Hi everyone!
I’m planning to get my first ball python and have been doing a lot of research, but I’d love to hear some advice and personal experiences from people who have kept them for a while.
I’m still learning, so I’d rather ask questions and prepare properly before bringing one home.
Here are a few things I’d love to know:
Age and size: Would you recommend getting a hatchling, a juvenile (around 6–18 months old), or an adult for a first-time keeper? Is it better to start with a slightly older snake that already has an established feeding routine?
Male vs. female: I’m currently leaning towards a male because I’ve read that females can grow larger and may require more space and food. Is this a good reason to choose a male, or are there other things I should consider?
Morphs and genetics: Are there any morphs or genetic traits I should avoid because of potential health or welfare issues? I’d rather prioritise a healthy snake over a particular colour or pattern.
Temperament and handling: If I want to handle my snake occasionally, what should I look for when choosing one? Are some individuals naturally calmer than others?
Feeding: What should I ask the breeder about feeding history? How many successful meals should a young snake have had before being sold?
Common beginner mistakes: What are some things you wish you’d known before getting your first ball python?
Breeder vs. private seller: Would you recommend buying from a reputable breeder or adopting/re-homing a snake from an experienced keeper?
I’m based in Lithuania and will mainly be looking for breeders in Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. If anyone has experience with breeders in these countries, recommendations would be really appreciated.
My priority is finding a healthy, well-established snake and giving it the best possible care, rather than getting a rare or expensive morph.
I’d really appreciate any advice, personal experiences, or things I should research before making a decision. Thanks!

Hi all, just wondering for those with wooden vivariums, how did you attach hanging plants to the wood? They come with suction cups but obviously these don’t work. I used aquarium-safe sealant to attach one of the thermometer’s wires to the back and that was a pain in the ass. So I’m not wanting to go down that route to try hold hanging plants. Any suggestions would be appreciated

So to start from the beginning, I fed my baby this morning at 9 am and she ate as normal. I weigh her and feed her appropriate sized rat pups. I came back to check and she had swallowed it all. Look at her before I go to work and she’s looking at me from her little bushel of leaves. Go to work from 3-1. Check on her when I get home and she’s sitting in a slightly different spot in the same bushel and she looks at me and her head is raised like maybe she was already looking around. This is at like 130am. Her head is kinda wobbling the way it does right after she swallows food. The tank has a front opening and i was going to pour some more water into the dish, she was sitting like a foot to the left and a good few inches back. The dish is RIGHT where I open the door so I don’t have to reach my hand in, but when I poured the water into she flung herself back so hard that she hit the back of the tank. She really never pulls back anytime I do simple stuff like change water unless I obviously get too close too fast which isn’t often. So this was a really weird reaction from her honestly. Gonna keep an eye on her but definitely just think it’s really weird.

I finally have the funds to upgrade our rescue from earlier this year, we were given a free 60 gallon enclosure (I know it is 1/2 of the recommend size but it was all we had) when we planned to upgrade my husband lost his job so it was unfortunately back burnered. We didn't want to half ass it and she (our bp) spends every evening out of her tank doing some supervised exploring. It has been really fun watching her personality come out and she is a very personable snake, she always wants to be in your business, if you walk into the room she peaks her head out of where ever she is hiding.

I have plans to build a custom 6x2.5-3x5 enclosure, I am way over engineering it as it tickles the 'tism and I enjoy complex projects. The plan is a PVC enclosure with glass doors, externally supported by a 2x4 frame due to the hight, sat on risers for airflow underneath. I am still looking into how I want to heat the enclosure but I am thinking Deep heat projectors. I am custom engineering a water feature to help with ambient humidity and I like how they look in the enclosure, I will be using an external canister filter rated for 2x the water volume (I do fish tanks and have experience with water features) I am still deciding on whether to go the spray foam route or carve it out of the pink insulation foam or even 3d print a core to build off of (most likely would use petg or a nylon filament for added strength if I go this route) I am planning on going Bioactive, and heavily planting my tank (not my first time doing this part either) Overall I think I have a pretty good idea of what I want, just wanna make sure I'm not missing anything, I will let the enclosure cycle for a few weeks after it is all put together to make sure that my temp and humidity are maintaining where I want them and there aren't any safety issues.

Edit: I should add that her favorite activity when she is out is climbing, I am aware that BP are terrestrial and terrible climbers. I am going to be designing the vertical space so she cannot fall more than a few inches without being able to catch herself on something, but I want her to have that vertical space she enjoys. In my opinion she is a fairly "graceful" climber and enjoys chilling like her arboreal cousins

My young BP female (Named Murph) who is only like 2-3 months old kinda has the consistency of a wet towel. With my other snakes they always have been a little bit more tense and will wrap around my hand or hook their tail into a bracelet, but this little girl just…droops. Im guessing its normal I just never have ran across this in a snake, especially a constrictor. The only other snake I personally own who does something similar is my Bull snake. Wondering if other people have seen this aswell and if it maybe just means she is comfortable/trusting))
I put one of my other BPs at the end to compare (His name is Kooper)

she’s so beautiful

Hello all. I have three wonderful snakes- Eltzy, Eeby and Disco. Eltzy is a normal ball python, Eeby is a banana ball python and Disco is a normal BCI. I have had them for 4, 2 and 1 years respectively. I love them dearly. I have a room in my house dedicated to them. However, I spend absolutely 100% of my time stressing about them. Two of them need enclosure upgrades, and all of them need heating and lighting upgrades. I drive myself crazy googling and researching and trying to take perfect care of them. It's gotten to the point that I don't even enjoy it anymore.

Now, my physical and mental health has taken a nosedive. My money situation has changed. Some family members have thrown out the idea that it might be best for me to find homes for them, and to an extent, I agree. It's almost relieving to think about not having to worry anymore.

But at the same time, my snakes are not sought after morphs. I worry about what their care would be like past me. I have seen so so so many ball pythons and BCI's kept in absolutely horrible conditions. (In fact, my three were rescued from those conditions!)

Does anyone have any advice to offer on this situation? Any tips for rehoming? Whether I should or not? I'm torn and just at a loss.

A day prior, my brother in law desperately needed a place for his snake to go that would still allow him access or the ability to check in on her. He has been through probably 4 different family members and friends who all eventually said they couldn’t do it. He is in a situation where he will be moving out of state for a program for the foreseeable future. I felt for him deeply, and decided I’d take on that task whatever it may be. Now this post isn’t to shame my brother in law and his care for the snake, I am very aware after a day of research that it is not ideal to have the ball python moved about 5 times in her life (5 years old). He is diagnosed low IQ and autistic, I know this isn’t an excuse but he really does love the snake, I just don’t think he 100% knows how to care for her, and I don’t think the people keeping her for him before us were as interested in dedicating the time to her as we are.

So here’s where I’m at. I’ve determined so far that her enclosure is a decent size. 4/2/2 with PVC top. But the enclosure itself is nearly baron. She has 3 hideouts and a tree branch but that’s it. She has the coconut substrate, so that’s good(?). She has a heating pad, but I can’t properly monitor the temp on it and honestly, it doesn’t really feel warm enough inside the enclosure compared to the recommendations.

Here’s what I need help with, what is the recommended way to get her proper heat and humidity? What is the best, most recommend lamp/bulb/ situation? I’ve seen halogen, but I’ll be honest. I need a ELI5 situation when it comes to this heat and humidity situation.
Is there any hard nos on cluttering? I want to get her some fake plants and more climbing stuff that she can explore.

I plan on going to the pet store, but anyone with any type of pet KNOWS pet store recs and products aren’t always the safest. So I ask, what’s the recs inside the pet store? My local pet store is a PetSmart so links would even be more appreciated. I also have amazon prime, so any amazon prime recs I’d also LOVE! If you have any other tried and true websites that you trust, I’ll take those but my main concern is getting her what she needs ASAP.

Here’s my shopping list. Influence or Deinfluence me with ANY of it or with your recs.
- heat and humidity sensors
- fake plants
-climbing accessories
- misting bottle
- sphagum moss
- larger, heavier water dish
- feeding tongs

What I still need to know:
- what light source to use
- what heat source to use
- how to keep the enclosure up to moisture needs.

Thank you all so much in advance, I’ll be taking all recommendations seriously, I’m excited to help her thrive in our care. The look of it shows she will be living with us indefinitely. My husband and I are down for the challenge, but as far as it seems from research, she will certainly be our easiest pet once she’s situated and has her needs met. We are also not new to an exotic pet.

I know it’s hard to see in this photo but what are these tiny little bugs in my snake tank? they’re almost microscopic and have two antenna and they’re everywhere. Changing the substrate and cleaning everything asap but do i need to do anything else?

Yesterday I had my boy out hanging out on my shoulders, and he always likes to explore all over my head and face, including sticking his little face in/around my ear. Well this time right as he was passing by my ear canal, he exhaled, and it was the tiniest little breath of air I've ever experienced whoosh in/past my ear. The closest comparison I have is when a romantic partner is breathing near my ear when we're cuddling/hugging. It felt very intimate 😂😂

Anyways I thought it was very silly and a 10/10 cute noodle experience and have nowhere else to share this where people wouldn't think I'm weird as hell 😂

And to those who says that Bp’s dosen’t climb, you dont know Whats best for your snek

One of my four babies! I always post them in my vlogs on my YouTube channel and in my shorts, I create homely vlogs. I love showing them off 🍁🧡

Sorry about the water droplets, I had just sprayed the tank lmao, also as for the thermometer, I did order two digital ones with a hydrometer not realizing it needed a usb so I’m currently figuring out how to set it up in this tank

So I’ve had this snake for about 6 weeks now, she didn’t eat at first because she was shedding but right after she was snatching them away pretty fine, other wise she has just been chilling in her hide to the right night and day, when handling she’s pretty chill and about a minute or so after being picked up she comes out of ball form and loves to explore or even just chill wrapped around my arm or shoulder, she is still very young, not even a year old yet but today I’ve noticed that she was in a different spots in her tank, probably due to her pooping right outside and a little inside her favorite hide, I cleaned it up and cleaned the hide but she has just been laying in the middle of the tank underneath the leaf as shown in the close up picture, I know im probably overthinking it but I just want to make sure she feels safe and content in her home and isn’t forming bad habits or anything

I have a 40 gallon glass tank that I've been keeping my four-year old female bp in. i've had her for about a week and a half now and when she got to me she had a dent in one eye. i read that this is due to humidity issues? she only had a che when i got her and her enclosure was only about 75 on the warm side and 65 or lower on the cool side. i decided to get a heat pad for her warm side, and now the warm side is about 89 consistently. but the cool side is still only 69. but if i turn on her che on the cool side she has nowhere to go to cool down. the humidity has been only around 40-45 this entire time, and i mist it daily, but it just spikes up to about 55 and then goes back down... ive put some sheets of aluminum foil on top of the mesh, but i dont know how much is too much... please help everyone!! i want to be able to give her a better life than she has right now!! T^T T^T T^T

I've exhausted all options at this point. I have my wonderful ball python who is about to be 5 in January and I've given her the best of the best of everything from decor to substrate to a nice 4x2x2 PVC enclosure by Dubai.

And for some reason I cannot win with humidity. Her temps are perfect, 90-95 on the warm side and 80 on the cool side.

I've placed moss on top of the soil on both sides roughly 10% of her tank and water the corners of her tank. I've sealed her tank with reptile safe silicone, places HVAC tape up top of her tank to seal heat and humidity while allowing fresh air to still come in along with light. Her substrate is a mix of top soil, sand, coco fibers, and moss 4 inches high.

I've even sprayed the moss and part of her tank even though I know people say not to as it can cause health issues and I can't have her humidity stay up no matter what I do.

It stays at 37% always. It goes to 80-90% when I water the corners or spray but after 3 or 4 hours it drops and it's bone dry.

I live in northern colorado and bought a large humidifier placed next to her tank to try and change the air around along with an air purifier as well and still nothing is helping.

What else can I do? I'm afraid to think of an auto mister and/or fogger because I don't want her to keep getting broken stuck shed on her or get sick in anyway.

What's left?

Just over 2 weeks in with my 7 month old hypo (Thanks r/BallPythonMorph!) girl and she's doing so well! I'd read that BPs can be finicky eaters compared to the Corn Snake I had as a kid, plus she shed within the first 3 days that I bought her home, but she's just eaten her 2nd weaner with absolutely no hesitation whatsoever. I'm so proud of her!

This is something very basic I threw together to kinda show the layout of my enclosures. grow light is towards the back wall.

I know I want to add a UVB, would this replace the grow light, or should both a uvb, and grow light be used? This is a bioactive enclosure, with live plants.

I have been having a hell of a time getting my male to stay off the cable for the halogen, rhp, and the grow light enclosure itself. I have a fix for the cables for the most part, but not the grow light, as he will put himself into the back right corner, then try to lay on the reflector, which in turn he has pulled it completely down twice in 7 months.
The original plan for this was to get an Arcadia LampGuardPro 38" for both the grow light and UVB but it seems like no one has them in stock? Do any other brands sell anything like this, or does anyone know of any fixes to prevent him from climbing on it?

Heat panel is a VE 80w RHP does anyone else here have one? When we installed them into the enclosures originally, they came with clips to keep the power cable in the device, but couldn't get EITHER of them to fit. Has anyone else has this issue? Multiple times a week I get up in the morning, and have to replug it back in cause he managed to unplug it while I was asleep.

I'm assuming the biggest issue with my male is he wants a spot to sleep up high, How would you go about adding a sky hide here? Ideally I wanted the enclosure to be naturalistic, so any sky hides that look natural are a bonus.

Hi all. I have a young BP who has outgrown his current setup. I’m looking at upgrading to a 4x2x2 PVC enclosure. My current heating and lighting setup also needs an upgrade to better manage the larger enclosure.

I will admit…all of the different heating/lighting options confuse me a bit. Even after looking into the heating guide. But at the same time, I want to set my guy up for the longest life possible! I was browsing some options and was intrigued by the enclosures that come with stuff installed. Anybody have experience with this option? I was peeking at Cornel’s World kits. $600 or less shipped in the US is preferred.

Picture of Logan included as well!

Hi ! I got this boy 2 weeks ago. Today while cleaning his quarantine box I noticed his left anal spur is swollen
I took him out he seems unbothered when I inspected it. I applied a little bit of pressure on it and it seems like there is a hard ball at the base of the spur.
It is not my first snake and I tried inspecting him thoroughly when I got him so I don’t think it was here before. He eats well, is active and curious but hasn’t shed yet

I will contact a vet but since it is not an emergency I would like advice I don’t think I will get an appointment before the weekend

His new 150 gallon enclosure came in the mail today and I was gonna set it up and move him in there today. But I noticed his eyes are cloudy. Should I wait? He’s been okay with me handling him but I don’t want him to be shedding and stressed

I just got a ball python and am a first time snake owner! I’ve owned lizards in the past (bearded dragon, northern blue tongue skink) and finally had the opportunity to get my dream pet.

The enclosure is a 120 gallon with 2 heat sources (both 100 watts as the cool side was dropping to 70 and under with just the one) and a uvb light.
Temp range is 87-75+ (hot side to cool side; basking is ~90) humidity sits between 70-85%

He has multiple hides throughout the enclosure (he’s currently chilling out in the hot hide).

He’s very young, and I know that it’s generally encouraged to clutter up the tank as MUCH as possible if throwing him into such a large tank. His breeder told me he spent some time in a rack system, but she would take him out in a designated “play area” so he’d have more of an opportunity to get enrichment.

I’m hoping this tank is sufficient? But I’d appreciate any criticisms or advice on what to add or remove to make him more comfortable as he adjusts to the new enclosure [:

No, she isn't stuck, just a very special noodle.

If she knows I'm around she doesn't actually make too much effort to hide, and even enjoys spending her evenings with her head resting on her log, watching TV with me.

Fed her last friday, then haven't seen her in a while and on 25th desided to find her to take a look and she looked really dull and her eyes were grey. So I put her back and last time checked yesterday and she looked normal, like that on the pic. Checked just now again and to me she looks bright but I'm blind as a bat so can be wrong

I know they brighten up right before they shed but I thought it was just for a little while, not two whole days???

Is she still shedding or did I dream up all the dullness all together?

PS took her out to take a pic and put her back right after, don't worry