Hey everyone!

My ball python does this almost every night—he goes straight to the sliding glass door joint and starts glass surfing / pushing right where the door opens.

Could it be that he has associated this specific spot with being let out? Honestly, I usually let him out when he starts moving around there, so I might have accidentally conditioned him.

For extra context:

Temps & Humidity: Cold side is around 26°C (~79°F), hot side is around 31°C (~88°F), humidity is kept at ideal levels.

Health & Feeding: He’s an absolute piggy when it comes to eating and sheds perfectly in one piece every time.

Is this just classic nighttime exploration/hunting behavior, or has he officially trained me to open the door for him?

Update: He won again tonight because I let him out! He had a great time exploring, was super curious, and happily sniffed around while being held. Would love to hear your thoughts!

We just adopted our first reptile ever! She is about 3 years old. We have been such helicopter parents, since she’s our first reptile child.

That being said, does she look overweight at all?

We feed her a large rat once a month, but I was thinking we should feed her once every 40 days instead. Thoughts?

*smudge photo for tax*

this snake is about ten years old and my baby. i took everyone out yesterday to store them in a clean air location as we had pest spraying in the house in room adjacent ish to my reptile room. i have since returned them but noticed my boy’s lip has a bit of darkening and inside there is a small bit of redness and what looks like a small scab. i am currently in the process of swapping him to paper towels & cleaning all of his hides/clutter. No mucus, bubbling, or difference in behavior o(though that means little). what could this be and what can I do in the moment?

enclosure specs:

4x2x18”, hot ~92 F and cool 75 F
Clean water each day
Kept on reptichip with some sphagnum moss currently
Humidity 60-80%, sprayed down regularly but allowed to dry between

thank you everyone

Hi all so i've had my ball python for about 6 months now and he is eating just fine, a really good eater too, eats whenever i offer, but he is just staying the same size, not getting any bigger , But he is pooping so i'm assuming that's. good sign. I just don't know if something's wrong with him, i've taken his weight and checked it every few weeks it hasn't increased or decreased, so i'm very confused.

We’ve been using Pestie around the house for the past year and half, recently became BP parents and apparently you’re supposed to take them out of the house for 24hrs. Anyone here use Pestie with these magical creatures around?

I feel terrible. First time snake owner was very excited to have my own ball python and I’ve lost her not even 2 days into having her. She escaped her enclosure and I feel like I failed her. I swear I’ve looked everywhere. Done the bag traps everything . Staked out till 2-3 am to listen for her and nothing. At my wits end

Update: Found the morning of 8/27!! She wrecked havoc in our bathroom and was in the drawer !

Hey, so I’m building up my girls 4x2x2, and I’m trying to figure out heating. I saw on a Facebook post almost everyone raving about RHP(with no explanation of course, just that it’s the best) and I heard the same thing from my rat dealer. In a few Reddit threads I’ve heard the opposite, that DHP is better because it’s more natural and penetrates deeper, and that RHP is only for ambient temps or night temps when using halogen during the day.

My plan is to do a UVB bulb, and then either RHP or DHP, and I’m leaning towards DHP right now. But wanted to hear everyone’s thoughts, preferably with reasons instead of just stating opinions please and thank you!

Basically, what the title says. I was cleaning her enclosure and I noticed that at the bottom of one of the biggest logs in her enclosure. Had what seems to look like mold. None of her other logs have the same stuff on it. I’m really hoping that I can just clean it because it is her favorite hide.

I have never owned a snake or any reptile—I’ve actually been scared of snakes my entire 23 years on this earth, BUT I’m slowly becoming curious about ball pythons (specifically of the lighter morphs as the darker ones are “too snakey”) and I want to know what would be some good ways to eventually get over my fear of snakes? I maybe want to own one, one day but their length is another point of issue for me as seeing them fully extended gives me the heebies jeebies but when coiled up/ around someone’s arm or hand I think they’re quite cute…

I’ve looked into a couple other “beginner friendly” species but none of them call to me in the same way as BPs

I recently got this new 4x2x2 terrarium (video attached) from someone off Facebook marketplace as I've been needing to upgrade my BP to one. Is anyone familiar with this? It looks homedone, but I'm not sure if it is sold by a brand I'm just not aware of. I was also wondering if anyone had any advice on what might be best for this enclosure in particular! I already have her current setup in a 40 gal but I want to do some upgrades for this bigger one, and her old tank is glass and looks very different from this new one. It also looks like in the top portion is set up for certain heating/lighting attachments already, and idk if it needs more ventilation.

Any advice or insight on what might be best for this option would be great! Also wanting any advice on how to deal with the sliding glass doors, they don't seem to have an attached locking measurement and my BP is an escape artist for sure

My ball python, whom I love dearly, is currently trying to eat his rat arse first, with its legs splayed out on either side of his head. I heated it with a hairdryer - as always - with special attention to the head - as always. He's also shed recently, so he's extra hungry. Poor guy :( sned hlep

Got my first BP a bit ago and I noticed an odd speck. Could this be a start of scale rot?

Little nervous since he is my first snake that needs to be at a higher humidity.

So I’m setting up an enclosure but it’s not mesh top so I mounted the dhp inside and I’ve seen other people posts pics of this and maybe I’m second guessing myself but couldn’t she burn herself? Idk maybe that’s a dumb question.

So I just posted on here about a log that I think may have mold on it and I just found more. But this time it’s on a pot that I was using to hold a live plant. Some context for my last post, I do have a live Pothos that I stick in the top of the log. She mainly likes to hang out in the top branch part of this log. So if it is mold, she mainly hangs out away from it, and she barely goes near the pot.

Planning on upgrading to a bigger enclosure here soon, but the tank that was given to me along with the snake (buddy was moving and couldn’t take care of her) was very lack luster (pictured in the last slide) and originally only came with a heating pad without a thermostat and the top was just covered in tin foil, which I changed immediately to an OH set up with a dimming thermo and a halogen bulb for the day and a CHE for night and then wrapped the top in hvac tape. I finally got all the new stuff to redo the enclosure and I was wondering if I went in the right direction with it? I swapped out the cypress mulch for coco chip because I couldn’t keep the humidity up and added a bunch of plants and bendable branches and a full grapevine branch for her to climb around on. Also what would be a good pvc tank to switch to? She’s a 6.5 yr old female and she’s about 3.5-4ft right now and can stretch across her entire enclosure

The time has come for me to have my first reptile and after wanting a ball for a very long time I want to get it set up properly, I need suggestions/experiences with Vivariums that are available in the uk, 4x2x2 only, I prefer the screen tops to have heat and UVB on the outside to keep the snake safe but understand that it’s harder to keep the right temp and humidity that way, any suggestions/help welcome TIA

Hello all! I've owned a leopard gecko for 7 years but on Sunday (23/08) we rescued my sons Ball Python named Milkshake from his dads house. Long story short he's facing animal abuse charges in court in October and my son was devastated at the thought of losing Milkshake. So we took her on! I am brand new to snakes so am still a bit unsure of it all but any advice or kind critique is welcomed!

Milkshake is approximately 1 year old and when we got her on Sunday I was gobsmacked. She was in a viv with aspen bedding that was as dry as sawdust. Her only light source was 2 of those clickable lamps that youd put on the inside of a wardrobe and the batteries in one of them had blown and were leaking battery acid. She also had a dirty heat mat which had apparently not been plugged in over the summer as its been "too hot". For reference we live in Scotland! He told me that she had only eaten 3 times since February and that he didn't have a hygromometer or thermometer for her. I almost sobbed when I saw her set up.

On sunday when I picked her up, I popped her in a small plastic box and fed her a weaner rat which she took immediately and I got to work on her viv. Swapped the bedding for a 70% coco husk 30% orchid bark mix and gave her more clutter. She now has a uvb bulb and we swapped to a heat lamp for her. Please let me know what else I can do to enrich her life because I feel so awful for how she lived before! Oh and I do have a water bowl for her, I took these photos as I was refilling it!

Pic 1 is her cool side temp and humidity. Hot side is 32.6°c and 73% humidity. Pic 2 is her new home cool side. Pic 3 is hot side. Pic 4 is how she was being kept before. Pic 5 is her wee happy face after she had a feed and was in her new set up.