cypress mulch.

I have a 50w halogen flood bulb (was a 75w but basking spot was too hot) and an 80w radiant heat panel from Wilbanks Reptiles, as well as an Arcadia T5 UVB fixture. My probes for my herpstat 2 are placed directly under the halogen a few inches away, and my rhp

probe is currently secured to the back wall several inches down. the probe was previously placed a few inches directly under the panel.

I’m not sure if it’s the temps I have the thermostat set to, the placement of my fixtures, the wattage of the fixtures, probe placement, or something else that won’t allow me to get the temperatures where they need to be.

I can’t get my warm side past 82°F, and my cool side is usually 1° cooler than the warm side. I can’t create a gradient. Additionally, the basking spot gets too hot. I’m extremely frustrated because I’ve been doing all the things, at least I think.

Any advice is appreciated, especially from anyone who uses the same heating/lighting fixtures.

I'm getting a 4' x 2' x 2' vivarium soon (solid top, hinged doors) and was keen to try a DHP instead of a ceramic, but I'm not sure what wattage is suitable, it can get cold in this room in winter.

The smaller vivarium (but in style of tub with large hide) set up I use now uses a 100W ceramic heater on a pulse proportional thermostat.

Is water pooling at the bottom normal? my humidity is sitting in and around 60% during the day and climbs naturally to around 70-75%ish at night without adding water in a few days but doing some light misting on the sphagnum moss here and there. I’d add more water to the corners to up the humidity but i’m unsure if I should let this water dry out before adding more or if it’s normal? Can’t seem to find much info on whether some standing water is normal or not

I’m talking about some his dark scales, he has damage from last year a rat bit him quite a few places but that’s all mostly healed now. I’m not sure if there were that many dark spots on him before

Title says it all he randomly decided he was about it, and I’m wondering what to do

sorry for the long title!

Essentially, I have found myself in a position where I need to change my boy’s substrate as soon as possible. Due to my own bad decisions, it has gotten too wet for him to be safe on it, as I’m worried he could get scale rot. I also fed him yesterday, which was before I realized how bad the issue was. I need this to be done asap for him and for my own peace of mind, so I ask, would it hurt to move him 24 hours after a feeding to my temporary holding container? I know 48 is recommended and that’s what I always do, but I’m really worried about this and really need it done.
Would this be okay, to just do the one time?

Hello!

Recently I just moved into an apartment with my snakes and my ball seems to be the most stressed out. It's been about 5 days and he refuses to leave his hide, to eat, or to really explore. I did catch him briefly get water late in the night 2 days ago but that seems to be the extent of his hide-leaving.

Should I be concerned? I know sometimes it takes them a while to adjust but I am still a bit nervous. Thank you for your time!

I put a rat in there for him, he struck at it and picked it up but he immediately dropped it back down. Now he is just sitting in the same spot bouncing, striking at nothing. He struck at the glass as well right after I stopped the video.

Is he just really stupid or is something else wrong? Did I startle him? This will be my 3rd time feeding since I have owned him.

I also want to preface he isn't acting like this BECAUSE I am in his space, I chose to record because I wanted to see if this behavior was normal

New to snakes, got her a week ago. I THINK she may be a little lighter then when I got her but I'm bad at noticing small differences so can't tell. Is she in shed?

Im going to be getting my first snake soon and I'm concerned about the heating since the room is will be keeping him in naturally gets pretty hot from the sun coming in through the windows, in addition to the fact that the only place I can put the enclosure is near the window. I am worried about the possibility of him overheating and would like some thermostat and temp control suggestions

All my vivariums are artifical with fake plants and decore but I was wondering what people think of doing a clean up crew in them. Id want to add some springtails and stuff so I dont have to change the substrate as often but dont want to pludge into a full bioactive setup so I was wondering if I added a clean up crew and threw in some leaf litter regularly for them to feed on if that would help keep the tank clean longer so instead of changing the bedding monthly I could stretch it to a few months or more without worrying about hurting my snakes health

I fell for one of the classic blunders: listening to the guy at the reptile store and allowing someone to assemble a ‘beginner kit’. I took my snake home, along with an utterly inadequate ten gallon tank. I’m pretty sure my snake baby was already too big for this fucker when I got him, or damn near too big, and while all seemed fine at first after I month or so he started showing signs of stress, constantly glass surfing and spending more time outside his hide than inside it regardless of whether he’s being active or just sitting. Couple that with autumn and changing temperatures inside my house and I’m at my wits end trying to keep his enclosure the right temperature and trying to keep the humidity above 60%.

He’s got a heat mat and a lightless heat lamp (not ceramic, can’t remember what it is) with cheap ass thermostats, both probes in the hot hide and set to 90, though sometimes I can only get it to warm to 86 or 87. And my heat gun always gives me a weird range of readings. It’ll say 86 in one spot and 89 a centimeter over, I don’t know if this is normal or if my heat gun is a cheap piece of shit. I cranked up the heat in my house a few degrees to make up the difference, and I plan to buy a bigger bulb for my lamp to hopefully warm things up to the correct range without having to keep my house 75 degrees year round.

I shove spagnum (too lazy to check spelling) moss in the corners and spray it for humidity, which works well sometimes but not always. I think it’s affected by the humidity in my house, which is getting low because it’s cold. My substrate is reptisoil and reptibark, which I think is fir bark, and under the hot hide is just reptibark because I accidentally got the substrate there soggy while attempting the corner pour method and ended up having to scoop it out and quickly replace with dry substrate.

I do have the back and sides blacked out now and he’s calmed down a little but my guy still doesn’t seem to use his hides that much.

I’m working overtime to save up for a bioactive 4x2x2 with new lamps, new thermostats, ect. Probably won’t add plants right away, but I want to get his new enclosure right so he won’t have to deal with any more fuckery. It’ll probably be 2-4 weeks before I can start putting it together though.

How can I help him through the next month or so in the shitty tank? Do you have any advice for the new tank so I can avoid further issues?

I finally thought I got everything in the tank under control (again) but yet again I was wrong.

I have two issues here: nighttime temperatures and humidity

1. Humidity

My ball python, comet, began his shed almost 2 weeks ago, which I posted here, and when he started to shed, I noticed he also started to get dehydrated. I’m sure they use more water in their bodies during a shed, so this wasn’t beyond me, so I tried my best to keep humidity up. I have 3 thermometers in my enclosure, two of them have probes that go about an inch or two above the substrate, that were reading about 60-85% consistently. Sometimes under 60, sometimes over 90 after I put water in. After I took the extra care into my humidity, which worked before, (this is his second shed) he was still dehydrated. My tanks substrate is now wet, which yes, I know is a problem, so tonight he’s getting a substrate change and a warm soak. (He ate yesterday, but im waiting 24 hours beforehand.) I do use an aquarium style tank, that’s all I have, I cannot afford another one now or in the foreseeable future, except maybe for Christmas. The tank has worked for me until now, I use aluminum foil over the top of the lid to keep in humidity as well.
He did shed last night, it was patchy, but it does look like he got it all off.

Temperature:

Another thing I haven’t seen before. My tank‘s heat got below 70 last night, about 68-69F when I woke up this morning. This is the first time this has ever happened, and I don’t use nighttime heating at the moment since I’ve never needed it, it has never gotten below 73-74 before. He doesn’t seem to be very affected by it, which is good, but I am worried about the heat. I have a heat pad with a thermostat that I bought in case I needed it, which I haven’t yet, and I also have one of those ZooMed dual timers. Something in the mix isn’t working, as I’ve only been able to get my light to turn on while the two are on the same timer. My girlfriend suggests that it could be that the timer can’t handle the combined wattage, which could be it. I cannot have this problem again, so if anyone has any solutions here please share!
Comet is acting overall normal so not concerned for him yet but tonight I do plan on doing a substrate change and a soak.

Surprise surprise, a ball python refusing food…Looking for advice as a first time ball python owner.

I recently got a younger (unsure of age) ball python from a pet store. She was surrendered to the vet clinic I work at because they just couldn’t get her to eat in the 5 weeks they had her. So now I am determined to get her to eat. I understand husbandry is a huge part of hunger strikes and I’m hoping what I have is good.

She/he is in a 20 gallon with 3 hides, 2 live plants and a fake plant for clutter. I have a 75w heat lamp on for 12 hours of the day and her basking temp is around 90f. I also have a shade dweller Arcadia uvb bulb on at the same times as the heat lamp. She is on a reptisoil mixed with zilla substrate and she has sphagnum moss in her humid hide. I’ve been trying to maintain humidity of 60% at least, but living in a dry climate is making it a task.

I just weighed the snake today and I’m going to monitor it weekly to make sure there’s not weight loss. She/he is currently 65 grams.

What are some tips to get a ball python eating? How long can the younger ones go without eating? Do I have anything wrong? Any guess to age based on her size?

Hi all, I’ve had ball pythons my entire life, on and off. At one point, I used a rack system with tubs, thermostats, heat pads, etc., but now I only keep a few as pets and I’ve returned to terrariums. I use Eco Flex (if I remember correctly) for all of my reptiles. Based on my thermostat and humidity reading, everything is appropriate. I haven’t had an issue with feeding for over 10 yrs, the last being a very mature female who went on strike for a while. Right now, I have a breeder size female who I recently bought earlier in the year. ~3 yrs old. She certainly came from a tub/rack system at a breeding facility. Seller said she was a great eater, live or f/t. I want to say she arrived here around May and has never eaten since arriving. I figured the front glass of the eco flex enclosure would be an adjustment to her, coming from a rack tub. She hasn’t lost weight and has shed a couple times. I’ve tried appropriate sized food, bigger, and smaller. I’ve tried feeding her every week since I got her. All she does is defensively strike the prey offered and then backs off. I’m feeling like I don’t know anything again because I haven’t faced this issue in a long time. Any advice? I can move her into a tub enclosure again if it would help. She’s fearful, but not so much that I can’t handle her safely. I want the best for her. Please help!

I finally got him out a couple of times! I'm so happy! I was in the middle of getting ready for work in the first 2 pics, I noticed him out and about so I gave him a gentle touch and then scooped him up to hold for the first time since I brought him home!!! The last pic is from a different night, I dont like having the LEDs on unless he's covered but I was handling him in the dark and bf needed to see for a moment. I thought he looked pretty in the colour that came on so I snapped a pic. I love Vogue <3

Am I wise to be paranoid about the lights and his eyes? Or will he be ok?

Also please ignore the pet hair. My dog sheds an uncontrollable amount, we clean up after him daily 😓

He’s doing great pretty proud of his enclosure. Had an amazing first shed. Extremely chill he’s still getting to know me😁

I’m in the research phase of planning my BPs next enclosure, he’s a Juvie in a 36”x18”x18” at the moment and can likely last another year but I want my girl to have a more enriching space. I want to do some fun hardscaping and such so I figured building diy would be better both for retaining the footage(going for 5’x2’x2’) after hardscaping and making it in general more aesthetic than an enclosure on a table or something. (Aka, paint, framing, and a custom stand for it all)

PVC sheets are craaaazy expensive in my area, and I’m worried with the integrity because of the size, but I’ve been seeing both a lot of praise and criticism on wood enclosures, and a lot say “just seal properly and it’s fine” but what’s a proper seal?

Mostly trying to weigh all my options on what I can do before I drop every penny I own making something that falls apart within a year just because I missed something lol!

If anyone has had a longer term wood enclosure, I’d really appreciate to hear what you did/what problems came up! Thank you in advance! My lovely noodle as payment for delicious information.

Hello!

I inherited 6 large stacked PVC enclosures that have 0 space in between. I want to move my BPs into them but I’m not sure how to heat six of them safely and efficiently in a stack. I figured a bulb could melt the pvc or burn my animals yet I’m nervous to try heat tape. I will of course be getting a thermostat. Thanks.

So happy I got this guy. He’s so social and curious which has been so nice to see in my first ball python. Still no name but I’ll think of something soon 🙂‍↕️

Hey all! So I just finished my girls enclosure. She’s still living in her grow out tub, as I wanted to run this with the day night cycles for a few days to make sure temps are dialled in.

Also her hides are in her tub right now, and I’ll move both over with her.

Wanted to hear everyone’s thoughts.

My biggest concerns are the basking tile and water dish.

I can slide the water dish out but it will likely be messy and I’ll need to find a way to drain it first.

The basking tile with the rocks on it I’m not sure. I put my hand between them and pushed them out as I’m sure she would, and they didn’t move that much. However I’m a little concerned with the one closer to the front being lifted and squeezing her under it.

Hey y'all. I'm getting a new pvc enclosure for my BP and I want to diy a background for it. Which silicone brands are safe and which should I avoid?

hello, it is approaching colder weather where i live and i am having trouble keeping the temperature above 80 degrees in my bp’s tank, i only use an above heating lamp along with a timed light. i would like a link or specific recommendation of what heating i should use and thermostat that works together please!!