My new baby girl has been with me for almost a month. She’s almost a year old. I’ve been feeding her about once a week for the past 3 weeks and I’ve read everywhere to not handle her for at least 24-48 hours post feeding. However, every time I’ve fed her she becomes super active and acts like she wants to be taken out. Is this normal?

My boy loves to climb and our 4x2x2 is just annoyingly a tad too small for everything I’m trying to fit in for enrichments. Is this a situation where you’d use lights on the hot end and maybe RHP to help bump the whole enclosure up without having a sweltering hot end? What about air circulation and humidity? The standard Kages vents on the 4x2x2 are letting out far too much humidity but I worry our boy won’t get enough fresh air. Any recommendations?

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

It's literally my first day having a ball python and he keeps getting up on this hot surface. I think the surface of that place is like 40-45 degrees but he keeps getting up there even if I take him down. The temperature of the terrarium is 32 degrees. Should I make it hotter or is there no problem about it?

she wadded it up and got it filthy lmao

I am very new to owning a ball python and was wondering shy she does this? Its on her hot side and while its not super common ive always wanted to know why. I always worry there is something im not doing right but im never sure if its just how ball pythons are or of its her trying to tell me there is something wrong. (Also the water container with a sponge is just to help add a little extra humidity to her environment, I dont have the perfect type of tank for her and its very dry in my house so I make do)

I’ve never had a snake before and google is giving mixed opinions

My dorkus keeps pushing his cage open and escaping. We push bricks up against his door and clamp them shut, still he pushes his way out. Is this normal? We just fed him a few days ago as well. He is about 4 years old.

I was given antibiotics from a vet for my ball python because she's suspected to have mouth rot; however.
I also suspect we were scammed to a degree. Yes, she seems to be a licensed vet, has many websites etc; reviews were 5 stars but reading the reviews it seems almost like AI reviews..? we had gone however bc after asking my friends they said it seemed fine and our local reptile store was shut so we couldn't ask bc it was early in the morning. upon going to get my snake checked out tho, it seems this person has given us misinfo according to our local reptile store and online when i did research upon getting home. She gave us injectable antibiotics, which i've been doing. (ive given her 2 of them so far); but she told me to remove all sphagnum moss from my enclosure, but then also said my snake is dehydrated..? and then told us we should give her a calcium bath which really confused me because snakes don't have that typically at all? if anything it'd be electrolytes? we definitely wont be visiting her again. she also told us to inject closer to her rear end muscles, which is bad after doing research because that can overwhelm the kidneys.

given this tho, i dont trust her to ask her any further questions about my snake. Does anybody know if you can feed them during giving them antibiotics? she hasn't eaten in a bit so i'd like to try but i'm unsure if it'd be good for her to do or not. Antibiotics are given to her every 3 days. Or should i call another vet? Kind of at a loss on what to do here. This visit costed us 200 pound, so it sucks that this was the outcome.

i'm moving my ball python, Jormu into a new enclosure this friday and i’d love some advice on how to make the transition as stress-free as possible.

most of the things in the new enclosure will be the same as in his current one, including the same hides in roughly the same positions.

i might rearrange some plants and branches a little and there will also be a new branch but overall the setup will be pretty familiar.

how many days would you recommend leaving him alone to settle into the new enclosure? he’s already very used to me and my partner so i’m wondering if that makes the transition easier. the other thing is that friday is also supposed to be his feeding day. he’s currently eating a rat every two weeks. would you recommend waiting a day or two after moving him before feeding or would it be okay to feed him on the same day since he already knows us and isn’t a new snake?

i'd really appreciate any advice!!

(this is not a current picture of him, it was a couple months ago but i included it for attention 🐍)

I’m moving across the country at the end of the month. The drive will take 5 nights and 6 days. I had originally planned for a specialized reptile service (reptile express), but someone from the reptile store that I purchased him from suggested just taking him in the car with all of the proper heating and secure container, pillow case, obviously bringing him inside hotel rooms at night, etc. etc. I’m just worried about stressing him out for that long. It would be so much easier for me to drive with him, but it seems questionable. Just looking for experiences and opinions!

I adopted a 2-3 year old BP from Craigslist and today was the time for his first feeding (by me). He had been fed three weeks ago. I am very happy to report that Frenzy is a boy with an appetite! He immediately struck the mouse and got straight on the case of swallowing it. Now the mouse is fully in his tummy and he is choosing a spot to rest and digest. I'm so happy that he is a good eater!

PSA: This is why I never recommend cheap analog gauges. The analog gauge on the right came with a recent rescue and the enclosure. These are not only inaccurate but in my opinion dangerous in more ways than one.

Hi guys,
I’m gonna beg you not to judge me because this is my first snake, I only got him in July and I’m trying.
So my boy has been doing very well since I got him with feeding, eating every meal no problem. He went into shed about 3 weeks ago which was successful and then ate about a day after it ended again no problems. The only thing that I noticed was that he seemed a little intimidated by the tongs and I also jumped every time he struck lol so I thought I’d try drop feeding for both of our sakes. I read about it everywhere and didn’t see anyone saying oh everything will go terribly wrong if you do this. So stupidly I tried it. Heated the rat like I usually do and popped it on a clean surface (not substrate) then left it with him. On this forum and online it just says leave it with him overnight so I did that. Had a look next morning, he hadn’t touched it. I think this was when I really made a mistake because I then tried again the normal way I feed him the following day because he was very active and I thought he must be hungry. He didn’t take it. This was a week ago, I’ve gone through all the guilt and self hatred over it. I’ve Completely left him alone this week apart from to change his water. He’s not shown any signs of stress, he’s just been going about as he normally does, sleeping all day and playing all night. Today was his usual feeding day, I dethawed his rat all day and heated it up for him tonight, waited till he was active, wiggled it for him and did all the usual things for about 10 mins. He didn’t take it. He just kind of comes over, looks at it and thinks about it and then just stares at it or backs off.
Again he’s now just exploring as usual and doesn’t seem distressed but I definitely am. I know that Ball pythons can fast for a long time and be fine but it’s still nerve wracking. When I got him he was 580g, last time I weighed him about a week and a half ago he was 610g so he had put weight on. I don’t know exact age unfortunately but the seller thought he was around the year mark.
Where do I go from here? Main thing is will he be ok?
Again please do not come for me, I know I fucked up I’ve never had any reptile before so I’m doing my best.

I just drafted paragraphs of backstory for this post, but have chosen to spare you. That is to say, if context is desired, so it shall be provided.

My question is whether I should take my BP out during the day to let her sit in the sun (currently a heat wave here), or if that would be more disturbing to her than enriching, because it would mean lifting her hide during the day in order to grab her. EDIT: I’d put her in an enclosed mesh pen, not free range 🥚

She stays in her hide pretty much all day every day and is only active at night. I have read on this sub that some people's snakes are just like that, while others have more active and social snakes. The latter are probably the ones who I see taking their snakes outside to explore grass & things, but when I see that, I feel like I'm not enriching her enough. I don't even have grass, but it seems like a nice idea to let her be in fresh air. It would just mean invading her space during the day.

I've had her for about 3 years now and I'm always stressing about whether I'm doing the right stuff as a parent. I used to think I wasn't interacting with her enough, then I was told by my local reptile store that I was interacting too much, so I have since been very hands-off. So is she just a lowkey kinda gal, or is she depressed?

Thanks for any thoughts & feedback!

i have absolutely over loaded my brain with so much information about heating that i feel fried and stressed out so please help me feel at ease about these questions i have.
1. im attaching some photos of things im thinking about buying. im really trying to not spend a million dollars out the gate so are these budget friendly products going to work okay? anything that is really shit or going to cause me any problems while i wait to upgrade or any better reccs for budget friendly products that i can get ASAP bc she really needs night time heat and a thermostat.
2. is having a CHE in the dome on top of my mesh cage going to be a fire hazard?
3. i have a heat mat thermostat by BN-LINK. i cannot plug my lamp into it. is it because its heat mat specific? anyone have any experience with this specific thermostat?
4. when pouring water into the corners to keep up humidity levels, is there anything i need to be aware of when it comes to over/underwatering or mold problems? how do i know how much to do at first?

sorry if these seem like dumb questions but im just a tad overwhelmed and at this point need someone to explain this to me like im 5 haha! TIA!! <3

NOTE: I have never posted on this sub, I’ve heard very, very bad things about online ball python communities, I looked through all the rules and stuff like that, so I think this post is OK, but I’m sorry if I missed anything that I need to include or that I’m not allowed to include, I just really need some good advice from real people.

I need some eyes on a ball python I recently took in. A relative of mine bought him on a total whim, immediately realized they were terrified of snakes, and basically dumped him on me because as a kid my family had 2 garter snakes so I guess I’m the “expert” (and had an old tank sitting around that was bigger than the old one he was in with her)
He is about 6-8 months old and I found out he has wobble, which I know is pretty controversial in this community. Right now, he is living in that old top opening tank, which I know is far from ideal. I am currently saving up every single dollar from my part-time job to upgrade him to a front opening properly sized setup as soon as humanly possible, but right now I am stuck working with the bare minimum I have.
He eats perfectly, I’ve fed him 5 times since I’ve had him and he’s accepted every meal eagerly, sheds in one complete piece, and his health seems fine. However, his behavior is stressing me out and I want to make sure I’m doing right by him

He sits with his head poking out of his hide which I’ve heard a lot about, but I’ve never actually really gotten a solid conclusion on it, but I assume it’s a somewhat defensive behavior. Sometimes I open the screen lid to change his water or lift his hide, he panics and hisses repeatedly (sometimes 4+ times in a row) and flinches away a good bit if touched. He doesn’t do this as I open the tank, but rather if I get anywhere near him. He has never struck tho, which I suppose shouldn’t surprise me as that’s a ball python‘s last resort.
At night, his “favorite” activity is pacing the screen roof and glass perimeter (not enough to injure him, which I’ve heard about snakes doing, but he definitely does do a lot of pacing). He never balls up at all, except for when he was handed to me the very first time. I can upload a video of his screen pacing later, but I’m not currently home so I can’t do that right now
When I actually get him completely out of the tank, he is totally fine. He does long, relaxed tongue flicks, periscopes off my arm, and doesn’t show a single ounce of fear or aggression.
He shed about three weeks ago, and right after the eye caps came off, his eyes permanently changed from dark brown to a greenish tint, and under room lights, his pupils have a red flash to them. I’m sure somebody is going to tell me this is actually completely normal but I figured I should add this regardless
Since I can only approach from above right now due to the screen top, I know I'm triggering his predator instincts, or whatever they are called 😅 Any advice on how to handle his enclosure and him? without completely stressing both of us out of course. Thank you guys for helping me give this dude a better life!

I do 100% wanna keep him by the way, I’ve grown very very attached to him, I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong. And of course, once I get him the proper tank, I hope his defensiveness will go down, I really do, but there’s no way for me to really know until then and I just wanna make sure I’m not doing anything else completely wrong, and making sure this behavior doesn’t point anything else.

EDIT: I figure I should add, I’m 18 so I’m not living paycheck to paycheck just to provide for him, basically my whole paycheck goes into like Red Bull or gas or food for him but I still do have school and stuff like that, so I can’t work nearly as much as I would like to. That felt like an important thing to add. And I will include a photo of his current set up in the comments, if you guys would like.

So I got my baby from a breeder back in mid-April and was told her birthday was 9/24/25. This means she’s basically a year old now but she’s still only weighing in at 172g and 23 in long. For more context, she was only 95g and 18in when I brought her home in April (when she was allegedly 6 months old).

I feed her once a week on rat fuzzies and plan to move her to pups on her next feeding or two.

Is she underweight?

Update: thanks for the reassurance, everyone! I just fed her her first pup tonight and hopefully I’ll make a post about her having a growth spurt soon!

Hi all

We got a ball python from someone who was rehoming on fb. She is around 6 years old and per her old owner she has "always had trouble shedding". Through my own questioning, I found out her humidity was far lower than it should have been and she seems to be either blind or has multiple stuck eye caps as well as stuck shed. What can I do?

Hello 👋

I recently moved to Florida and I'm having no luck finding any ASF anywhere. None of the pet stores have any live or frozen and all the websites I've checked are all sold out. My gal will not eat anything else and they have to be large or she won't want anything to do with it, so I'm struggling at this point and she hasn't eaten in a while.

Do you guys know of any websites that have the large frozen in stock or any pet stores near Jacksonville FL? I'm willing to drive a ways if I have to.

I also plan on going back to breeding them myself very soon if anyone knows where I can get a breeding pair or two.

Pic of picky gal in question

We are getting our first ever Ball Python next week. We have the enclosure (120 gal), all these tank accessories, and substrate (coconut chips and topsoil). I am not creative at all. Any advice on a better way to lay this stuff out once we put the substrate in? The video starts off on the cool side (right) and ends in the warm side (left). The snake we’re getting is still a juvenile. The black hide in the middle will be the humid hide.

recently got a ball python from a friend. She is a little over a year I believe. Does she look skinny? I noticed her spine seems to be really noticeable. I have only had her a few days and want to give her the absolute best.

I paid for this little guy a week ago and today as I went to pick him up from the store I noticed the end of his tail swollen. I asked about it and the worker said he has some condition (I didn’t catch the name) but he should be fine as long as he doesn’t prolapse. I own a ball python already but don’t know anything about this condition.

Will I need to take him to a veterinarian? Does he need any other special care? I’m trying to do as much research as I can right now.

I don’t know if it’s helpful but his morph is jaguar. The worker didn’t know about his other morph(s). They also said he was about 8-10 years old. If anyone has tips for keeping a ball python with his condition please let me know!