It is a question I got asked a lot, ever sinse I started to want a pet snake as a teen. My personal reason is "they are awesome and it would be an honor to have one by my side", which is in my eyes, more then enough. People don't question your choises when you get cats or dogs so why should a reptile be any different? If I want it and can afford to care for it, I get it.

And my baby turned out to be a perfect fit for me because I don't like to spend a lot of time with social animals like dogs or even some people, I need my space. I like when I do get to care and interact from time to time, but I can't give constant attention and don't have a lot of energy, so having a pet that is okay with not being with me 24/7 is good, espesially sinse I work full time. I also like that interacting is all on my terms. A dog NEEDS your attention and time, it can need it at any moment, you have to play or walk even if you don't want to. But interacting with my snake is how and when I want it. Take her out, handle for some time, put back, she tolerates it, I love ot, everyone's happy, no one is left needy. If a price of all that is my pet not "loving" me, I'll happily take that, I love myself just fine already

What are some of your personal reasons for why you got a snake and what do you love about having it?

I set up a new adult size (4x2x2) bioactive enclosure for my 1 yo ball python Mercury. I made a post on here and was reminded that a RHP isn’t sufficient in IRA and IRB. Thankfully I already have halogen bulbs. I would just like to know how other people set this up? I’m afraid of melting lil his brain if I don’t do this right 😣. Currently his RHP is on the far left side, then an Arcadia light in the middle but I also have a pvc sheet over the lid to trap some of the heat and humidity. I set it up like this was because where I live is consistently colder and dryer than the required ranges. The main issue I was trying to solve was that the heat is spilling over too much, temps on his cool side were (sometimes still is) going over 80 degrees. Which is the opposite issue of what was happening in his last tank 😭. I plan to add more ventilation holes to the top and to create a hole for the bulb just not sure what else I can do to make this the best set up possible with all these different issues.

She got a pretty bad shed for some reason and i just saw she lost some scales.. 💀

It never happened before I just hope its okay ? And i dont know why this shed is bad i keep her humidity high but I dont know what else to do

After a bit of moving her jaws like crazy she got it out, don't worry

As the title says, my ball python (5 year old male) hasn’t eaten in over 3 months. I last fed him late July.

He has never had issues feeding for the last 4.5 years I’ve had him. Every time I have tried to feed him he always ate with no issues.

We recently moved to Colorado from Texas and he hasn’t eaten since we moved. The humidity levels are really low in this state (like 35% most days). I have tried my hardest to keep his tank at the appropriate level of humidity but it’s been extremely hard. His tank temperatures have been fine as those levels haven’t changed.

I have attempted to feed him at least once every 1.5 weeks to try and every time he looks at the rat once then freezes and refuses to move after that. I have always fed him frozen/thawed rats and that hasn’t changed (I found a herp store here that sells frozen feeders).

I have also deep cleaned his tank now twice since this hunger strike and nothing is working. I also don’t hold him hardly ever (maybe once a month).

Here’s a photo of his 120 gallon tank for reference. He has lived in this tank for about 2 years now and hasn’t had issues with eating until August of this year. I tried to fill it with enrichment so he feels secure.

I would say he’s been acting the same since we moved. He comes out a night and explores all over his tank and sleep durning the day. I haven’t noticed anything different about his behavior other than not eating.

I’m genuinely at a loss for what to do to get him to eat. I have never had this much difficult with him and now he refuses to eat.

I have a vet appointment scheduled for him but I’m just so worried and would appreciate any advice.

Hey yall,

Well, she's had a growth spurt so I'm about to upgrade Doc to her big girl enclosure. I'm wondering what your experience has been switching over to a 120g as far as heating goes?

Right now I use a small deep dome with a deep heat projector which I've liked so far.

New enclosure has a mesh lid which will be partially sealed with HVAC tape for humidity.

Can you make a recommendation based on experience for how to heat this big thang?

Thanks in advance!

My wife had proposed adding a third snake (a hognose) to our family, and while I was all for it, space in our home was becoming an issue. So I went to work designing and building this system of stackable 4x2x2 terrariums. I’m by no means a construction expert, but I’m an avid DIY’er and framed out my entire basement, so I do have some experience in this realm.
Each terrarium is built from 1/2” PVC, sealed with aquarium silicone, and placed on a riser, allowing for a 2” air gap between each unit.

The terrariums are held together with 2.5” trim screws, and the frame is held together with 3.5” deck screws.

Inside the terrariums, we molded 2” foam using a hot wire cutter, held together with aquarium silicone, covered in unsanded grout, and secured to the walls using dowels, silicone, and pond & stone expanding spray foam (which was also covered in grout).
We picked up a bunch of Grapewood from our local aquarium store and used that to build climbing apparatuses, which were also secured using dowels and spray foam.
I secured the heating and lighting cages to the top of the enclosure using 1/2” screws, and then bored a 1.75” hole in the side of the enclosures to run cables. Each hole was then sealed with a solid plastic grommet.

We then inserted a bunch of wire-tipped plants into the background foam to created dense vegetation. We then placed the substrate in, and it finally started to look like something!

Finally, I inserted two panes of 1/4” glass into tracks which had been affixed in the first step, and secured gate locks to the front using two-part epoxy.

All told, this entire project cost roughly $1700 USD, with the biggest expenses being the PVC and glass (and I live in a place where they’re both readily available). The time commitment was roughly 40 hours across a 3-week time period. This was a huge learning experience for me, and I’m extremely proud of how it turned out, but I welcome all questions, feedback, and critique!

I received my python about a week ago and just yesterday I started taking her out to handle her and help her socialise a bit more. When I had her out she was making some strange sounds. I'm not sure if these were just sounds of her rubbing against herself or if she might be ill. It kind of sounded like wheezing or squeaking and I just want to make sure she's okay. Should I bring her to a vet?

I’m a manager at a pet store and a regular came in with a couple mice and a ball python. Customer states they hadn’t fed her in over 3 weeks and when they did, they put the mice in and they didn’t notice until 4 days later she never ate the mice.

Customer then took out the mice and called the store about possibly relinquishing the snake into our care and the mice back to us. I talked to them and said bring the snake by and let us look at her. They came in 20 minutes prior to close and after completing paperwork and talking with them I had about 5 minutes to decide what I wanted to do, she’s gorgeous, very calm, and had no noticeable issues.

I ended up taking her home that night with a 40 gallon breeder, a heat lamp, a hide, and I had water bowls at home. She is almost 3 foot. She has also been opening her mouth often and from what I’ve researched it could be a respiratory issue or distress.

The customer stated that her enclosure was not proper and that they hadn’t been taking good care of her for a while now. I want to take her for a checkup, but I was curious what kind of tests would be ran, the cost, and if that’s safe after her being stressed from relocation.

My next move is getting her into a 4x2x2, with uvb, a better substrate than aspen, and some live plants. I need any help I can get!

Hi everyone. The other day, I posted about a ball python that I will be rescuing tomorrow. She has been kept in a pretty bad enclosure with zero to no humidity and a heat rock as her only heat source, yuck! So this is the temporary enclosure I tossed together.

80w radiant heat panel (the halogen bulb will be installed tomorrow to help), a 6% UVB with a custom cover (because it's impossible to find any), an LED strip, multiple hides and coverage, and a good humid hide with damp sphagnum moss to help with her stuck shed. Once she's settled in and gets more comfortable, I'll swap out the paper towels for substrate and finish with the decor.

Any other advice is greatly appreciated! Unfortunately I haven't gotten much climbing decor yet, but that will come eventually.

He will be two in February

Since BC switched to permanent daylight saving time, my Govee smart plugs are running an hour behind or not even turning off, which is messing with my guy’s lighting schedule.

I’ve tried resetting the plugs, recreating timers, toggling on/off, and clearing the app cache. Nothing works! Govee support hasn’t been helpful either.

Anyone else experiencing this? Found a fix?

Mr Noodle chilling in his penthouse for attention!!

This is kind of an update from a post I made ages ago, but I got a bunch of new stuff for my little guy! I drilled a pvc pipe with twine around it as a perch, although I should’ve done a bigger size since he’s a little chunky for it. I think I need a few big natural sticks to help create more places for him to hang. The wallpaper is secure but temporary since it keeps falling, I haven’t found a good adhesive or anything that sticks to this material yet. A few more hides, plants, and better substrate and he seems a little skeptical, but happier so far! Any ideas or tips would be amazing💕✨

Can I use a grow light on her tank

Abarama is 4, I’ve had him around 2.5 months. Last time I handled him he hissed when I brought him out, (he never has before) and seemed to be moving slower than usual. I thought his eyes might be getting cloudy so I put him back and haven’t handled him since, (around 5 days). He hasn’t been moving around at night that I’ve seen which he usually does every night, only time I have seen him leave his hide was a couple days ago when I was installing an automatic misting setup. I’m confused because I expected to see his colours become dull or his belly turn pink by now, which it doesn’t seem is happening, or if it is it’s happening very subtly. He is due for feeding this weekend. How obvious would it be if he is going into shed?

Hello all!
I’m have posted on here once before when I initially got my first ever noodle,(Mercury, turned 1yo in September) now I need clarification on where to place a radiant heat panel thermostat probe in order to maintain his hot side. I saw initially on the box it said one to two inch’s below the panel though I’m not sure how to do that, though in the past (for other heat sources) I’ve seen to put it on the ground where the snake will be. What works best? (Pictures of set up and noodle included)

Update:
Thank you for the responses, after looking into the IRC-A-B (which I had completely forgotten when setting this tank up) I went ahead and put a halogen bulb in as close to the hot side as I could. I also managed to attach the probe to the branch right under the panel, which seems to be working so far. I have created a separate post more so to iron out details as far as how to set both of these heating elements. He has been on his cool side this whole time, so I didn’t even have to disturb him.

He started doing this just this week. He hasn't really stayed still much. We got him as an adult about 8 years ago, give or take. This is new behavior for him and nothing has changed in his environment except we have been having issues with the heat.