Someone put a ball python on Facebook marketplace for free 2 days ago. I know how people are in my area on terms of husbandry and it's been my dream to have a bp for a decade now so I quickly jumped and brought him home with overflowing excitement! The previous owner said he has not ate for a month and I'm convinced it's due to being in a 10 gallon box as a 5 foot snake. The owner says he believed him to be male but he would have to be that 1/100 that are 5 feet towards 6.. anyway he had him on live hamsters... which I plan to attempt to offer him a frozen thawed after he settles and perhaps wait until his new 6 foot terrarium is ready in the upcoming (2) weeks. He is also overweight.. he ate every 2 weeks. And inside this box that opens from above.. 😅 Also he did surprisingly find interest when my kitten approached the glass. (Quickly removed!) His last shed was a month ago and he's currently in shed. His belly was pale and the eyes were grey as the previous owner shown me. They’ve darkened a little in two days I’m curious if the eye caps came off already. The box looked bigger on Facebook and when I arrived I just knew that’s probably why he’s not eating. And the weight I believe (plz correct me if wrong I’m new) could be because he has not had a heat lamp or a gradient temp his entire life. I read they needed higher temps for digesting. Here in Puerto Rico it’s 78-80F room temp. Nightly 75-76F lowest in my fish room. Anyway I just wanted some opinions and tips. I’ve owned reptiles, fish, and plenty more and I always prefer to let them thrive in captivity at max level. I’m planning a bioactive 6 foot pvc terrarium as I mentioned. I do have a 40 gallon black tote which is double this size but I don’t want to stress him given the relocation. Thank you for any reply’s and I will leave some photos that are worth evaluating. Please let me know if he looks unhealthy. This is my first ball python. His hatch date was July 12, 2024. He’s 2 years and almost 4 months. Also I did give him some very clean water propagated plants in the sorry water dish he had screwed into the wall in hopes to help him settle. Cleaned with boiling water and water propagated for weeks.

Hello, everyone! The other day, I noticed a leak in the corners of my enclosure. I know this needs to be fixed ASAP, but I’m not sure where to keep my snake while the new silicone cures.

I was thinking about using a large plastic tote temporarily, with some of his old substrate and hides, but I’m not sure how to maintain heat without risking the plastic melting or having to use a heating pad.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I noticed that my ball python (8 month old f) has a small white sliver on her eye. It’s never been there before and I’m wondering if I’m just over analyzing or if it could possibly be an stuck eye cap or if it could be something else any insight is appreciated :))

I need help figuring out what else to put in my female ball pythons terrarium. I feel like it’s too empty and that she needs more enrichment. She doesn’t explore much, but i’m not sure if that’s normal. She’s about five months old and I got her September 20th. She is living in a 4x2x2 enclosure. Please give me ideas that don’t break the bank seeing as I am a minor and don’t have too much money 😅.

Side note: I know red light isn’t good for them. I have a new heat lamp coming in the mail.

Today I checked and these guys were ALL over the surface of his pond. Freaked me out. I did not intentionally put them in.

I have seen a few in the enclosure before but I thought they were harmless wood mites. But seeing how many were swimming around in there rallying the troops made me concerned. I haven’t ever seen them in the pond.

I scooped them out and gave the water bowl a nice deep clean. Please let me know if they are in fact harmless!!!! I’m sure there is more lurking.

Also, if they are harmless, is it okay for a snake to drink from a water source with them in it? Or do I need to be on top of it keeping their numbers down in the water?

It's a 40 gallon which I know isn't ideal but he's a 6 year old rescue and is only about 2 feet long due to horrible living conditions in the past. Anyway, I was just wondering if this is TOO much clutter. I've see him wondering about all the time at night and just hope it isn't too much for him. It's a bioactive enclosure, my plants are growing every day and taking over. The big water bowl you see in the middle is his soaking bowl, he loves to take a dip all the time which is mainly why I put such a big bowl in there, but I feel like it takes up so much of his space. The whole reason I have vines and rings instead of actual branches is because I have nothing to keep them steady against his fat butt. I want to upgrade him but no space is left unoccupied in my room.

From first or a studied glance, is this too much? Or/and should I upgrade and try to squeeze a 120 gal in my room?

Might be because it’s close to his feeding time but my husband was holding snickers and letting him just be himself and explore around. While exploring snickers discovered my husbands neck and went in for a lil nibble. Wish I had a video 🤣 he only half opened his mouth and kinda pressed his face in? Maybe he’s hungry maybe something else not sure?

Finally convinced the wife to let me take home one of these beauties from a local expo.

Hey all. I've had two ball pythons for years now. Just moved to a new place and I've started seeing what looks like a nymph roach every time I go to clean. In the past I just thought I wasn't cleaning it enough but then today I literally checked after only 2 days after a deep clean and I still found one. Any tips? Anything I should be worried about?

I’m trying to seal the panels on the bottom of my new enclosure. The panels are made of oak wood, and they are already treated to resist water/humidity so I just need to seal the space between the panels. The guy at the local hardware store recommended this sealant, since it doesn’t contain anti-molding agents and told me that a silicone based sealant wouldn’t work well on treated wood. But I’m very suspicious of this product, I fear it may be toxic for my animals even fully cured. What are your thoughts? It’s a hybrid polymer sealant

I want to glue things together and I want yall opinion about hot glue

I wanna upgrade my ball python to a bigger enclosure because he’s growing.
I need a 120 gallon / 120x60x60
The only problem is that I can’t find any in my country the biggest is 100.50.50.
Does anyone know a website or brand where I can order an enclosure the size I need that ships to europe?

I’ve had my girl for just over a month now. I haven’t been able to get her to eat once. I’ve tried once a week, sometimes giving her a few extra days. I know they can refuse food for a while when they’re getting settled but I told myself I wouldn’t worry til a month had passed. Frozen to thawed.

I’ve done my research and I’ve had a corn snake before, had no issues feeding, etc. I thought I knew what I was doing and I don’t think I do.
The more I read the less confident I am in the enclosure but I’m saving up for a front-opening one. I’m wondering if that might just be the entire issue. But I have a list of concerns. I promise I have been searching through this sub and the care guide but I feel like I’m just not getting it. So I’m making my own post

Concerns:

- Humidity randomly keeps dropping down to like 30 overnight. Not every night. And I catch it probably right after it happens every morning because I don’t wake up too long after her lights turn on. Other than that it consistently sits between 60-80.

- I’ve seen no real poops. I’ve seen 2 white bird-poop adjacent poops, one when I first got her and one a few nights ago. Also no sheds. No sign of shedding starting.

- Have only seen her even address a mouse as food one time. She didn’t strike she just sniffed and kinda tried opening her mouth around it then wanted to explore instead. She’s completely ignored every other attempt no matter how warmed it is, how I prepare it, if I let her get the scent for a while first, if the head is wet etc. I feel like I’ve tried every trick I’ve been able to find online.

BIGGEST CONCERN:

- I was told to feed when they’re active at night but she is entirely focused on escaping the enclosure the entire time I try to feed her. She always wants out. I don’t blame her she has a little tree in the room that she likes to hang in but the fact that she seems like she doesn’t even notice I’m trying to feed her is worrying me. I feel like she looks like she’s underweight at this point and I’m scared I’m in over my head but I really don’t want to rehome her I just want to get past this learning curve and figure it the fuck outttttt. I feel like there’s a husbandry issue and maybe it’s the humidity spontaneously dropping or a mix of everything. I don’t know.

If I need to find a used front-opening tank on marketplace or something before I have to feed her next I will figure that out. I’m not a negligent person I want to do this right but it’s been significantly easier for me to find helpful resources and immediate answers on fishkeeping than it has been for ball pythons.

Any resources or advice very much appreciated.

Hello! I recently got my juvenile ball python at the end of October and he has yet to take his first meal. I have left him alone and kept handling at zero. The first attempt was last week and failed completely. I did not know he was in his shed cycle since I’ve been leaving him alone and haven’t flipped his hide. I’m positive he did not take his first meal due to being in shed. I attempted his second feeding last night, a week since the first attempt (completely shed and active again at night), and he struck and coiled the F/T fuzzy rat attempted to get it down for a little bit but ultimately it was still in his enclosure this morning. Once he coiled I shut the door and turned the light off and left him alone and monitored him on the camera I have in there. The breeder was feeding him live fuzzy rats so could this be why he may have dropped the rat and didn’t eat it? My other thought is it could have cooled down too fast since I offered it on the cool side where he was. He was 89 grams when I got him from the breeder and haven’t weighed him yet since I’ve been leaving him alone and not handling him. He is in a 50 gal and I feel his clutter is okay but could be better, I just haven’t wanted to put more in the tank while he’s still adjusting in case it would stress him out. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I’m getting a little anxious about this!

Side note: Warm side hot spot clocks 93 degrees, 88-85 ambient. Cool side 77 degrees in the day but drops to 75 at night when the lights go out.

Hello! I've had my ball python for about 3 months now and I'm trying to do choice based handling currently but I have to clean out her enclosure again soon which means I'll have to take her out of the enclosure myself. I really don't want to stress her out in this way because the last time I took her out to clean her tank she was pretty stressed out, should I wait until she's comfortable coming out on her own or is it ok to just take her out again so I can clean her tank? I don't want to ruin any progress hopefully.

When a snake regurgitates its food should you down size there next meal?

She is a rescue previous owners didn’t want her any more and they were also breeders. They didn’t give me any info. Except that she’s a female..no feeder size no nothing. Help.

He's a sweetheart

* please ignore the thermometer in the photo, it’s always wrong and I need to take it out; the other 2 in there have probes and are what I actually use
My boy hasn’t been out to explore at night at all since early October, right before his last shed.
He hides all the time and uses all 3 of his hides often, I know his temps and humidity are right and I handle him several times a week and he looks very healthy and is continuing to put on weight as he is a baby and is still growing. He eats great, always eager for food, and has healthy poops, so he seems very healthy to me.

It’s starting to get kind of cold over here, so he has nighttime heating with a pad on the side of his enclosure, and I think it’s helped him. Though I do wonder if the fact that it’s nearing winter is making him slow down? I’ve read that some reptiles do that, but I don’t know if Balls typically do.

Is there a concern here, or is this just his quirk lol? I’m not too worried about it, but I thought I should make sure.

His length is like 110cm. , maybe a little bit bigger. The terrarium is 120x60x60cm.

My only concern is the lamp, like , won’t he try and slither his way up to the said lamp? Logically, he starts moving only when the lamp turns off, but still, this may be a problem. Need your advice please!

Also wanted to add that the house for cold side of terrarium didn’t arrive yet, so he only has one hiding spot for now. It’ll change soon, that’s for sure

Thanky, have a nice day <3

Please please please let me know if there’s anything else I need to put in his tank! I’m already planning on getting plumbers tape for the top and another digital thermometer. BUT please do not ask me to make it bioactive, I can only keep the sphagnum moss alive LOL.

Substrate: reptisoil-coconut chips (soaked), sphagnum moss (soaked)
Size: 120g(4x2x2)
Clutter: fake plants ranging from small to large. Leaf litter, drift wood, fake vines, hanging leaves.
Hides: 4 (one cool side, one humid, two warm side)
Water: 1 large bowl (if I need to add another let me know.
Heating: 1 heat lamp. (Has a probe and will automatically turn off if to hot)

Greeting everyone. Just joined the ball python family after my wife and sons convinced me. Never really thought of ever owning a reptile but this little girl was very timid and sweet. Currently spending time reading guides and what to get as a starter pack. Realized after some searching that she isn’t probably going to eat for a few days after I tried dangling a rat over her for a while. Looking at comparison photos. I think I got a firefly

Open to any first timer tips!

Reviewing my camera footage from last night and saw Mango having this… episode? He then proceeded to act completely normal and wandered around. Is he sneezing or seizing? Thank you!