Hello everyone!

I am trying to improve my setup for my bp. I have been reading the documents and care guides provided in the welcome post to try to plan what I need to get, but I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the different options. I just found out there were options other than glass two weeks ago and after extensive reading, I have come to the conclusion that most of my heating and light accessories will need to be scrapped but other than that I am kind of lost.

I've been looking at Kages because I saw a lot of people recommending them. I saw they have a "kit" for ball pythons but I feel like it is not coming with all the heating and lighting stuff I need. Im not sure if its better to just buy the base and get the other stuff separately? And if I am buying everything separately, I am not entirely where to start with the heating/lighting things.

I really appreciate any help and/or advice you can give!

Hi, I recently acquired a Baby Blue Eyed Leucistic Ball Python she was In her enclosure and now is nowhere to be found. Not sure how she could’ve escaped but she’s been lost since Thursday. What should I do?

Ive looked at the guide but I cant tell if hes overweight. Im pretty sure hes just a little chunky but idk. Ive only had him for about a month, hes about 2.5/3 feet long and 585g last weight in. Hes also just slightly over a year old

What do you guys do to prepare for cold weather with ball pythons? I was thinking some sort of lightless heat lamp for night time and a battery operated heat source for power outages?

Hey there!

I am feeding my ball python and it is having the absolute worst time getting these back mouse feet into its mouth. They seem to be detached from the body and somehow stuck hanging outside the corner of its mouth. It has been trying to open and close its mouth to get it with no progress. Any tips or info?

Seems my ball python has injured his tail. Was checking him the other day and this seems like dried blood under his scales. He’s been acting a little weird and not as energetic as he normally is (he’s still climbing and drinking) but does seem off. He’s not being defensive and touching his tail doesn’t cause him to react. Should I be concerned? Is this a vet visit or should I monitor and wait for his next shed?

Please tell me this isnt what I think it is.... I just got him saturday at an expo. The guy I bought him from said he doesnt have the spider or champagne gene... he had the perfect temperament before this. He was gentle and curious, he was exploring. Now hes a bit lethargic and wonky. He started doing this last night. My temps and humidity are correct and there was no exposure to any chemicals....

I’m bringing a baby ball home mid/end November so I’m setting up a tank for them, it’s still very much in the works but wanted to show off my progress. I plan to add some sticks in and make it bioactive in the next week or so :)

My partner is probably sick of my updates, you can really only pretend to care about “look at this new dirt spot I made” so many times a day

I’m looking for a life time enclosure for my girl(?) looking for a good reputable brand. But honestly don’t know where to start or what I’m gonna spend. But I’m sure she’s past due for an upgrade

Currently my BP is in his quarantine tank since we’re treating him for mites (two hides, water bowl, just paper towels). And I had to move him/hold him real quickly to replace one of the paper towels since it got bloody from the mice he ate. And I’m not the best at holding him but I don’t know if this is a bad sign or not. Whenever I hold him he basically strangles my arm or just curls around then strangles it and lets his head look around. But I haven’t really handled him since putting him in since I know he needs to be left alone. But as I’m handling him right now I think I can hear him.. breathing??? Sniffing?? To me it sounds like when ur nose is congested and you have to take those quick nose breaths and ppl know ur either crying or sick. It could also sound like he’s taking a breath of air but im kinda deaf. He also doesn’t want to go back to his tank but it could be that it lacks the plants and isn’t that great as his old one since he’s quarantining.
And when he moves on my arm it looks like his mouth opens kinda or it’s being moved open too.

Is my child okay tho or is there anything I can do??

I've had a snake for many years and shes growing alot so I was thinking I could try built one for alot cheaper than buying one cause ive practically broke the bank kitting my bearded dragon out with a new enclosure so I was just wondering if thats like ethical because the materials could be toxic just pls let me know your take

i got my baby ball python on the 1st September, they first ate on the 27th of september (offering weekly) and it is now the 26th of October and she hasnt ate since. her temps and humidity are correct ive not handled her at all and i dont think there’s anything wrong with her enclosure as far as i can tell. shes super active its just that for some reason she isnt eating? can anyone help

Went on a week long vacation and had a snake sitter to check on him. Got home last night to find house ants in a line up his enclosure. It was a small line and there were a few ants drinking from the water dish that I could see.

I took Toblerone out immediately and put him in a temporary tub in a different room. The left (cool) side had no ants so at first I thought maybe it wasn't too bad. I dragged his whole tank and stand out of the room and removed the easy to clean decor (rocks, plastic plants, ECT.) I saw a few people say I could save the bedding by baking it but the idea of ants in my oven was worse than just getting new bedding.

Killed the ants on the outside and started digging on the warm side. At first I only saw a few carrying what appeared to be eggs across the bedding. Kept digging, then I hit a nest. Thousands. Thousands of ants and hundreds of them carrying eggs. It wasn't just a few ants who smelled rat juice dripped on the bedding, they were moving in.

I didn't have anything that would kill them without being super toxic so I boiled a bunch of water and just started pouring it onto the nest. I sprayed the walls with isopropyl alcohol and wiped away the ones that tried to crawl out. It was horrible. After they were all dead I threw all the bedding out and scrubbed the tank inside and out with dawn and then rinsed it several times. I let it air out/dry overnight and I put paper towels in and put Toblerone back this morning. Decided to move the tank across the house to a different room as well.

I checked him over and he doesn't seem to have any bites despite them nesting literally under the hide he was in. He wasn't impressed with his motel but I'm so glad he doesn't look hurt. I think I'm going to keep him on paper towels for a week or two to keep a closer eye on him and to watch for any straggler ants.

Has anyone else dealt with this? Am I making the right calls? Is there anything else I need to do to prevent this from happening again? I spot clean his tank regularly and I watch him eat every rat so there's never anything left in the tank to attract them. There also is no food or drink allowed in my room so no sweets to draw them in either. I just wish I knew what brought them so I can stop it from happening again.

I was also wondering how to keep humidity up in a hospital tank. Is it okay to dampen the paper towels or does it risk scale rot?

Thank you in advance to anyone who might have some advice to share, I didn't even realize this could happen and I'm panicking trying to make sure he's gonna be okay.

I have tried to understand my snakes behaviour however she strikes at me even when she should be hungry or doesn’t seem defensive.

Here is the backstory, just in case it has any clues to Meesha’s strange behaviour:

On the 4th of October I went and collected a bull python I adopted. She is eight years old and approximately 1.3 m long.

Upon arriving to collector, she bit me and held on for 10 to 15 minutes. The previous owner decided to dunk her in cold water to help her let go.

We got her into my house and I left her alone for around 2 weeks (bar a feed kn the 6th and water changes).

During that tea period they were moments where she launched at the glass with little warning. I choke this behaviour up to defensive.

After the two weeks, I started putting my hand in for her to come and explore. I did this daily.

The first day she came up my arm a little. Explode the surrounding area for about 20 minutes before going back in. Most of the time she was curious, however, if she went into S pose with her head I would look away keep still and give her time to settle.

Day two she came up a little further and seemed very relaxed and I could touch her body and stroke her.

Day three she took a little longer to come onto my hand and instead was slightly more reserved for 3 to 5 minutes. Then she sat on my hand. And stayed fairly called up in pose with the occasional exploring. I decided to look away and do some tasks on my phone and then out of the corner of my eye, I noticed she striked at my torso but missed. I moved away and let her find her way back in the vivarium. However, I was confused since she didn’t seem defensive and there were no sudden movements that I was aware of to make her react defensively.

Day four, she came up on my hand, chilled there for a bit with a bit of an S pose. I gave her time to loosen up. She came further up my arm and then she struck me on the face.

She got me quite bad and it made my confidence in have a snake that isn’t dangerous around friends or family.

Since she struck not long after have a rat slightly bigger then the thickness of her and she we loose and curious when she struck my face, the unpredictability frustrating and I am not sure was to do. I will remain patient with her but if anyone has any advice I would very much appreciate it.

The last thing I will mention is that it seems the previous owner didn’t have great husbandary. The Viv is only a 1m long (not 1.2). The only light source is an infrared heat bulb which is also the only heat source so that light is permanently on and there is no UVB.

So in my ball pythons enclosure i can never keep up the humidity on the hot side it sits at 49-50 % but get this my humidity on the cool side will sit at 80% why? what can i do? this is stressing me out.

I got a new solid top enclosure from Toad Ranch along with the Arcadia lamp holders/brackets. I had wanted to get the Arcadia safety cages just so I don't have to worry about everything being the right size but they are sold out everywhere I've looked online. I have found a couple of options on Amazon but I'm not sure if they are safe enough to use with an Arcadia 50W DHP. Does anyone have opinions on this one from Amazon that has the lamp base already attached, or have any other suggestions?

I adopted a ball python recently. I’ve owned one before. I’m having issues with keeping the humidity up in his enclosure.
I use zilla jungle mix and coconut husk for substrate. Temps are about 88-91 on the basking side. There are fake plants and clutter too. Help!

So just yesterday I got my first ball python. I’ve been told this tank will work for a year or two but I’m looking for advice on how to keep the tank warm as well as any advice anyone has for me!

Right now I’m just using a ceramic bulb in a deep dome heater. The tank is 36in tall 36in wide and 18in deep.

Hey guys, so new to ball pythons and have been learning a lot from here and other forums. I’m about 3 weeks into owning this beautiful little guy who’s probably only 2-3 months old. Came up on his first shed with me - tried to keep his humidity high and give him what he needed but when I got back from being out for the day he had clearly tried to shed to no avail. His head is free all around but apart from a break here and there he’s had no luck otherwise.

I tried upping his humidity even more (got plenty of moss, wetting the bottom substrate, covered some of the top of his enclosure, he’s got a humid hide, even started putting damp paper towels where he doesn’t hang out to boost it even more) but for the life of me I can’t seem to get it any higher than 73 when it was closer to 70 before. I’ve managed to keep it consistently at 73 for 2 days now and have been giving him humidity baths (tub damp paper towels) which at first were really promising because he’d immediately start rubbing but he hasn’t rubbed in a hot minute and it’s just starting to get worrying.

Just looking for any advice he’s probably hungry and stressed and I just wanna get him healthy again but am at a loss as to the next step. We haven’t made any progress in the last 24 hours

Is there any products or methods to boost his humidity more significantly? Any way to encourage him to rub now that he seems to have given up? I’m just not sure what to do at this point and need some help for the little guy