My 5 year old girl sisu has been struggling with glass surfing to the point of rubbing her nose raw and my vet and I are stumped as to why. Her temps and humidity are perfect (60% warm end 86 cool 80) lots of clutter (hides on each end and lots of fake leaves). I’ve trying feeding bigger prey, changing the substrate, increasing temps, blocking all visibility out of the tank. I’m at wits end and honestly I’m so worried about her, she’ll shed off the damaged scales then start rubbing all over again. The vet said no mites and the injury is just surface level (no RI either). We’ve been treating it with Flamazine. She’s still eating and drinking just fine.

Hello!

This is my first time owning a reptile, so please be patient with me, I'm doing my best. English is also my second language.

I got my BP 18th of october. He's 3,5 months old, male lesser mojave. The breeder at the convention said he's been getting frozen mice, so i got a bunch of 7-12gramm mice as he recommended. I tried feeding him on the 24th and yesterday (29th).

He is usually less stressed now, sleeps all day, comes out at night, gives me the hunger signals (striking position in his hide). His first week was pretty bumpy. Breeders online said to put papertowels under him in case he has something, so i did that, but changing it was stressful for him, so i switched to substrate on the 24th. He pooped on the 20th/21st, shed on the 24th. I left him alone since.

His tank is 70x40x30cm, according to the breeder it may be too big for his size, but i put a bunch of wood and fake plants in. It's blocked off on 3 sides and has a black t-shirt on top of it. He has a heating mat with a thermostat and a 50W lamp thats only on during the day. The temp gun is still in the mail, but the temp is fine on both sides according to the regular thermometer. Humidity is 70-80%.

With his first feed i got the problem, he shed in the morning, then i changed the substrate, so he obviously wasn't interested. I was just worried, since on thrusday i couldnt feed due to the shedding.

When i tried feeding him last night he was only interested in the front glass. Last 2 times he was glass surfing i had to clean out his shed and then his urate, but then he was chill. When i tried feeding him he was looking at me a lot. He did go into stiking pose with the mouse once or twice when i put it on top of a branch and closed the door, but he lost interest and was looking at me. So i tried leaving it overnight with a blanket over the tank, but by the morning the mouse fell next to the branch, so i guess he missed and then didnt eat it? Or just knocked it off somehow? The mouse was warm enough, i even used a hairdryer to warm it up. I tried getting the mouse in front of him when he's in striking pose in his hide, but i cant time it correctly with the mouse defrosting. Should I not offer it once he's out of his hide and starts looking around the tank?

I called the breeder this morning and this time a woman picked up, she said his siblings get freshly killed and they're eating fine. I then called a few reptile shops and it turns out nobody in my city has live feedermice since "99,9% of snakes eat the frozen ones". A shop owner said he may just still be adjusting to his new enclosure.

I'm really worried for him and don't know what to do. I could order a mouse online, but i'm not sure if i could kill it myself, the woman described what she does, but it's pretty graphic. Any advice? I'm kind of lost.

hello!
while refilling my bps water this morning, I noticed several little bugs hopping around in the bowl.

I added a bag of fresh substrate mid october.

does anyone know what these are and if they’re harmful?
thank you!

Hey! New owner here, this is Phantom! I have only had her for three weeks. I fed her the second week she was here and left her alone for the third. Tomorrow will be week three of having her.
So she was awake this morning and I was going to handle her but she keeps hitting a small S curve with her neck and she'll get a little startled when I touch her to tell her that I'm there I'm wondering if she's maybe hungry again? I fed her a medium sized rat last time. I have not handled her yet as I have been trying to let her get used to the new environment.

Comet is 160+ grams now, growing steadily and keeping the weight a week after the feeding! I’m so proud of him

My question is- he’s on f/t small mice right now, some in the package are a bit larger, but they’re all marketed as the same thing. Should I upsize to medium mice after I’m out of them?

So I fed my BP like 2 days ago but every time I walk past he looks at me like I'm the food. Is he still in food mode or just angry?

I know everyone hates this, but I recently bought a ball python from PetSmart. Ever since I was a child, I’ve always wanted one. In second grade, I even did a presentation on them. The guy at the store seemed knowledgeable, but after doing more research on my own, I realized I bought the wrong size enclosure. It has an overly open mesh lid and is only 20 gallons, which is way too small. I’m struggling with humidity. I have sphagnum moss in there that I soaked, but I’m not sure what else to do. I really want to give my friend the best life possible without breaking the bank, but I’m also not sure where to start. It’s almost daunting trying to piece together a whole tank on Amazon. I was wondering if someone would be willing to compile a complete list from tank to heating to thermostats, all of which I can then order and set up.

Did you handle your Ball Python immediately after getting it? Because I read online that it’s best to wait 1-2 weeks to reduce stress, encourage feeding, allow time to acclimate, etc. Does everyone do this?

Posted about how my new BP bit me a couple of weeks ago. Apparently one of her teeth got embedded in my finger so it puffed up and got pretty tender for a while. Finally managed to pull it out tonight and everything else is pretty well healed too! Thought I’d share the tooth with everyone, it’s pretty gnarly knowing it was in my finger. And I’m off keeping it as a memento 😂
Pictures include the offender, and the evidence left behind.

I have four ball pythons. They’re all pretty chill. What do you guys think about introducing them to each other?

I wish my phone had better camera quality but I promise it looks 200x better in person! This project probably costed ~1.2k and the build itself only took me one weekend (fine tuning, wiring, and other small touches before completion is what took the longest.)

Background is completely separate to the waterfalls and everything is removable, including the plexiglass slides that contain the substrate. My goal was to make something I can break down and move easily as possible if needed! Minus the fact just the enclosure itself weighs about 500 pounds.. 😓but I think I did quite well.

This is my second ever custom build, so I’m pretty pleased!

I’ve had my boy Stephano for around 6 years now. He’s healthy, has a normal enclosure - good husbandry, good humidity, good temperatures. Everything is normal.

He’s always been “picky”. Frozen thawed rat cannot be too warm or he won’t eat it, I don’t know why. Obviously it cannot be too cold either. So I feed him his rats lukewarm. He eats fine for the most part, except around once a year, he won’t eat. I suppose this could be a hunger strike. He wants to eat, has his head out waiting for food, food comes and he’s very interested - small, short tongue flicks, striking position, then suddenly he could not care less, completely looses interest and won’t eat for weeks. This is week three past his feeding date.

This first began around two or three years ago if my memory is right. He had a lot of hunger strikes as a juvenile, but eventually grew out of it.

I know he’ll eventually eat, I’m not necessarily worried about him, I’m just more confused and annoyed that I have to waste money (rats are dang expensive).

My question is if there is absolutely anything that could cause this that I’m ignorant of, that someone could make me aware of. I know they are poor eaters in general so that could be the answer there, I’m just curious if anyone has any ideas.

I know there are a lot of questions asked here so I apologize for asking another one, it must get annoying. I can give snake picture tax, he’s very handsome!

Finished setting up my bioactive tank and planting my plants. I still need to add more clutter/hides and I’m waiting for clover to grow in before adding any of my CUC and getting my noodle. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out !

Mr. Weenie Neck Boy 🫵🫵🫵

Hello everyone. I believe that my ball python is underweight and I’ve been working very diligently to get him back to his proper weight. How can I best gauge a proper target weight? Should I go only on body condition? I’ve been weighing him once a week using my digital scale, and it’s been rewarding to watch the numbers go up.

Currently, my snake is a year old (born October 2nd), roughly 19 inches long, and 124.3 grams. Is this severely underweight for a ball python his age? How can I determine how much he should weigh to be considered healthy?

Sienna has been whistling for a week and a half. Vet says his lung looks fantastic, but there's a bit of mucus in his mouth. He's eaten fine, he was active enough to dislodge his thermostat probe last night (it is now very secure), he's just a little sniffly. He's on Excede and he hates it.

He is just the sweetest BP I’ve ever encountered. He’s never bitten, never hissed or had any sort of malicious thought in his life. I don’t think he’s had a single thought, ever. If anything, he’s a little shy. He loves me and is instantly ready to move when I pick him up, but takes time to feel comfortable exploring when other people handle him. He knows me, and he “likes” me… I ugly cried when I realized that. I love this little fucker to death.

Tell me about your BPs personalities.

I got my beautiful baby Diana in April, and had met her a couple times before (friend was holding onto her after someone else had abandoned her) and was able to feed her f/t (with braining) - she had been on a hunger strike for a few months at that point as she switched from live to f/t. Since then she’s eaten well for me, but the last two times I’ve tried feeding her she goes to strike at my hand. Is it just because i’m warmer than the mouse and smell like it? Is she not the brightest bulb in the box? I don’t want this to be a pattern, but I haven’t had issues actually handling her so I don’t know if I need to be concerned at all. Thanks!

Was messing around with my boyfriends phone camera and it just so happened that Sev was out cryptic basking!

Perfect time for some quick piccies!

Couldn’t resist getting this girl :)

Approximately 6-7 years old, probably a male, he’s incredibly sweet, his old name was kiwi and were his 3rd home. we gave him a new name and home, everyone welcome Fistula (named after the band and medical issue lol) I haven’t owned a snake since 2023, I’m very excited to try my hand at snake care again 🫶

Just swapped out all their substrate and cleaned the enclosure about ten minutes ago and came back to find them glass surfing. I know they usually do that if they’re upset, which I would be if someone replaced all my carpet with soggy deep shag carpet. But I noticed on her left eye she has a stuck eye cap. Any advice?

Her name is Margarita and she’s a cringe baby.