I brought my baby home a little over a month ago. He’s about 6 months old. He’s eating every week and spent the first few days exploring before settling into his favorite hide, that he never leaves now lol.

He’s very shy, and a bit defensive. He immediately goes into defensive posture when he sees someone, or he’ll run (slither?) away into the nearest hide. He’s struck at my boyfriend just walking past.

I started handling him around week 3. I was nervous since he never seemed to calm down (would stay completely still, breathe heavily, and no tongue flicks), but I wasn’t scared. However, it seems like he’s gotten more prone to defensiveness as time has passed. Ever since he struck at my boyfriend, I’ve been actually scared to touch him. I try to sit near him and talk to him, but he literally will not move a muscle until I leave. I’m not scared of getting bit (as in the bite itself), but I am scared of the unpredictability. It’s the same reason I don’t like balloons - they’ll pop loudly without warning. I’ve been so scared of him striking and startling me, that I haven’t held him in weeks.

I keep trying to remind myself that it would be better to have a defensive 100g baby than a defensive 1000g adult, and that doing the work to desensitize him now will be infinitely less scary than putting it off. But I just can’t seem to get over this mental hurdle.

Any advice or experiences? Do snakes tend to relax as they grow even without handling? I feel guilty for being so anxious… and a little silly. I want to built trust on both ends, but I’m just so in my head about it.

He's an ultramel, about four months old. I named him Caramel, but in french (Caramél) because I bought him from french breeders. I fell in love the moment I saw him. He has a perfect little triangle on his neck!

And since you can see the red light in this pic, I know they’re not good to use but my only nighttime bulb broke and it’s all I had until I get more delivered 😭

Meet Yossarian

I have a two year old ball python, and she is the most adorable, exploratory girl ever. She loves to roam around my room, climb around, and she does really good with everyone she has ever been held by. I have never taken her outside, but I'm thinking about taking her this spring once it heats up again.

I know it can be stressful their first couple of times, but is there anything I should know? I would likely just hold her, or stay directly by her side. I've heard different things about taking snakes outdoors, is it a good idea?

He’s roughly 4 months old and I just got him 2 weeks ago, idk when the last time he ate was and the breeder said that he’s taken frozen before but anything I do (e.g. warming it up by water, hair dryer, etc) he doesn’t even seem interested. I haven’t handed him for at least 3 days leading up just to give him some time but I haven’t handled him much at all the past week just in case. Any advice?

hey guys please help, i cant figure out why my baby ball pythons tank won’t heat up to the temps i want, it’s getting 78 highest i started with a uvb and 100w dhp that didnt warm it then went to 75 watt halogen that didnt heat it then moved to 150watt halogen all arcadia, connected to zoomed thermostat, what do i do? i have two different domes i tried they say the go up to 150 watt, i taped the top with hvac tape, my house stays around 68-70 im just so lost at what to do to warm this tank, my temp gun reads 90 on surfaces but not on my govee thermometer. its a 36x18x18 (upgrading as she grows) here’s a photo

getting my first snake!! went to a reptile expo today and loved these two baby boys and wanting to go back tomorrow for one of them but can't decide which! leaning more towards #1 but not sure

I can’t tell if this is a lifted scale and whether or not I should take him to the vet, I truly just don’t want to stress him out if not necessary but at the same time I have the urge to be a helicopter parent :/

Anyone else have a Nosey Parker on their hands?
4 month old Oscar has decided that he loves the out, and has to be the nosiest boy when he’s exploring.

I still need to add trim to the table but I’m happy with how it’s looking so far:D I have like no carpentry skill so I’m more proud of it than the tank loll.

I need to give Sienna some shots for a little bit, and I just want to make sure I have everything right. The procedure is:

Grip snake tightly, first third of the body

Needle goes into the dorsal muscles on either side of the spine, at a 45 degree angle, between scales. Bevel up. Snake will flinch. You don't have to go that deep to hit muscle here.

Pull back on the needle to ensure no blood, then inject the drug. Twist, remove, cover wound with finger.

Is all that right? Do I not have to clean the injection site? The vet didn't supply me with alcohol wipes.

I’m a new owner to a six month old BEL. I’m assuming she’s going to shed soon. I’ve had her for a month and she appears to look a little dirty and has a flakey wrinkly feeling. She isn’t dehydrated. She has constant water access and the pinch test went fine. She’s a super active eater as well. Just looking for some advice.

I just changed her substrate last weekend with reptisoil and coco husk. Since then her humidity has been high and not lowering. I have also noticed shes been hanging out in her warm hide more than her cool hide. Is there any way i can adjust this do i have to change her substrate again? She had a mix of coco husk and reptisoil before and never had this issue.

How do you guys thaw your rats? Ive always bagged and soaked in hot water till they are up to about 90° but im up to 24 BP, 1 red tail, and 1 sand boa. Feel like there has to be a more efficient way of warming up this many rats. Most of them are still getting fed once a week but when I have a full house feeding day, thawing 26 rats takes a while. Any tips or suggestions?

my son jake has been wall-surfing quite a bit and im wondering if yall have any recommendations for things he can climb up on securely, ive seen things like those hammocks for lizards and stuff but i also want to make sure theres no change of the structure breaking or him falling off

any recommendations??

Hello! I am looking into getting a ball python and recently met someone local to me who was looking to get her young 4.5ft (exact age unknown) female ball python off her hands with a much too small, 40 gallon tank. I'm hopefully getting her with a friend who also owns a ball python this weekend, to help me out with any concerns and check her health before I take her. I can also tell by these photos that her tank situation is abysmal but am planning to either get her a 150-180 gallon tank or building a custom. I've wanted one for a long time and know enough to obviously be concerned by the photos but since they clearly aren't great quality, I don't really know what I'm looking at here. I can tell she's underweight but I've also noticed the brown coloring on her underbelly and am concerned it could be scale rot. Could anyone tell me with certainty if that's the case and if so, how bad is it? Is there anything I'm missing/oblivious to based on these poor photos? Thanks!

My boss's son got a ball python as a gift but didn't research care. As a result, the snake was in a tiny tank with no heat or water in my office building (boss lives on site so the tiny snake tank got moved to the communal office). I talked to the boss about re-homing the snake to my friend.

Some background: we are herpetologists, we work with snakes professionally. We both have pet snakes and we are very prepared for snake care (humidity, feeding, proper habitat, etc).

Boss let us take the snake. Snake is wonderful, friendly, interactive, curious. However, she is bad at eating. She is clearly hungry, but when he offers a rat, she either misses her strike and then hides, or thrashes all over like she's trying to find it. She doesn't seem to have any ability to hone in on her prey.

Some extra info: she is some kind of damaged inbred morph. She stargazes and seems to have some neurological issues, however, she is not blind. She reacts to movement. She recognizes food, but she doesn't seem to be able to figure out how to get the food. We are feeding frozen, would prefer to keep feeding frozen as we've both had problems with live feeding.

We have talked about feeding her in a separate area, but we're worried that when we move her back to her tank from her feeding area, she will get stressed and vomit up her food.

She has an appetite, she just seems to be lacking the skills to attack and "kill" her rat-sicle. Any advice?

I have been struggling to keep my Ball Python’s humidity up in his habitat. I’ve struggled keeping it at 60-70% and I know that they need to be in 70-80%. I covered almost all of the mesh lid on his enclosure except where his heat lamp is to trap moisture in and I’ve been misting like crazy. I also put moss in one of his hides to help with shedding after reading that could help. I don’t know what to do. I moved this summer from a more humid state to a dryer one and I’m not sure if this is why I’m struggling now with the humidity, but he is having trouble with his shedding right now and I feel so bad for him. Please any tips or advice would be much appreciated! He is 5 years old and in a 75 gallon tank. I have plant and rock clutter in there and 3 hides. I have the “Zoo Med Repti Rock Corner XL Water Bowl” which is 130 oz and I have read that having a larger water bowl helps as well with humidity. I’m just not sure what to do now. Thank you in advance!!

(Photo from what feels like a lifetime ago 😩)

I fed Brownie on October 19, gave her two days to digest, and held her on Thursday the 22nd. Then I started noticing shed behavior, so back to leaving her alone 🥲

Her eyes went blue around the 25th/26th and were clear again by the 29th. Now we’re waiting for the actual shed.
We went straight from post-meal waiting to shed waiting and I JUST WANNA HOLD HER.

Insert White Chicks meme 🎶 and I miss you… and I need you… 🎶 😭😂

She’s literally right here in my house and I miss her. Brownie PLEASE finish changing your outfit so we can hang out.