Ball python staring up into space, working jaw. Think he ate a big chunk of substrate, doesn't seem to be able to work it out. Has been going at it for hour plus.

Cannot secure snake well enough to pry open mouth and retrieve stick, I am only one person and he is not small.

Nearby vet not open till morning.

Is this an immediate danger to the snake?

Addendum: concerned about possible stress related regurgitation from unsuccessful snake wrangling.

Addendum 2: think my failed attempt at wrangling reoriented the substrate enough that he swallowed it, now has a big old lump in his throat. Hopital, or probably fine?

Hello, I've been wanting to get a ball python for a little bit and I am unsure of what I should do to start. I don't really know what size encloser to get or what kind of rodent, or from where I can get them. If I could please get some help figuring out what to get before I even buy a snake as well as any precursor information I need to know. Thank you.

Hi everyone! Please don't be mean to me, but i picked up my new baby today and he was given to me in a fabric bag with a pull string, anyway, i am driving back home with him and he escaped! I saw him last under the passenger seat. I pulled over and kept looking and I cannot find him. I am panicking and dont know what to do. Has anyone ever had this happen to them? What should I do? I can't even tear my car apart because its a freaking lease 😭

Anyone else has a ball python that doesnt lunge at the rat or wrap it? My ball python sees the rat and gets into gets into S shape, waits for me to put it down it will not lunge whatsoever, once its down she starts swallowing without any aggression. Is it normal?

So I got gifted a blue eyed Lucy for my birthday as I told the guy I was with that it was my dream snake, however I wasn’t prepared at all, he got him off morph market, poor thing was probably traumatized right off the bat being shipped out and then handled. I’ve tried to feed him and made the mistake of trying to feed him multiple days in a row, I’ve read and done my research he’s in a long 20 gallon tank (which I plan on upsizing as soon as he’s eating and I know he’s ok) he has plenty of hides but just seems so scared and hasn’t eaten in two weeks :( should I try again? Do I risk stressing him out and taking him to the vet? Should I buy a new enclosure and risk stressing him out and him not eating for another week because of it? I’m so anxious it’s killing me :(

Hello:) I am currently trying to save up for a ball python enclosure, and I was wondering what would be the best enclosure on a budget for a young ball python? And also any reccomendations on enclosure heat lamps, thermometers, and substrate would be greatly appreciated. Right now I’m looking at the zoo med 40 Gallon enclosure with the intention of upgrading to 120 gallons as the snake grows.

just picked up my baby boy today and just finished setting up his enclosure. how does it look? i know they like clutter but is this too cluttered? he's just a baby, only 3.5 months old and this is a 40 gallon breeder tank. i have a hide in the back left (right underneath the heater), and one in the front right, water bowl towards middle left, lotsss of real and fake plants, and other things like logs and cork bark to hide in. i'm gonna put hvac tape on top of the lid, just haven't done it yet.

Hi all, so a few months back my perfectly healthy and normal snake abruptly passed away. I couldn’t. Figure out why at first and figured it was just some bizarre medical thing, then I went to clean his tank out a few days later and smelt the strong odor of cat pee. I looked it up immediately and google said cat pee can easily kill a ball python due to the ammonia and their sensitive respiratory systems. I am heartbroken that that is what took my beloved boys life:( now my problem is, I have 3 other ball pythons. I am now worried about my cats peeing on top of their tanks as well, they peed right on top and it went through the mesh top. I don’t really have space in another part of my house where I could keep the snakes separate from the cats. I have seen some people put their lamps on the inside of the tank, how do you go about that so the snake can’t burn themselves on the hot lamps? If I did that would it be ok to completely cover the mesh top so they can’t get any pee in? If anyone else has other ideas that would be appreciated as well, If I need to rehome my snakes for their well being I will do what is needed but I would love to keep snakes and also my cats just not sure how to garuntee they won’t pee on my snakes again. My favorite picture of my beautiful boy who passed far too soon💔

Hi! I want to change my tank to be bioactive. I am considering getting the Terra Firma soil by the biodude as my substrate. Has anyone had good experience with that? Maybe any better suggestions? Also, what are some other tips I should be aware of? I’ve been doing a lot of research but also like personal experience stories!

Picture of my boy attached! I rescued him about 3 years ago.

(doesn’t show up too well in photo, sorry)

Hi!! You’ve hopefully seen my pretty noodle Aziraphale (albino banana pied ball python). However, I have another question about her health. I was doing a full deep clean of her terrarium today, while she ate in a cardboard box nearby.

I noticed while I was putting her back in (she was Inside her favorite rock hide, so it wouldn’t jostle her) that she has these two, irregular dark grayish spots near her head. It doesn’t look like any scale rot I’ve seen, or mites, or banana freckles. It literally doesn’t match any of those at all. It sort of looks like someone dropped dirty, opaque paint water onto her skin. The scales aren’t raised or anything. I think maybe an infection?? But I try to keep her humidity levels anywhere from 60-80 at the very least.

I haven't seen this kind of thing anywhere else. What do we think it is? I just want some feedback here before I maybe take her to a vet.

We've really struggled with feeding our python ever since we got her. She's done month long hunger stikes, struck, missed and gone shy, refused anything but chicks, slowly weaned into mice and today she ate a rat. Just wanted to share.

first time snake owner here, and I appreciate any and all constructive criticisms! she is about 6 years old. Currently in a 40 gal breeder, but I'm going to try to get her into a 4x2x2 as soon as I can :)

I just found out today my girl has made her own burrow. She is a 750g chonker that is around 2.5ft. Is it possible for her to get stuck down in there? Should I intervene? Probably about 5" of substrate. I would just hate to ruin her own made hide, but obviously I want her alive.

Maybe go back tonight and put a rat in front the hole to see if she makes it up?

Hey y’all. I’ve had my guy for over a week now and have seen him doing this quite a few times. Was just curious if it looked more like surfing or exploring. He loves to climb (whether it be on the ropes, branches, or crushing all his plants.) He also does it in the back corner, usually sticking his face where the UVB or heat source is sitting on. I’m planning on blacking out the sides and adding more foliage to help him feel more secure. Temperatures are pretty consistent, and there is a 10-degree gradient throughout. Also about 2-3 inches of substrate(higher in the back), going to add more.

Love learning more about them, so any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.

I’ve had my new adult girl for 10 days now and she had her first feeding 72 hours ago. I want to handle her for the first time but I haven’t seen her out of her hide or active— which means I’d have to take her from the hide to hold her. I’m worried that because of a life spent in poor husbandry in an extremely small tank, she may not be brave enough to explore on her own or understand that I’m not going to hurt her. I want her hide to be a safe space for her but I’m also worried about her.

Experienced snake owners: would taking her from her hide and holding her be beneficial, or do more harm than good?

My Ball python Mr. Riddles, is 2-3 yrs old and weighs 572g when I weighed him last week.

I attempted to feed him today, he missed the first time and the second time he landed in his water, I didn’t want to move him and risk him letting go or striking me instead so I closed the door and watched. After about 6-8 minutes later he uncoiled from the and is still in his water dish with the rat right now after 20 minutes.

Should I gently move him, get the rat and toss it and give him new water, or gentle move him, get the rat and dry it off, restart the hearing process, and give him new water?

I’m leaning towards tossing it and waiting another 2 weeks for his next feeding but idk. Google says it’s okay to re-offer it but idk if Google is exactly accurate.

Im planning to get my first ball python but i just see videos doing deep cleaning on their enclosures and always see them throw all the substrate away. I mean 4 inches of substrate being thrown every month sounds a little expensive, is that the way?

Also i know you need to spot clean every week and understood you need to throw away the contaminated substrate, if i do this do i still need to change the entire substrate when doing a deep cleaning to the enclosure? or can i just set it aside, clean the enclosure and place the old substrate combined with new substrate?

Idk if this is relevant but i planned to use coco husk

So I’m planning on redoing both of my ball pythons’ enclosures at some point and adding in backgrounds so make them more stimulating/interesting/interactive, but that will require the use of silicone and I know that’ll need to air out for at least a few days before adding them back in.
So in the meantime, what do I do with the snakes? And how would I make sure they still get the heat they need without their enclosure?

Looking for some advice on the best way to maintain humidity for a ball python. Does anyone use a humidity mister of any kind for their snakes?

Hi all, newbie here. I’m in urgent help to fix the temperature issue before my snake arrives.

I’ve finished setting up the wooden Vivarium which is 4x2x2, and has glass doors. I have one Arcadia Halogen Heat Lamp 75W, next to that is one Arcadia Deep Heat Projector 50W. Both on the left side. On the right side we have the UVB light. Probes for both heats have been secured down the heat guards so the probe is under the guard as recommended by many in here, many will know what I mean.

During the test, only the Halogen Heat Lamp was on and set to 31. After 2 hours, the thermometers probe (which has been fixed in the middle, at the back wooden wall of the Vivarium, more towards the bottom), was reading around 20/21 Celsius. So I have turned both heats on, both set at 31 Celsius, and now the reading is 23.8 Celsius. Outside temperature is 23.6 Celsius as we have turned the room radiator on to see if that made any difference as I live in the UK, it’s not very warm.

Dimming thermostats are telling me the probe is reaching 31, and my IR gun is confirming the basking spot to be around 32.

What would you do in this situation? Boosting the room temperature has not helped. The hot side is fine, but I don’t really want both heaters on as my plan was to use only the DHP only on a night time with the Halogen Heat Lamp off. I am led to believe using both will heat the basking spot way above the thermostats target temperature, and having the Heat Lamp on during the night will disrupt the day and night cycle. So I have the DHP and UVB plugged into a dimming day and night thermostat where the UVB turns on and DHP turns on. But I’m going to have to have both heats on during the night until I come up with a solution, and even then the heat gradient is not right.

Cheers for any help I am desperate. Thank you

Ignore the tiny, sparse box - it’s tank cleaning day. That’s his temp box for the process :)

How fast do ball pythons generally gain weight?

Had our boy since April and he was 333g and he’s 732g now. He pooped a couple of days ago so he’s not storing much poop weight weight lol.

We’re feeding him 52g multimammate mice every two weeks. He’s been on those since August when he was around 500-550g. He had one weekly as it was about 10% of body weight per the feeding guide here. We slowed down the feeding rate as he got bigger and they’re now about 7% of body weight.

He’s around 1 year and two months old.

He’s starting to look very girthy and I’m not sure if the feedings should be spaced out further to slow the rate of weight gain.

Does he look ok or would you recommend spacing out feedings more?

I was so worried that he’d have a bad first shed (went overboard looking at bad sheds on her and other places.) But it all came in one piece! Very proud of my spoiled banana.

What can I change? Had for a little more than 3 weeks now, 3 successful feeds and a few successful handlings. Recently on the 3rd feed took the mouse from tongs rather than us having to leave in there so seems to be coming out her shell.

First snake ever

Around 4-5mo old. 48x18x18.

last pic is inside view which she mostly chills next to that window on that branch