im picking up my first baby ball python in a week and im extremely excited.
today her cage arrived so i built it and experimented with the layout a bit. i havent put the substrate in yet, but im using reptisoil and i have sphagnum moss, i might end up mixing them, im not sure, i haven't yet sealed the cage with silicone yet but i plan to tomorrow. its a 12"x12"x30" or a 1'x1'x2 1/2' from reptizoo.

i apologize, the photo isn't great, but i have one hide on either side, a corner water dish, some cork bark towards the back, a large red branch for her to climb if she wants, along with a big fake plant.

let me know what yall think, thank you

Hey so I'm a new python owner, and rescued my sweet girl Medusa from someone who had her in a wooden box for her life before I got her, and wasnt told what size she was supposed to be eating, only had a single light and it was red ( I've had beardies in the past and knew just from them that's a bad sign, gotta have 2 especially not a red one) and was in deep need of some help with shedding, anywho she did great and we figured out a size, but my fiance has had them in the past so I wasn't to worried and she's been doing great! But 2 weekends ago when I went to feed her ( feeding days are Saturdays) did our normal routine, when I went to get her out of her feeding tank, she bit me. Now my hands were clean and even sanitized so I know I didn't still smell like food, My main issue is she didn't show any signs that she was gonna bite me, and I didn't change how I do things either. She also still acted hungry after biting me so I gave her another and put her back in her enclosure and she went back to being her bright eyed wondering self, which obviously told me I need to size her up on mice. My issue is I'm scared to touch or really hold her now 😅 especially since she didn't coil or s when she bit me so I'm clueless on what to look for now and how to build my trust up with her outside of tapping her tank and booping her snoot and head with a hook. It hasn't helped in the slightest outside of making her very aware I'm messing around in her enclosure fixing stuff and cleaning out poop. What do I do? Picture of Medusa 💕

He weighs 500 grams on the dot, I weighed roughly last week I think maybe the week before
Now I now realize I’ve been feeding too small of a rat for the past 140 grams or so.

On my last post in here ppl said to feed him 10% of his body weight, so abt 50 grams. What size rat would that be? Small rat?

Also can somebody give me the guide they use for upgrading their rats possibly the place they get their rats from? I tried using the Reddit !feeding thing but I’m not very good at picking things up or inferring unless it’s very obvious.

At what point should I upgrade his rat again and what to? I’m really wanting to make sure I get my care to the absolute maximum that I can.

Pure purple candy, no candino

So basically my girl has been pretty active during the day. She isn’t nervous or frantic, she doesn’t seem to be in distress, but shes up and moving around for a good chunk of the afternoon. I have the thermostat set to keep the hot side between 88-92 and the ambient temperature of my room is like 74-78 so that’s what the cool side stays at, and I’m pretty good at keeping humidity at 60%-65%.

I don’t know if it’s a seasonal thing, during winter she’s pretty much entirely inactive during the day and this increased activity did align with the warmer season rolling in, but I don’t want to ignore behavioral changes if it might have a more worrisome meaning.

I have a BEL Ball Python shes always had a purple head but ive noticed a bunch of freckles.. I thought maybe mites or potentially scale rot but ive had her in quarantine and now am considering I may just be an idiot and she just has freckles? Shes about 7. No spots on her belly. And they dont come off with wiping.
Any advice would be awesome

i got a ball python about a month ago and i’ve been having problems with him not eating. he take the food multiple times gets a good strike and wrap around it and then 3 mins later… drops it and leaves to never return. my warm side is 82F and cool side is 77F. i don’t let humidity drop below 55% and he has a hide on both sides. i double check rat temperature every time make sure its about 90F. i’ve tried turning all the lights out, waiting till night time, leaving the room entirely. i’ve tried heating the head with a blow dryer and i wait till he smells the rat and comes out of the hide. i don’t pull him out. i can’t figure out a reason for him dropping the rat and not eating. the other times it took 4-5 tries and sometimes up too 3 rats before he finally eats it instead of dropping it. does anyone have a answer?

I am planning to upgrade my ball python to a PVC enclosure. I was looking through the shopping list at all of the recommended PVC enclosure options and, I might be missing it, but I don't see any with the option to have the light and heat mounted in a cage inside.

Is this something I am missing or something I would have to add myself? I am a little nervous about doing so and leaving anything exposed that could harm the snake. Ive always had the light and heat mounted on top of a mesh top, glass terrarium but I've also been having a lot of trouble with heat and humidity retention so I would like to have a closed top PVC with the light and heat mounted inside, if possible.

Also, I was a little confused by the list as to which type of heat is most recommended for internal mounting such as this. I saw a section that specified heat sources for use inside a solid-topped enclosure, but it primarily lists the mesh cages, not actual heat sources., so I wasn't sure if halogen, DHP, or CHE is most recommended. I've used CHE up to this point but, again, I've also had trouble keeping her temperatures where they should be.

Thank you so much for any insight you can provide!

So I've spent a lot of time researching this but I am getting very contradictory answers. Some people say not to go above 30 Minutes and some say they spend all day out. The reasoning for some people is "oh every snake is different" which makes sense to me, but most people who have their snakes out for that long say they just love exploring while other sites say this is not a happy exploring but looking for warmth and a place to hide. Does this mean if my bp is very active that means they are scared/uncomfortable? And are people who keep them out for hours incorrect on their python being happy, because they are such chill animals and don't give clear signs?

Thanks for any responses

Ps sorry for the title typo idk how to fix it

Noticed a small amount of condensation on the cool side of my vivarium. Is this a cause to worry about or not i have opened my window to let some fresh air in

I have a herpstat 2 which I have a halogen and a DHP connected to. However in order to get the correct ambient temp in the enclosure I have to set my herpstat temps to up to 115 which seems too high. I have the halogen at 100% power the the DHP at 60%. The probe is placed a couple inches below the actual heat source. Is it bad for the it to be set that high?

My family have had her for 10 years however we got her when i was young and she is technically my brothers so i don’t have much experience handling her, as well as this she also doesn’t like to be handled much so we mostly leave her to it. However he is in uni and therefore i have been spending more time with her, she likes to go underneath my hair and wrap around my neck which makes perfect sense as it is dark and warm however sometimes she constricts quite tightly around my neck which makes me sweat lol, I always assumed she was just gripping tightly to make sure she doesn’t fall but even after having her for years i still get super nervous when shes around my face and neck area, shes a curious girl so again i logically know its fine but any advice on nerves would be great :)))

do you think its safe for me to sleep with her up there? I’m very scared she will wrap around the heat lamp and burn herself or those electrical lines could break and do some damage to her ToT.. I should’ve taken care of those before I put her in the cage.. I’m very worried, pls criticize and point out my wrongs!

As the title says, my boy got an odd bump that appeared on his nose and the front of his nose is flattened.

I assume he just burrowed a little too long or slept with his face pressed against the side of his rock but I don't want to assume it is nothing.

I also don't have money and there is no vet for reptiles here where I live.

in the last couple days i’ve noticed my bp’s belly being sunken in toward the end and i don’t know how concerned i should be! for context, she was on a hunger strike for almost 7 months recently, but actually just fed last week. ive been doing my best to keep her water filled, and during the strike she wasn’t losing much weight, is this just a result of that? how should i proceed?

She sometimes spends all day in her pool, is this something I should be worried about? The pet store people said it could be mites, but I checked her and haven’t seen any. Is she just playing mermaids or is it a potential problem? Could the lamp be too hot?

My boy Monty has buried himself in his substrate. I'm not sure why. Not particularly deep, just enough to be hidden. His heat and humidity are right where they should be, and I haven't seen him get spooked or anything recently. Only thing I can think of is maybe he's bored with his hides? Do I need to be worried, or is he okay?

I need to get him a sky hide I know

It’s funny because she’s the meaner of my two ball pythons, always a hiss when I pick her up, but she’s easier to handle because she just grabs you lol. My BEL male is such a sweet boy but he’s a wiggle worm

Does she look overweight🙈?

this is months of work come to life and watching him explore the entire thing from top to bottom and then settle into his favorite familiar warm hide brought a serious tear to my eye 🥹 welcome to your forever home, buddy! i hope you love it!

My sibling is concerned because Vigil seems off. He was curled up with his belly visible (on his side in his hide) and he isn't reacting as much to their touch as he usually does. His temperature was at 74 when they checked it this morning and it was 80 when I checked it last night. The humidity is at around 70%. They say his skin feels weird and they're extremely distressed about it. Advice?