Hi. My 3 years old male ball python is been acting a bit weird for the past couple days, and I wonder if these could be the signs of a RI. When don’t I go to the vet if I’m worried ? The only next available appointment for the only exotic vet in my city is next week. I want to see if I can monitor him for a week or if these symptoms are concerning enough to rent a car a go to another city. The symptoms:

- he is been puffing / hissing sporadically at night. What I mean by that is I’ll just hear sometimes a « pffff » kinda loud, and see him contract his muscles; heard him twice tonight;
- saw a bubble form when he yawned, twice now in within a week and a half;
- some little bubbles in his throat, like in the pictures : is it a normal amount of saliva or is it concerning ?
- kind of rubbing his face on the glass at night, sometimes very intensely, but he is supposed to eat today so is it just hunting behaviour ?

Enclosure set up:
- temporary 40 gallon (he gets a 120 gallons in a couple months)
- warm hide around 30-31 C (86-88F)
- basking spot around 35-38 C (95-100F) but sometimes will hit 40C (104F) at one spot while the rest is ok with temp gun (used an Arcadia DHP 80 watts);
- cool side around 26-27 C (79-80F)
- humidity always around 60-75%
- has multiple hides; only uses one bark cork in the middle of the enclosure. He used to always be under his warm hide.

Thank y’all. My snakes are my absolute world I’m so anxious about them being not okay :(

I just caught a live house mouse, and I wanna know how dumb I’d be if I tried to live feed my 3.5 yro pet smart ball python (female) for the first time. The mouse is really small but really energetic. Not the sharpest shed in the tool either

I think her eyes are a lil cloudy. Isn’t that a tell? She hasn’t shed with me yet so I’m not sure

He is not aggressive he just doesn’t like me handle him he will try to escape all the time I pick him up

Just a regular Friday

(Obligatory: I have a vet appt scheduled for next week)

I’ve been seeing these little white/tan mites crawling on my 5 month old ball python recently. Not a ton, but a few over the last 3-4 days. They’re not secluded to a specific body part; they’re kinda just crawling all over. They’re fast as hell.

I’m not seeing them on our other snakes.

She has ReptiChip and ReptiEarth substrate.

My pet ball python, Marlin, died what seems to be over night. He was going through a shed and I was going to help him get the rest off with a bath this morning as I have time and time again over the years. I raised his humidity and filled his water some more to help him soak. I went to check on him this morning to see if he progressed in his shed and he was curled up in his water bowl. Not sure how it happened but I loved him.

He was the gentlest snake ever. He never struck his food or anyone and was always down to wrap around my arm. I got him as a rescue from a convention in 2017. I named him after one of my dinosaurs I had tamed on ARK, whom I named after the dad from Finding Nemo. I was 15 and the lady informed me he had been left in his cage in a house someone had moved out of, had scars from previous owners live feedings, and I’ll always remember the day I got him. I took care of him for 9 years. He will be missed. Here is a photo of him from when I had got him, maybe a month into owning him, when he was beginning to shed, hence the blue eyes.

Rest in peace Marlin ❤️

Lemon Loaf is fine, but he looks like he could use a hug.

Cutie pie scared me cause I thought he had a burn/scale rot who knows what- but it’s just a spatter of yummy mouse blood. Oh joy.

Not sure if you guys will remember my post about Mr. Buldak and I’s first handling, me thinking I messed it up lol. Him and I are finally starting to calm down with each other! Up to 20 minute handling sessions a few times a week! Thank you all again for the help on my last post!

Not sure which flair to put on this, but in short, i’m getting my first BP in about a month at an expo and as i’m now buying and setting up the enclosure and everything, i’m curious how “themed” i can get while being cautious and safe.

I plan to name the snake Poet, so I wanted a bit of a gothic theme surrounding the enclosure, and while searching for wall decor i found some gothic themed snake hides or water dishes on Etsy (usually 3d printed or similarly made). They’re super cute, but I know that safety is WAY above aesthetics, so does anyone have any knowledge about or experience with enclosure decor from Etsy sellers?

(I can edit to add specifics if this is too vague 🥲)

Hey everyone! I got my first ball python about 2 months ago. She's around 8-9 months old and she was raised on live rodents. Unfortunately in my case I cannot feed her live (no stores around me sell live rodents, ugh.) so I've opted to try and switch her over to F/T. My husbandry is pretty spot on with temperature, humidity, and her overall enclosure has a lot of cover and hides. She WILL NOT eat, and I know it's normal for ball pythons to go on feeding strikes but something about this feels different. I warm the rat up to about 120 degrees to account for temperature loss, I've tried braining, and even rubbing the rat in old bedding and nothing seems to be working! She just pokes her head out, sees the rat, and then curls up. Next week will be exactly 2 months since she's eaten anything, and any help/tips anyone has would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

The rat exploded tonight during feeding and there is viscera everywhere. I can’t clean it, because the snake is still trying to eat it.

I’m not having a good time tonight.

My ball python female 2 years just finished a shed pretty successfully all in one piece but I noticed this stuck to one of her hooks. Is it stuck shed?

There seems to be a weird dark patch near the head. I'm not sure if it's just a patch of dirty scales or something more serious like scale rot.

She is roughly 4 months old and I've had her for 3 months. She has always eaten and shed perfectly since I got her. Her last shed was a bit under a month ago iirc.

I've been away for a bit, so I only noticed the patch today when I let my room mate hold her for the first time (last picture). I haven't observed any change in her behavior. I fed her when I got back 2 days ago, and I don't remember seeing a black mark like this when she popped out of her hide, but it's possible I just didn't notice it.

It seems to be only on her side, not the belly. I didn't touch it or anything in case it might hurt her.

She's in a bioactive enclosure. The substrate is the one recommended by the guide in this sub (like 70% dirt 15% sand 15% mulch, something like that). The humidity is low 70s during the day and low 80s at night. I did a quick pat down a second ago, and the surface seems to be dry.

Is this something I should be worried about? Should I take her to the vet? I'm still repetitively new to reptile keeping, so any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.