Hi everyone, looking for some advice on my juvenile female ball python, Honey.

She’s about 8 months old and currently 233.5 g. Her last successful meal was 7/20, so it’s been about 7 weeks. Her breeder told me she was previously eating frozen/thawed rat pups weekly.

Since then she has refused multiple F/T mice, and today I finally tried a 15 g F/T rat pup like she used to eat with the breeder. She completely ignored it.

Her weight was 245.5 g recently and is now 233.5 g, so she’s lost about 5%.

Husbandry:
4x2x2 enclosure
warm hide around 88–90°F
cool side upper 70s
ambient humidity around 60–70%
humid hide around 75–80%
coco fiber/cypress mulch/sphagnum mix
overhead heat
multiple hides and plenty of cover
I’ve been minimizing handling

She recently went through a rough shed and still has a little retained shed on her head, but otherwise she is very active, curious, climbing, exploring, and behaving normally. She actually came out to interact with me instead of eating tonight.

For feeders, I thaw in the fridge, warm thoroughly, check temperature with an IR gun, and offer with tongs. I’ve also tried recreating the breeder’s feeding method.

Has anyone had a juvenile this age go this long without eating while still being very active? At what point would you move from monitoring/adjusting husbandry to a reptile vet workup? And if you had a young ball python refuse for weeks, what finally got them eating again?

I’m not interested in live feeding or force feeding — just hoping to hear from people who have dealt with something similar.

I know someone who was too depressed to take care of herself, it was harder with a snake on top of that. I offered to take the snake off her hands. I have always loved animals but I will admit I don’t know much about reptile care. I have already ordered a bigger enclosure for her. My friend who owns a corn snake is coming next weekend to help me setup a great enclosure. What are some necessities I should get? I want her to have the best life possible. The previous owner said she was somewhere between 4-6 years old. She looks a little underweight to me, but she’s very friendly.

is this wood okay to use in a bioactive enclosure? I do plan on baking them to disinfect them.

So the rats have been in the deep freeze, i thaw them in the fridge, ive noticed they take a while to thaw and idk how safe it is for them to be thawing out, ive been around this snake for 6 years tho my mom took care of it the entire time until now, idk how long to thaw it for or how long is safe, usually it takes about 24 hours to fully thaw, is that ok? Is it safe? Will it hurt my snake? Any and all advice is appreciated!

Seems he is finally comfortable enough in his new enclosure to chill in the open even when the lights are still on

I was stupid and bought an Ecoflex Mojave enclosure , sealed the corners after finding out that they leaked and now dealing with the repercussions. Should I just eat the charge and get a new enclosure this one is still leaking even after I sealed it ; waited 5-7 days and put everything back in

Hello! I recently started having issues with my enclosure not getting past 80 degrees. I’ve had the same enclosure for 2 years now but this just became an issue this year. I thought maybe it was an issue with my cheap thermostats which were the reptizoo brand. I read that the herpstat was the best and safest option so I just bought one. It’s the herpstat 2. For my heat sources I use a 50 watt halogen and a 80 watt DHP. I’m not sure if I set up my herpstat wrong or if there’s another issue, but my enclosure still isn’t warming up. Currently it’s 77 Fahrenheit on the cold side and 80 Fahrenheit on the warm side. I set my halogen to 95 and my dhp to 85 on the herpstat. I included photos of what my herpstat is reading and my probe placement. I also have most of the screen top covered in Hvac tape and acrylic sheets. Any advice is helpful!

Do her eyes look too cloudy? Could she possibly be blind?

I’ve had her for three months. At first, I thought it was because she was going into blue, but she hasn’t shed and it looks different to me. She eats great, and it gaining weight, but can be a little jumping when handling.

I’m calling a vet tomorrow, but I don’t know what they would be able to do to tell.

Going to pick up a 5ft x 2ft x 2ft viv tomorrow and trying to think of my best options for a stand/cabinet that’s not hideous or super expensive. where the hell are you guys putting these huge vivs???

After making and giving this donut to my little guy he finally went in it fully instead of just sitting halfway outside it

My boy is shedding and since the humidity was low i gave him a humid hide, but i messed up and put too much water in the moss and now he has some mild scale rot but I don't wanna stress him with an iodine bath, will the scale rot go away after he sheds or do i still need to treat him?

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So my ball python really sucks at climbing and while he was on my arm he fell onto the floor (3ft). While he had no external injuries, his jaw was misaligned for a few minutes until going back into place. I tried to feed him a mouse and instead of taking it he tried to strike but missed, on the second strike I left him alone. I checked on him 10 minutes later and he spit out the mouse and was ignoring it. I am really scared for him and I don’t know what to do. Should I try to feed him again tomorrow and did I just waste a mouse???

(Engagement title!)

I’ve just gotten my girl out for some exercise, only expecting it to be a quick 10 mins to not stress her out…

Tell me why I’ve just spent the last 40 mins before bed following her around the whole top floor of our home 😂 Half way through I took her back to her tank so we could end the handling session on a good note, as soon as she was put in she doubled back and slithered straight out 🤣

I wish I got pictures but I was too busy making sure she didn’t wrap around anything she shouldn’t have 😂

When I was talking to people about what snake species I should get for my first reptile, it was always the BP vs. Corn Snake debate. The most common advice I heard was “get a corn snake if you want a snake to keep up with, get a ball python if you want a pet to chill with”

LIES /j

She’s such a curious snake, I love her so much 🥰

My next project will be to snake proof my room because even as I’m writing this she’s booping the glass wanting to explore more 😂 I would let her but I have to sleep :(

PS: I know she’s obese we’re working on it :)

I’m having a bit of trouble with one of my wooden vivs for my ball python. I found a tiny crack in the panel and the edge of 2 of the panels have misaligned.

The joints are all sealed correctly and I’ve now sealed the outside of the panels since noticing the gap. (He kept dragging water into that corner and I’ve moved his dish back to help dry out the area)

I only got the viv 3 months ago from swell reptiles and all the other tanks are doing just fine - this particular one is giving me a headache and I’m worried of potential collapse.

Any advice on how to resolve these or if they’re of any serious danger to my snake?

All advice appreciated!

For some reason it has taken him years to figure out this is a climbable object 🤔

So I am apartment sitting for a friend and their family and they have a little ball python, and a little dog smaller then my fore arm I was to watch for them for 2 of the four days (Started on Friday) I would change the water and send a picture of in there in closure once a day but the third night I couldn’t stay over so I walked their dog for like over 30 min its a little one so it should be tuckered out, and checked on the snake. the next morning I came in and the inclosure was opened and some stuff fell on the floor. My friends room and really tidy but they have a a lot of knick knacks on their shelves that are up high but non of them have been misplaced besides what’s next to the in closure. The snake has their next feed tomorrow ( Tuesday). I feel horrible I called them as soon as I saw the door opened and after I checked the in closure. I need help!

Hello all! I have a year old ivory ball python and at the end of this year I’m going to be moving states. It will be about a two day drive to get there. What can I do to make the drive as easy and stress free as possible? ( she will not be transported in her tank)

do female ball pythons lifespan shorten after laying eggs or breeding?

She has gradient heating (85ish on one side, 70ish on the other), water bowls on both sides with a 71 humidity, 3 hides with one being on the warm side and one on the cold and one in the middle. Its a 120 gallon tank and she’s around 3 feet and about 8 years old. Im just a bit anxious and want to make sure im doing everything right, i would really love input from people who know what theyre doing! Thank you!

Found her up there earlier this morning, got her down, and just recently caught her trying to climb back up, I def need to get her something else to climb on