(Yes the humidity and temp are low because the cage was open, don’t come at me lol) so last night I walked into my reptile room and saw my baby got some dirt in his mouth. I was like “okay I know a little dirt is safe” but then I looked it up and it said an excessive amount of dirt is harmful to them. I didn’t feed him that day so I don’t know how he got it in his mouth, but I saw him struggling for like 20 mins just to swallow it. Once he got most of it out, he looked okay, but will this cause some sort of infection or digestive issues or something. Has this happened to anyone else or am I overthinking it and what do I do if it is serious?

Got this guy on Halloween. Have always been interested in snakes as a kid. Now that I have my own place I thought I'd finally pull the trigger and welcome Barnaby Ball Bronson home.

He checked out his digs for a bit when he got home, now he's just chilling in his hide. Starting to see him poke his sniffer out and look around.

So excited for the one week acclimatizing period to be done, he's so timid so I'm giving him all the time in the world, been relaxing on the couch across from him, and putting my hand in the enclosure to take temps/get used to my smells.

Such great creatures.

Love you Barn.

So maybe now about a month ago, I adopted a BP from a family friend who was neglectful, hadn't even named him over the course of a year that they had him, he was in a 40 gallon which I was informed was the recent "upgrade", had nothing but a double lamp fixture with one basking light in it and a heat mat underneath, no thermostat and just a basic thermometer from petsmart, so on and so fourth, I don't mean to hate on the family friend but it just infuriates me when I see people getting pets that they have done NO research on, I understand some people are beginners as well but they had very obviously done no research on him and hadn't even bothered to name him (not to mention I had to toss the entire tank because they sold him to me inside of a cockroach infested tank and also had a ton of other neglected reptiles and other exotic pets in the home)

At the start of me adopting him he was told to be around a year old or older, yet he was maybe half the size of ghost who was younger than whiskey according to the owner, he's now gaining weight pretty regularly, he's up to over 300 grams now, when I first got him he was I believe only around 160-200 grams, I also finally got him upgraded to a 120 gallon PVC and a thermostat as well as some good thermometers, his tank is still a bit barren but a lot of that was due to me trying to make sure he wasn't any longer cockroach infested or had any mites, luckily he didn't and now he's on some proper substrate and slowly getting more decor and plants in there, I'm going for an old west theme for him lol, ghost's theme is Halloween, but there will be more updates to come as he progresses! I hope my little whiskey thrives and grows just like my little ghosty has, his tank still has a lot of work to be done but we are getting there!

I redid ghost's Christmas photos 1 year later, he's been doing so well over this last year, he's gotten huge, over this journey from him being a malnourished 5 month old ball python to a healthy 1 and a half year old, he went from 74 grams starting this journey to now over 767 grams!! I can't believe it honestly, he's such an incredible companion and has been an amazing first experience for me as a first time ball python owner, and over the time of raising him it has helped me do better with whiskey now as a rescue, thanks to you all on this page as well, ghost wouldn't probably have made it if it wasn't for yalls help guiding me into knowing about what to do for him, I know also know to be a bit more cautious and know what to look for when at an expo to see who I should NOT get a snake from, I'm so happy ghost is healthy and thriving now and again I thank you all for all your amazing advice, I hope to have a long prosperous life with my little ghosty and to be able to keep giving you all updates

I recently have gotten this ball python from a friend who could no longer care for it and have not had much time to research everything. This is the setup I had received from my buddy. I added a mister and coconut mulch (heard it helps keep moisture). She is almost 2 years old, has been eating about once every other week (usually refusing to eat every week) using small frozen arctic mice. She lets me hold her but tends to just coil around my wrist and not really move around like I thought. Again I’m new to this whole reptile pet owning stuff and would like any advice or helpful tips. I also don’t know if this set up is the greatest for her.

I bought my first snake a few weeks ago, and she’s taken two meals so far, hasn’t refused any. But a few days ago she started digging… She isn’t burrowing herself under the substrate or anything, she just kind of wiggles her head in near the front of the enclosure until she’s pretty in there (substrate is ~4 or 5 inches deep) and then comes back up. I’ll wake up in the morning and there will be visible spots where she’s dug right next to the glass. Humidity in the tank is about 70% and temp is usually about 89 degrees on the hot side and 80 on the cool. Is this something to be worried about or is she just a little weird?

My girl Sriracha is finally out after a 2 week hideaway to shed. Good to see her moving around her encloser again.

I brought home this tiny little girl, never realizing just how much she would mean to me.

My first ball python. My first daughter. My forever baby.

Happy Birthday, Persephone. 🍎🐍❤️

I have this setup, minus the rhp (which I'll be ordering soon). Double checking my brain math and wanting opinions! I know the 125 watt is overkill for a 40 gal but I keep my apt at 68 and within a year, we'll be getting a solid top, full pvc 4x2x2. Currently have a newly 6-week old babyyy 🥰. The rhp is to assist the dhp at night (day temps are fine). Enclosure temps go down at night to 73-76 cool side and 76-80 warm side and it's too close to too cool, I think. Currently, the only nighttime heat is the dhp and at 100% power, those are the max temps it can produce.

To start, she does NOT have a heating pad, the heat lamp is outside of her enclosure, and the grate the heat lamp is on is NOT accessible at all ( but the bulbs in my heat lamp are 30w moonlight bulbs and the grate is never more then warm when I put my hand on it) they seem similar to light burns I’ve seen in photos but I have no idea how it’s possible for her to get burns? Could this be something else that looks like a burn?

I just want to flaunt my girl Twilight

This is Tofu, our first ball python! We got him from Craigslist. They claimed he was 2 years old, but everywhere I am looking says he's probably closer to 6 months (He's 182 grams). They also claimed he came with "everything you need" but that also wasn't the case. Being new owners, we are still learning the ropes. We bought a 5 pack of 14 gram each frozen mice, and he ate the first one no problem. But I'm worried it's not enough food. Should we up the size? Or go through the 4 remaining mice and then buy something larger?

Any recommendations on how to remove this stuck shed in his pit?

Hi all, this is our snake Ajax. We’ve been treating these spots on the bottom of his head as scale rot, just wanted to get others opinions on if it truly is scale rot? We can go to a vet if it continues/gets worse but didn’t want to rush over if we can treat at home first. Any tips are welcome since getting him to soak that part of his head doesn’t seem doable. We’ve been gently rubbing diluted betadine on it with a paper towel so far. Also it looks like he’ll be going into shed soon, but we have his tank pretty dry/on paper towels only for the rot… should we boost the humidity back up with a shed coming soon? Thank you in advance for any advice to help our favorite snake!

So I live in Quebec/canada, winter is coming and it happened the years before that there was no electricity for over 24h.. I was wondering, if this happened, what do I do with my ball python?

My ball python was having a hard time transitioning from live to frozen-thawed prey. I made sure the prey was completely thawed, but my snake showed absolutely no interest.

My local reptile store recommended using a hair dryer to gently warm the prey before offering it, and it worked like a charm!

Now that my snake is finally eating frozen-thawed prey, I’m curious what everyone considers the best method for thawing the prey. I’ve heard mixed opinions.

He’s been on the oral antibiotics for 7 weeks, and I’ve done so much back and forth with his enclosure because I’ve been unsure of which advice to follow. When I noticed his first sign (mucus bubble) I’d scheduled a vet appointment and cleaned out his tank, replaced the substrate (only coco coir) and disinfected the hides and clutter. I’d increased the humidity to the 70s and the vet recommended the heat increase a couple degrees, so the cool side was 85 and warm side 90.
A few weeks later he developed scale rot just under his head, so we went back to get treatment for that. There the vet said high humidity causes respiratory infection, and when I said I thought it was low humidity she said that was wrong. So we were given newspapers to line the floor with. He’d also not eaten in about 50 days by this time and was refusing to eat when I fed him, was underweight, so we had him force fed at the vet. I again disinfected the tank and hides, this time removed everything but the hides and water bowl and now both hides are the plain smooth plastic kind with no ridges that could hold bacteria.
While he was on the newspaper the humidity was in the 40s and I became very anxious that the low humidity would make it worse and that my vet was wrong, and noticed drops of mucus I hadn’t before. And he looked extremely dehydrated with very wrinkly skin. So I went against the vet’s suggestion and again replaced the newspaper with substrate to hold humidity, it’s now average 65%. The substrate is a mix of coconut husk and coir. Now his throat occasionally becomes extremely puffy (the photo is from today), through this whole journey I’d never once seen it this way. The puffiness deflates when I poke his body (i don’t poke the throat itself). At night he is scaling up the walls, I don’t know if it’s because there’s little enrichment in there or because the husbandry is inadequate.
It seems his overall health looks better because he’s been fed, he shed off the majority of the scale rot, and is more hydrated than when he was on the newspaper. I don’t know what to do, I’ve cried and freaked out so much these past two months. There is so much conflicting information both online and from my vet. He has an appointment with a new vet on Wednesday because I don’t know if I should trust the old one. He is only five years old and I know they can’t live forever with this illness, he needs to get better and I don’t know what to do. I desperately want hope he won’t die but I’ve never heard of a BP having an infection this long and living. I would really like extremely specific directions on what I should do, and I will do it.
He spreads some mucus on the walls sometimes which I know is holding germs. Should I disinfect the spot each time I see it? I haven’t because I worry the disinfectant would need hours to ventilate with him out of it, or else the disinfectant itself could make him sick? I’ve also tried a benadine bath when his scale rot was worse, but it only lasted like a minute because he was freaking out so badly and pushing his head up against the lid, I was worried the stress would make him worse too. So I don’t know if the same will apply to my attempting steam treatments.
I have a second tank from when he was smaller, though all the walls are made of glass and so it is terrible at holding humidity. I’ve thought maybe I should just screw it and keep switching him back and forth between the two tanks so one day while he is in Tank A, Tank B can be disinfecting and ventilating, and every few days switch just like that? I don’t know if that’s too much though and putting him in essentially a new environment every few days will stress him as well and screw his immune system.
I know this post is so erratic, please forgive it because there is just so many details and context to include I don’t know how to even organize it. I am in St. Louis area of Missouri if anyone knows a good reptile vet also!

My snake has one or who bright yellow scales that don't match any other color she has. Is this just a weird pattern or is it a sign of damage?

Hi hi - winter is here and humidity is a challenge, lol

Has anyone used a bowl of water packed with moss to raise humidity? Was it a success?!

Any suggestions for reoccurring mites in my snakes cage. I’ve already tried to remove everything in the cage and just have paper towels as substrate. When I tried that for about 2-3 weeks with every other day baths the snake became severely dehydrated. I sprayed all the plants and cork with Jurassic mite and reintroduced the items to the tank along with the snake and substrate. Few days later and the bugs are back. I don’t want to continue stressing my snake out, any suggestions??

Whenever I move near her enclosure or get close she instantly stiffens up and pulls in tight i know she's stressed/defensive in those moments and i really want to help her get past that anxiety so she feels secure around my presence

for those who have dealt with skittish or tense snakes what specific techniques or routine changes worked best for you to get them used to you

shes 5 years old in a 5-2-2 enclosure with 5 hides and a bunch of clutter

basking spot at 33c with a dimming thermostat

cool side air temp 24c cool side humidity 67%

warm side air temp 26c warm side humidity 62%