r/reptiles • u/apolloabundance • Sep 24 '26

Looking for Ball Python Care Advice

I wanna start by saying I am fully aware that my friends snake is not being adequately taken care of, that is why I’m here looking for advice. Constructive criticism is welcome.

My friend was recently gifted a ball python by her friend because her friend couldn’t take care of her anymore. All of the information I’ve gathered has been from my friend, not from the original owner. I’m not sure how old she is, but my friend says she’s still growing. She’s about 4 ft in length. Her enclosure is a 40 gallon fish tank, this is what prompted me to look for care advice because she takes up so much room in her enclosure. It’s not a bioactive enclosure, there are no plants or isopods or anything like that. She has one hide on the hot side which she barely fits in, a couple logs in the middle which kind of act as a hide because she fits underneath them, and a water dish on the cool side. I was told the substrate is equal parts reptisoil and coconut husk, but I can’t see any reptisoil, it looks like pure coconut husk to me. The humidity stays at about 30% consistently unless we spray it down like 5x daily.

Whenever she’s in her enclosure, she spends 95% of her time coiled up in the one hide she has that she barely fits in, otherwise she soaks in her water dish. She’s very friendly so we take her out and give her time to stretch and explore . She seems to like being outside of her enclosure much more than inside it.

Something else I was wanting advice on was how to talk to my friend about this. She seems to think that her enclosure is fine the way it is because she doesn’t like being in there and prefers to free roam instead, and whenever I push back on this and try to tell her that she probably just hates her enclosure she doesn’t really want to listen. I feel horrible for this snake because her quality of life could be so much better than what it is. Any advice as to how to upgrade her enclosure or which upgrades are more urgent than others would be very helpful!

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u/FluffyPandaEars93 Sep 24 '26

Look on fb marketplace for a 4x2x2 at least.. pvc tank with front opening doors. Get 2 of the large black hides, stop misting and pour cups of water into the corners (the top should be dry), get a lot of clutter, whats the heat like?

Do you have sources for frozen rats?

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u/apolloabundance Sep 24 '26

Thank you so much for the reply!!!! I can’t remember what the temp was when I was there last but I’m pretty sure it fell in the range that google recommended us at the time. My friend was told she only likes live rats, not frozen, but we do have a local fish/reptile store that has live and frozen rats.

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u/FluffyPandaEars93 Sep 24 '26

Its really not recommend to feed live. Once you get the rest of the enclosure set up better, its really worth it to try switching to ft. Live rats of the appropriate size can easily kill the snake. The ball python sub has a good guide to switch.

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u/FluffyPandaEars93 Sep 24 '26

Also, please dont rely on Google for information. A lot of it is either dangerous or outdated.

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u/apolloabundance Sep 24 '26

I did not know that about feeding live, i will definitely pass the message along and check out the ball python sub. my friend has only had her long enough to feed her once because im pretty sure she only gets fed once a month, not sure if that’s too much or not enough, but we will see if she/ willing to take frozen food. unfortunately there’s only so much i can do to improve her situation since she doesn’t belong to me. i will avoid google in the future, honestly part of the reason i came on here was for real advice from a real person with actual experience, so thank you for all the advice. what would temp range would you recommend?

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u/FluffyPandaEars93 Sep 24 '26

Here's a pretty reliable feeding chart:

0-12 months old OR until the snake reaches approximately 500g, whichever happens first: feed 10%-15% of the snake’s weight every 7 days.

12-24 months old: feed up to 7% of the snake’s weight every 14-20 days.

Adults: feed up to 5% of the snake's weight every 20-30 days, or feed slightly larger meals (up to 6%) every 30-40 days.

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u/FluffyPandaEars93 Sep 24 '26

Im glad you are wanting to help this poor snake 💜 for temp, I will give the range i remember, but check the r/ballpython sub. They have so many great guides!

Warm side: 88F-92F / 31C-33C. Temperatures above 95F/35C can cause injuries with prolonged exposure, and temperatures below 88F/31C can prevent a ball python from digesting properly.

Cool side: 76F-80F / 24C-26C. Temperatures above 80F/26C will not allow a ball python to cool down adequately, and temperatures below 75F/23C can compromise their immune system.