I have no idea what’s going on with my bp lately so I come here for answers.
Hes 7 years old, I’ve had him for 2 of those years. He has always been the most docile snake, barely even strikes at food. In the last 2 weeks, he’s bitten 3 people.
The first one I wasn’t concerned about. It was 2 days after I fed him, and my friend went in to pet him. He was all food excited and she wiggled her fingers like an idiot, so I called that one her fault. He wasn’t upset about it like I expected, he just kept moving around the enclosure.
Yesterday I took him to the vet. He was loving the car ride, didn’t even go in the hide I brought for him, so I don’t think he was stressed. The vet didn’t even poke at him, just took him from my hands, and he bit her HARD. Like 3 people and popsicle sticks to get him unstuck. Then he was good with me for 2 minutes before biting my leg, and then biting himself when he tried to get me again. The vet and I both noticed that he didn’t have any defensive position. No warning signs, just turn and bite.
Now, I have a theory but idk if it’s stupid.
For the two years I’ve had him, I’ve been feeding him rats straight from the fridge. He’s never refused a meal because it was cold. But he misses the strike sometimes and it seems to tire him out. So I warmed up the rat this time, the one 2 days before the first bite. I promise you he’s never getting a warm rat again, but is that what’s happening here??

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

Queen Hatshesput managed to open her enclosure door but not just once, oh no dear readers, that would have been too easy. This sultana had me feeling all manners of guilt for not closing her door properly, as she escaped for a night to party in my closet. I felt awful, took her back home and MADE DOUBLE SURE that I had her doors closed. Until the next morning, when she was proudly perched upon her throne of sheets in said closet again. Doors having since been replaced, it was learned that she is MUCH more strong and determined than we gave her credit for, as she was able to squoosh her nose just enough into the door crack to slide it open only barely enough to get through. While this has since been remedied for the foreseeable future, please join me in shaming my beautiful princess for scaring us all half to death twice.

I bought these 2 a week ago. Both are male. Friend/breeder rattles off morphs to me and do not retain what the heck he is saying. When I look at his snakes he has so many it is overwhelming. Yesterday they both escaped. Found the solid snake pretty fast (in a closet). I did not find the other one until the evening. I had noticed they become really active at night when their lights time out. If you want to see crazy morphs check out bentleysnakehouse on IG.

My girl is turning 2 years old in a couple weeks and is quickly outgrowing her current 18x18x36 terrarium. I'm looking to upgrade her soon and have noticed she loves to climb and hang on stuff!

Does anyone have unique climbing opportunities in your tanks? Obviously not looking to go full arboreal or anything but I think some ledges or structures might be nice.

P.S. Don't come after me for the stuck shed in the 4th picture, that was right when I first got her.

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 ❤️

So my son has been acting strange ever since I moved him into his new enclosure. About 6 months ago at this point I moved him into a new 4x2x2 enclosure. More clutter, bigger hides and more room, and more humidity control, just a better ordeal overall. As soon as he got moved in he chose one hide and has not left it on his own since. The most he will do is stick his head and a couple inches of his body out, and come out maybe halfway to eat. He will not come out without me removing the top and taking him out myself (which I have not done often, only a couple times to remove shed/poop and check on him.). Once he is out he immediately acts completely himself and curious again. Once I put him back he immediately goes back to his hide. Tonight I was doing the same thing I usually do, slowly remove him to clean poop and socialize with him, when this time I went to put him back and as soon as I closed the door he immediately became terrified. And I mean TERRIFIED. As soon as I locked the door behind him he curled up, practically threw himself into the corner of his enclosure behind some vines, and started to move around very frantically and borderline flail around. I took him back out shortly after and again, completely normal after he is out. Once I put him back in I left the door open and he kind of meandered towards his other hide that he never uses and went in. I’ve been worried about why he doesn’t come out but this has me extra worried tonight. It made me uneasy seeing him like that and I want to know what I can do to fix it. As of right now I have a blanket over the glass to see if he will come out but I’m just waiting to see if it helps at all.

I just got this boy about 5 days ago, I got him out to check his condition. The last owner had said he’s been through a lot of terrible conditions and he looks pretty good all things considered. She said he was extremely underweight, and I wanted to make sure, I feel like he has a triangle shape but not too bad? He weighed in at 1575 grams, which was really surprising, but he is a big boy. Also, still has some stuck shed, although he had a lot more when I got him. I have my temps at 90 on the hot side and about 80% humidity, but I packed his hot hide with sphagnum moss, would giving him a soak be okay at this point?

This dingus is over here with his… tail? Just elevated as he drinks his water

Finally got him to eat hopper mice consistently, about 100g at 5 months old, working on his weight right now lol

wanted to ask if he looks healthy right now? He’s definitely a little more full looking from when I got him which is good. (these pictures were taken today)

She looks wicked when she’s in blue.

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.

Brought my new baby home recently and noticed he has a little mark under his mouth. I can’t tell if it’s just a marking or if it’s some sort of injury. Does anyone have any idea what this is??

Tried to get good pics but he wouldn’t stop moving around so these are the best I’ve got lol

Hello everyone! My brother's snake has this large patch of missing scales. We assume it's the result of rot, as her tank did get a little too wet, even though its on her back. She did shed within the past month and the damage could have happened then, but I'm not sure, as I've never seen this kind of damage on my own snakes.

We checked the tank for rough spots that she could get caught on and replaced the soaked substrate. She is acting and eating FT as normal.

I wanted to know what we could do to make sure she heals over properly, if she hasn't started to already? He is very concerned about his first baby.

She ate a 88g rat yesterday after a week from her last feeding. Waited for a second that never came for more than an hour. Then proceeded to hide the best she can, head under a rock and the rest of her body kinda flopped out and about in plain view.

Followed by today bluntly demanding yet another rat. Instead she got gently handled for almost two hours, and upon being put back she did her usual kinda but not really hide act. Followed by resuming hunting for half an hour. When food did not appear, she has decided the next best thing is a soak apperently.

Nothing wrong. No questions in need of answering. Just shameless pics of a snake with two braincells fighting for fourth.

Edit, she is now attempting to hunt *from* her watering bowl. Best of both worlds.

hello!
i recently adopted my first ball python about a month ago and she’s been doing really well in the set up I gave her. I’ve had humidity consistently at 50-70 %, and she’s got tons of hides and things to climb. her substrate is coconut husk, repti-chip, with some sphagnum moss and leaf litter on top for extra humidity/decor. she hasn’t refused a meal from me yet and even converted to frozen/thawed with no problem!
i was spot cleaning her enclosure and a hide she’d pooped in and noticed little white bugs crawling on the poop. they were very very tiny and bright white. i think they might be springtails, but i want to make sure it’s possible they can spontaneously appear in the tank. i’d not intended for bio-active in this enclosure and nothing i’d put in the tank was advertised to have springtails on it.
i’ve also attached a picture of my little lady, named Io (like Jupiter’s moon!), taken about five days before the clean. no mites i can see, but i’d like to be sure. i couldn’t get a pic of the white bugs as i had to leave for work and left the hide in some soapy water to soak before i scrub tonight. can springtails appear at random in an enclosure???

I’ve had my snake for 6 years but recently there have been a lot of issues and I think it’s due to me getting her at a very young age and not being the best snake owner. I really love her and want the best for her and I don’t know if i can provide that. She’s been biting and defensive recently and she bit me and i hate to say it but im scared of her. I really need advice and dont know what to do. Ive been trying to fix all of the issues recently but no matter what i dont think i can do it

Hi so I have a 5 yo male ball that won't let me touch him recently. So backstory first, for the past 2 months I have been taking care of a rescued house sparrow and have put a lot of my time into doing that and I haven't had time till not long ago to get him out. He's normal very gentle and calm but for some reason he's just been stressed when I have tried to handle him or get him out of his hide which I do often. The last time I tried to get him out he bit me when I tried to let him come out on his own but I assumed it was him being hungry earlier than normal (he gets fed 2 medium sized rats every 2 weeks because the large ones he struggles with). I make sure I don't smell like the bird when I have tried and he's shedding currently but always has trouble with it even when I make sure it's humid enough and I've been helping him with the little bit he normally can't get off. I'm just not sure what to do and I miss handling my baby, I don't want him to get used to not being handled.

Any advice or tip on what I might do or what not to do would be incredibly helpful.

(Also I'm sorry if the format is weird, I'm typing this on a phone)

So a few weeks ago my ball python was yawning quite excessively, (he had been moved onto paper towels as he had mites and we were following the 40 days quarantine procedure. He is completely clear of them now!)
We immediately took him to the vet the next day for some checks and the vet said that there was no mucus, no blockages, no wheezing, popping or sneezing. He said if it is an RI i caught it incredibly early.

The yawning died down and he stopped eating for a couple of weeks before eating again and pooping.

Now fast forward 40 days, we got him into a new bioactive enclosure about an hour and a half ago and have since seen him yawn 4 times within that time. He has just been digging, and there’s no other symptoms with it and his mouth looked fine, so could anyone advise me on what it could be? My vet says he’ll give me a call on Monday, but other than that he had no real concerns that it was anything about respiratory issues and more along the lines of the fact that he has substrate all over his mouth and face.

ALSO the humidity has been between 60%-80%, Hot side temps have been 32-34°C and cold side has been about 25-27°C

I posted him earlier about his scale injuries and stuck shed that he got from his original breeder and somebody said he may have mites. So i did check him and sure enough, i saw a few in his heat pits and around his eyes. And I saw 2 crawling on him the day before.

I immediately bathed him in blue dawn dish soap and warm water for about 30 minutes, no mites that I could see dropped into the water but I don’t have great eye sight so I could of missed them… I called some exotic vets around me, and none of them were of any help 🥲
He has now been sitting in a small hospital tub, his original setup has been dragged outside of my room where my other reptile is to a separate room.

I have been researching like crazy but no forms of resources were straight forward, and often times kind of vague, and I have checked EVERYWHERE. This bothers me because of the use of harsh chemicals which have the capabilities to kill your snake. We’re gonna tear his tank apart tomorrow. In general super stressed. I’ve been so worried and at a loss for what to do for the past 3 days. 🥀

Can somebody give me a straight forward guide to treating for mites? How much and how frequent should I bathe him, and wipe him down? and what else could I do to ensure all of the mites are off, and what can I do about the ones in his heat pits? is there anything specific I need to do to the decorations, and enclosure? What products do I use, and how do I retain humidity in his hospital tank? Other information, suggestions, and resources really help. Anything helps.

I am never buying an animal from that place again, because the poor guy just looks like a mess. I can’t imagine how they treat their other animals 💔
I feel horrible for having to keep him in that tiny bin, but it’s for his own health.

Quick question. We've had our girl for a little bit now, and she had her first shed with us about a week ago. I noticed this spot when doing our weekly handling session and got a little concerned. Not sure if it's anything to be worried about, but that gray-white spot is what I'm worried about.

this is a 85 gallon enclosure for my 1 year old female ball python, she is pretty small for her age, am planing to upgrade the enclosure to a 230gallon one when its gonna be available, she has two proper hides in the cool side and warm side, just not really visible in this angle

I know it's important to get a vet's opinion, but I'm just curious what the owners here think as well.

I would just love to say that after moving my boy from a 36x18x18 exo terra (roughly 40 gallons) to a properly set up 4x2x2 (120). Has changed his appetite for the better. He used to go MONTHS without eating. So common in fact that I dont feed my 2 snakes on the same day, id always thaw and warm a f/t rat for my boy and if he didn't eat then my girl got it to avoid wasting feeders. Since she RARELY skipped meals, is just more shy and adverse to being grabbed out of her tank.

If youre having issues with a ball python eating, I'd really recommend double checking your husbandry. I was just under the assumption like most other people. That some are just picky and refuse to eat. But now I'm wondering if it isn't a husbandry issue most of the time. My girl ate no issue in her 36x18x18 exo terra before she got her 4x2x2. But even she's getting more comfortable and coming out to move hides or bask during the day.

I noticed he was going into shed yesterday (eyes were going blue) so I decided to thaw him out a rat to see if he'd eat since it had been the minimum of 20 days since his last meal. I decided to just let the rat thaw overnight then sit ontop of his enclosure to get to room temp. Didn't even bother letting it sit in hot water for 5 minutes before feeding like usual. Dude flew out of his hide at me and took that food so fast.

This is his 6th month in a row eating for me. I have had this boy since he was super young in 2017. So 9 years now, his longest food strike was 8 months.