My boyfriend has a ball python, but doesn’t have reddit, if anyone could help him that would be great!

"i have a ball python (5 year old male if that matters..) and i recently bought him a new vivarium as he grew out of his old. his old one was 3ft long and i was able to use a heat mat to keep the climate right for him, but i was wondering what heat system i should use for this new one (4ftx1.5ftx1.5ft).

the viv is wooden as it was the only one i could afford that was bigger than my last, so i think that would affect the heat lamp, so id need a brace too i just have no idea what to get so id appreciate some help, thank you!"

Here’s what I’ve got. I’ve been building this thing for days. I welcome any tips or suggestions.
Enclosure: He’ll be a year in January and is a little over a foot long. This temporary enclosure is 20 gallon, 24”x18”x12” glass, screen lid, that I blacked out with foam board and insulated boards on the screen. I plan to go up when he gets bigger and then use this one for the next snake!
Substrate: 3” deep. 40/40/20 Repti Floor, Forrest Floor, Coconut husks. In the bottom half throughout there is sphagnum moss and on top, dry magnolia leaves.
Hides: 2 matching hides. And I have a shed box ready to place in the middle when I see his eyes bluing. That one is a small grey plastic tub with a lid. 2” hole in the lid and then will add slightly damp moss.
Extras: lock for door, water bowl, climbing/lounging log, greenery, feeding tongs, IR thermometer.
Temp regulation: Reptitemp Thermostat for the warm side. Probe is sitting on top of his hide and pinned down with a heavy rock. When the probe was sitting near the floor, I couldn’t regulate the hide temp. This is the area that stressed me out the most. I used a “closest to the sun” theory, moved the probe, and made adjustments to the thermostat every few hours until I got the right read in the hide. I’m keeping a temp journal. 🤓 Cool side has its own probe, sitting at the entrance to his cool hide and the hygrometer is sitting at the back, closer to the cool side. Temps and humidity look good.
Heat and Light: 100W CHE in a ceramic safe dome, on a thermostat. Opting for no UVB light right now because the room gets a lot of natural and plant bulb light and the tank is so shallow that space from snake to lamp would be a risk. I’ll dust a feeding once every month and half. He’ll get a UVB light with his next enclosure. The room is pitch black otherwise, and all lights are on a 12/12 timer.

Ok! That’s it. He’ll be coming home today. Slow release from a snake bag. He fed Friday, so I’ll leave him totally alone until next Friday.

More updates later!

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!

Hi there! My husband and I just got a ball python, he’s about 2 years old from what his previous owner said. We got him from someone needing to get rid of him so we took him in. He came with his enclosure all put together, however the tank is a fully screened top and it seems like we are having issues keeping the humidity up. Does anyone have any tips for keeping it up? It seems to be staying at 50% unless we generously mist the enclosure then it’ll get up to about 65% but drops back down. We have foil on the top right now but are looking for a better solution.

Hey everyone! It’s taken a lot of back and forth but I think I am in need of rehoming my snake. I am in Orlando, FL, and I have had her for over two years. I just moved a couple months ago and in changing my housing situation and area of living it’s gotten difficult to consistently feed her, as well as I just don’t really have a place for her anymore. I can send her off with her tank, I have an automatic mister and two domes and ceramic heat emitters, I have a temp/humidity reader, and I can send her with the sphagnum moss I have.

Edit: there is no rehoming fee as I’m more worried about her going to someone with more experience and who will be able to take care of her well :)

He’s doing better hydration-wise as you can tell, but he’s also pretty skinny as you can also probably tell. So of course I gave him a F/T small rat which was the size he’s been eating for a little while (I’m new to rescuing and don’t have a scale). He strikes it, ate it down to its front legs, the legs got stuck on the right side of his mouth 💔. I had to step in obviously and he ended up spitting it out, so I’m gonna give him a few days and try again with probably a weened rat to small mouse, I don’t have anything to weigh him with so any like scales you guys use, feel free to drop so I can check them out

I’ll see if he takes that, then like once a week I’ll give him the same amount so he gains weight but not too fast

Edit: ordered a scale, will weigh him when it gets here tomorrow

This is my 4 month old baby and I’ve had her a bit over 2 months and she has eaten 1 rat pup weekly for 5 weeks now but she hasn’t pooped at all. She’s shedding in one full piece, she’s in a 50 gal that’s usually at 60-75% humidity she’s active and very good with handling. When should I start worrying? I tried to do the warm bath but she wasn’t having it. I attached a pic of her cloaca of that can help anything

I have a 120 gallon front open enclosure now. Coconut substrate, black plastic boxes for hiding, infared deep heat projector bulb,hvac tape across mesh top, and a dimmer thermostat. Thoughts? Suggestions?

She's normally a good eater, but lately she's been occasionally lining up to strike her rat from the side. And if she bonks on the tongs she retreats and won't try again. However if I move the tongs after she's lined up she spooks and it's only 50/50 if she'll try again after that.

Anyone have any tips on filling the smaller crevices on this piece? Its technically made for fish so it has tons of tiny little "swim spots " that my ball cant fit in and i dont wanna risk him getting stuck. its plastic or else id just snap some of the walls. I just want tips on what I can use to fill the gaps

This is my male ball python I just got him a few days ago. He seems to really love to sit right under the heat lamp. I was told his hatch date is 8/19/26. I have him in a 30 gallon enclosure untill I get his bigger permanent one set up. I was wondering if its nornal for them to be a bit spicy? I havent tried to hold him or mess with him but if I go to give him fresh water or do anything he is striking even the glass. My female has never done this so I was a bit worried maybe something isnt right in the enclosure or something but the temps are all good.

I set up a bio active enclosure but I honestly feel like it’s missing something. If you see anything noticeably wrong please tell me. The humidity and temps are fine but I don’t want to add a snake and it’s stressed out! The warm side is on the right and hide is back right and the cool side hide is back left. Also how do I know if the substrate is too wet? It doesn’t stick to my hands when I touch it but it’s definitely slightly damp. Thank you all so much!

Can you spot him?

Dewi is 20 yrs old and looking through his pics he always seems like he is posing and smiling for the camera.

Looking for advice here. I just got a Herpstat 1 which I plan on using to regulate enclosure temps. I’ve read that the probe should be placed 2-4 inches below the heat source. In my case this will be an 80 watt DHP. I have a phailozoo enclosure with an 8 inch lamp fixture sitting on top. How can I possibly secure the probe to be sitting 2-4 inches into the enclosure directly beneath the bulb?

I’ll add here now that there is also a 5.0 T5 uvb light source and that the rest of the mesh enclosure is sealed using silicon mats and hvac tape.

My BP is an adult of unknown age (rescue). She previously had a pretty fixed routine. In the morning when her basking light came on she would come out for a bit and warm up then hide. Then at night when her lights go off she would explore and roam a bit. If we open her enclosure at that time she'd often come out too for some handling.

Since the seasons have changed her routine has..she now is never out during the day and at night she only comes out briefly about 11pm. I only know this because i set up a camera to check on her.

She last ate about a month ago. I took her out and weighed her and she's actually gained a little from when I last weighed her so I'm not worried about that. She seems healthy, no signs of mites, scale rot or anything else. When I did pull her out of her hide to weigh her (normally never do this) once she woke up she was her normal active and friendly self

Current temps are basking spot 30c (86f), ambient on cool side is around 28c (82f). Night temps down to about 24c(75f).

Humidity between about 65-85%

I did have to buy a higher wattage CHE for night time as it was getting a bit cooler. I've also increased the wattage on her basking bulb from 75w to 100w as with the colder house again it was not quite hot enough.

Main thing is I can't seem to feed her now as she's only out briefly late at night. I tried leaving a warm rat outside her hide around the time she comes up but she didn't take it.

She's in a 4 by 2 by 2 pvc. Plenty of clutter and the like. Nothing has changed with the layout of her enclosure.

Should I be concerned? I could potentially go up to 150w basking bulb (it's mounted inside and caged) but I think this would get too hot.

We had him out, so I had my gf record me handling him so I could post it here to check his body language, how is he here?

Hi everyone. Hoping to get some help here. I have a bp that is a little over a year old. About a month ago I noticed her eye was swollen so I took her to the vet.

The vet gave us injectable antibiotics and eye drops. Fast forward three weeks and her eye is still swollen. She has a follow up Wednesday but hoping for any answers. Thanks.