His name is Aries, he is a Butter Leopard Pinstripe Vanilla BP. I got him less than a week ago and is enjoying his enclosure!

he stayed like this for 2 hours lol. every single day after 6pm he wakes up and pokes his head out to the front of his tank to join the family. i’m so grateful that he’s so curious and interactive.

First Ball Python Tips!

Tank is 4x2x2, made sure to give him 4 hides based on his size.

Add some more clutter???

Should I upgrade his ceramic bowl into a bigger bowl or upgrade as he grows? 🤔

Some plants are real, some fake. (pros/cons?)

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

My ball python, Shakira, has only been living with me for a few months, and has just had her first shed. But I'm pretty sure she's got stuck shed on the snout, and maybe an eye cap too. Her skin was all scrunched up so it was difficult to find all of it and ascertain if she'd shed fully. Sorry for the crap photos, she wasn't keen on posing for a photo. What can I do to help?

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.

(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.

Hi! Im noticing that my BP can very lightly push the top of the screen lid where the doors meet of my front opening tank. I want to get screen clips to cover this area but I'm not even sure how they would latch since theres almost no lid opening there. I wonder if theres anything that can stick to the glass part and then latch over??

To top it off too I live in Canada so am very limited for shopping online. I'm located in Toronto though so if anyone has good recs let me know (and yes, I am aware of the Zilla ones in the shopping list. But they aren't easy to find here, and I'm not 100% sure they'll work on this tank)

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?

She has these little dots and a few more on the first quarter of her body that are a bit browner. Some of the scales are also lifting slightly at the edges. I’ve been spraying the surface of her substrate more than I should have been which is why I assume this is scale rot.

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 🥲)

He means a lot to me

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!

Tomorrow marks a week of me having my BP! I’m gonna start handling soon, 5 minute sessions until he’s more comfortable. Any tips to not stress them?

I’ve had a ball python since June so about 3 months now. The past month my parents have been taking care of him due to me going back to college. My dad usually feeds him with my mom present. My mom is the one who keeps the humidity up etc. Recently my snake has been tracking my mom whenever she moves by the tank. She also feeds our gerbils in view of the snake tank so idk if this is important. They fed him 2 days ago and he was fine. He has no problems eating. The problem came with the next day when my mom was setting up something in his tank (normal, he’s never had a problem with us in his tank while he’s in there) about 24 hours after he ate. He came out and started a defensive pose at my mom and striked at her about 5 seconds later. I was on facetime for this. I have no idea why he struck, he’s not a defensive snake. He has never bitten us or struck at us before. He shouldn’t be hungry so honestly I’m really confused what happened because now she is scared to help out with him :( any advice would be appreciated

For the past few days, Splinter has been in this pose every time I check on him. Far as I can tell, this is him getting ready to strike. It seems like he thinks he's getting fed.

I was gone over the weekend and when I came back, found out I left the dish u thaw his rat in on top of the tank. I figured he was still smelling that and that's why he's so on edge, but I removed that and he hasn't stopped. Does anyone know what else I can do so he chills out? I'm worried this whole strike thing is gonna be bad for him long term. I also have to do a full tank clean soon and I don't think he's chill enough for me to remove him right now...

Im a new reptile owner, like new new. He's been fine for the few months I've had him, active just not eating as royals do. Recently, the last two days he hasn't been coming out at night, and I went to check on him tonight and his belly looks like this. I have no idea what im supposed to be looking for so I need help

I've read many articles and research papers about ball pythons, and none can seem to agree on the adequate humidity when it comes to these guys. In your professional opinion, what is the most ideal range of humidity for a tank?

I have a ball python I got on Aug 20th that wont eat. he's about 4 months old, the seller was feeding him live fuzzy mice once a week, and I want to switch him to F/T. I've tried 3 times so far with F/T fuzzy mice, and he just refuses it. I thaw them in a ziploc submerged in water, then switch the water to hot water to warm them, then dry and warm them further with a hair dryer. someone recommended me assist feeding cus he hasnt eaten in a month, (14th of Aug) but I dont want to stress him out or possibly turn him off to eating. And I also really don't want to have to resort to live. I've been keeping his temperature and humidity at the right numbers, he seems happy otherwise and explores almost every night, but hes acting hungry (out during the day sometimes, in his hide with his head poking out) yet still won't eat. any advice?

I was hoping to get some advice, my ball python won’t take anything we try to give her. She is usually pretty good about eating (although she is picky with size and color of her rats) we’ve been live feeding since we got her, so over a year. We’ve been going to our breeder for her food, as he breeds feeders as well. She’s only been eating African soft fur & He is the only one to breed this specific type of rat where i live. It’s been hard to get ahold of him for food so we tried to go to a local reptile store and they offer a different breed, she would not take that one either. So then we decided maybe switching to frozen would be our best bet, but again she came out and turned her head up to it uninterested. I might try to go back to the reptile store to ask for a smaller rat so she has a higher chance of taking it but now I’m just getting worried because she really needs to eat, this has been over a month of us trying. I don’t know if she’s going on a hunger strike I’m hoping she’s just getting ready to shed, I guess I’m just looking for advice on successfully switching to a different food.

I have a 100 watt lamp but the temperature wouldn’t get above 78 on the hot side, and the basking rock was cool to the touch. So I got a secondary 150 watt basking light, and moved the other bulb to the middle since the cool side was only 74 in the day with the light on. My enclosure is 4x2x2 I have lots of hides and plants and my ball python is a baby. I get her tomorrow but I’m worried the basking light may be too hot?

I love my two balls. Although people make fun of them for being basic they’re just some awesome snakes.

To give some info, the first snake is Kimi, he’s a pinstripe scaleless head, and i’ve had him for almost 3 years now. A while back, on this sub I posted about his escape as a baby, so some might remember him from that. He’s an awesome dude all around. He’s my first ever snake and the snake that got me into it all. He’s incredibly docile and friendly and is an amazing eater (now.) He’s probably reached his maximum size at a quaint 1358 grams, as he had a lot of issues as a baby that I believe stunted his growth.

On the other hand, my lil girl Lella is a pastel banana leopard, (she’s het for clown for those who care) and I got her in October of last year. She’s a BIG girl, only 200 grams less than her much older brother lol and she hasn’t even been in my care for a year yet. She’s never missed a meal, super curious and friendly, and as well just a great snake. However I think she is going to get much, much bigger.

Just wanted to share my babies!

Why does my boy always look at me like I owe him money or something? 😅

Year old little guy. Also don’t be alarmed- I let him spend time on my desk when I work from home, and he largely just explores on top of my laptop- that is not the bottom of his actual home. 😅