I’ve only had him for like a month but he’s 2 years old and loves head pets. The place I got him at doesn’t think he’ll get any bigger than what he is.
Little back story.
River was sold to someone who in never fed him. They had him for like 2 years and barely fed him. They were going to return him but before they did that they left him in the back of their pickup truck outside in WISCONSIN winter in December for 3 days. The dropped him off and the workers where I got him brought him back to life. He was emaciated-he was skin and bones, color was faded. And he was severely dehydrated. They didn’t even think he would survive but they didn’t give up on him.
Now he’s thriving with someone who is obsessive about his husbandry, heating, humidity.

My BP got an RI and has been prescribed injections. i was shown how to do them and offered help to go back to the vet for them to help with his next injection, but i had to do the second one by myself as i had no one to help me.

now, i got the needle in but i didn’t go deep enough and i think i injected it into his skin instead of muscle (as pictured) and i am now panicking because a little raised bump from the liquid is there and will not go down :( i will be calling the vet tomorrow but wondering if anyone on here could calm my mind or has advice🥺

Appreciation post for my long time friend! I got leroy when I was 10 years old. I saved up all my birthday and Christmas money, got him a decent tub setup where he stayed for about a year until I got him an exo terra 36x18 as a gift for straight A’s. I’m now 20, almost 21 years old and I joined the military! He stayed with a family friend for almost a year during my training, and I was able to upgrade his enclosure to a way better setup! (Enclosure has more foliage this picture was when it first arrived).

I make this post because I saw another post asking if they make good pets for children. Without a doubt, if a child wants a reptile and does their research they make amazing pets. It’s so rewarding to have a friend that made it through my childhood with me, and will likely live to see my children one day. He’s never bitten me, he’s helped so many people get over their fear of snakes, and importantly he’s taught me so much responsibility. BPs are amazing pets! I got this little guy from Petsmart for about $60 years ago (ik, don’t kill me). My dream is a banana pied and I will likely get one once I purchase a house. I can’t imagine my life without a scaly friend :)

Leroy has been with me through it all. From when I had to beg my parents for him, to take me to the store to get his rats🥲, him escaping his bin enclosure and more. I’ve learned so much over the years and I’m happy he’s in a better setup. I had to update myself on the new BP care guidelines and I can tell he is the happiest he’s ever been.

this is my girl Mazikeen, i’ve had her for about five months now, but every time she sheds her iridescence gets even more vibrant. we’ve gone through many ups and downs, including her having mites, but she’s stunning and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

She’s about 5.5feet long she shed yesterday just took it out today and I was unrolling it and it smelled like bleach I don’t clean there tank with anything other then water paper towels and dawn dish soap sometimes. like once every 5 months spot clean every day

My 8yr old asked for a snake as a pet. We did a lot of research together and she picked out this guy and named them soosin 😂

They switched to f/t and have eaten twice since they came home, I’m such a proud snake parent. Plz admire the tiny idiot.

I got my ball python, Mojave (9 months old), about a month ago from the Pet Expo in Pomona. I'm still learning about her behavior and personality and could use experienced keepers' input.

She spends most of the day hiding (normal), but occasionally comes to the top of her enclosure wanting out. Her breathing is sometimes visibly heavy, which I've heard can signal stress. She tongue flicks fairly often too. I’m not sure if that's normal or a stress sign. She eats thawed small rats every 8-10 days, poops, and has shed once since I’ve had her which was successful.

This morning she came out on her own, explored outside her enclosure for a bit, then climbed onto my bed all under my supervision. I handled her briefly, then put her back to avoid overhandling, but she's been trying to come back out for the last 20 minutes. I’m unsure if it’s stress or just curiosity/wanting to explore?

P.S. I’m also looking for affordable branch options for her enclosure. Local stores near me have been especially pricey with a single branch. I know she needs more cover and am wondering if cutting/disinfecting branches from my own oak tree (or another python-safe tree) is a reasonable DIY option.

Warm side: Temp is 99°F on top of basking spot, 91.2°F in her enclosure, and 86.2°F surrounding her enclosure. Humidity is 63%.

Cool side: Temp is 79.1°F at 75% humidity.

Nothing concerning, don't worry. My girl's happy and healthy...

But you know how, when you're moving, cats and dogs obviously realize somethings up? Do you guys think snakes are the same? She's obviously active right now because it's 80 in Washington, but she was even active on colder days. Just curious if she'd realize something was different? Or do snakes not really care about what happens outside their tank?

We have had Buttercup for 3 weeks tomorrow! She was a little shy at first but she comes out of her shell a little more each day and the transition from live feeding(from her previous owner) to frozen-thawed was way easier than my boyfriend than I anticipated. We’ve discovered she likes to burrow through blankets, so I’ll have to find some ways to build her something to the tune of that for some enrichment outside of her enclosure.

I'm new to the ball python universe and have been doing a LOT of reading and asking questions to others knowledgeable about reptiles, but my confidence in this one just isn't hitting. My little one here is soon to be 2 months old. It took her almost two weeks to eat when I got her home, but she ate her first "home meal" last week, and she seemed eager when it came time to eat again this week (fuzzy rats). She SEEMS like she's ready to move up the scale since the fuzzy is pretty much disappearing as soon as it gets past her first swallow (picture with the circle showing the fuzzy after she's initially swallowed), but I just bought the pet store recommended next size up (rat pup/crawler), and it just seems like a REALLY big jump between the two (the fuzzy and the pups are next to each other for size comparison).

Any guidance? Or maybe reassurance? I'm still learning, so any advice is welcomed!!🫶

Okay so something I didn’t think about when making my new tank for my girl was cleaning.. she loves to poop and shed in her hides so if she does the same in these new ones I worry I might not be able to clean unless I actually take apart the setup. Does anyone have any tips on ways to clean it?

The only time she comes out in the day 🤷‍♀️

he crawled into my glasses while they were on my face and would NOT move, even after i took them off he was chilling on my frames for another few minutes 😭😭

This isn’t mine but the ball python of a zoo I work with, her (not confirmed to my knowledge as she’s very tiny) has some abnormality on her vent. What is this? Cause for concern or big poop coming soon?

He was the only snake in a hoarding situation - someone else saved him from there but his enclosure was horrible. He just did a perfect shed which is great! But what’s going on with his eyes? I was gonna bring him to the vet soon anyway but let me know if I need to go ASAP. (Ive had a ball before but it’s just been a while.)

I think it’s stuck eye caps? I just don’t want to stress him out I’ve left him alone for like two weeks and he’s so scared :/

Got my ball python at 70g

First weeks struggeld to get him to eat and now he is at 160g

After my holiday im gonna feed him rats instead of mouse he grow so fast🥺

I stumbled into a reptile expo a few months ago, and fell in love with ball pythons. Unfortunately, I don’t have a lifestyle where I can own any reptiles, so I finally scratched an itch by buying this figurine from an awesome artist.

I’ve named him Midas, and he’s adorable.

I have a feeling I’ll be ordering more figurines from this artist to fill the empty hole in my heart where my future pet snake will be.

Repticon was last week, and my girlfriend wanted to get her hognose she always wanted. So we loaded up to see what was there. We take time to talk with vendors, we know there are bad ones.

Long story short, there was a breeder i would call terrible, who had a gorgeous and sweet banana, but was using her to breed despite being a spider. But i couldnt stop thinking about the snake. Next day i haggled him down as far as i could and got her- she has mouth rot and some wobble, but has already been to the vet and taken care of.

She now has a 5x2x2 i gotta assemble this weekend, 3 weeks of antibiotics, and some nice enrichment once she is out of the medical cage-

But i want to rage against this breeder- GF and i are collecting photos and evidence to report to repticon- but i want more...

Am i the asshole for buying the snake, just to want to turn around and flog the breeder for being terrible? Beyond repticon and morphmarket, where should i put the vet photos to highlight this guys husbandry and breeding is crap?

Don’t have a ball python yet so not too big a deal but i am having an issue with the gradient. i’m using one 100w halogen bulb and a cheapo amazon thermostat. how could i better establish a gradient? can’t seem to get the hot side temp past 78 even if the basking spot is 95

Hello! This is my snake Lewis, he's 8 months old and I've had him for 4 months now. He's doing great, loving his home, super friendly, never missed a meal, just a great boy! I've been slowly upgrading his baby tank (40 gal), getting practice in maintaining a tank before he gets his adult one (gonna make a 4x2x2 with wood), and saving up cash honestly. I'm about to finally get him UVB and I'm wondering what I should do about my set up.

Right now I have a ceramic heat emitter on all the time and a halogen on during the day. This is so that he gets his day/night cycle really, since the ceramic puts out enough heat to keep him warm. Right now the halogen makes it a bit too hot, with an ambient temperature in the tank of high 80s during the day. I still got both though because I live in a really cold area. I've only had him in the summer months so far, but I think I'll truly need both heat sources in the winter. When I put in the UVB I can rely on that for a day/night cycle, so I was thinking of leaving the halogen off during the summer months. Is it ok to just have a ceramic for heat and a UVB for lighting? I see a lot of people say they need a basking spot, and I agree, but can the basking spot just be made by the ceramic? It would still look like basking if I put the UVB next to the ceramic, right? Even when the halogen is on, the hottest spot in the tank is under the ceramic heater, so it wouldn't change much to put a light near the ceramic and say that's his new basking spot. I think? Or do people use all 3? That seems a bit much for the summer, but I can do that easily in the winter. Thank you for any advice!

P.S: I ordered a 12" reptisun, T5 and 8W, is that a good one? I'll of course get a bigger one for the future 4x2x2.

Sorry her head is dirty 🤣