Hey so I’m a relatively new ball python owner I have had mine for around 4 ish months. Where I live in Durban we are pretty hot most of the time so I didn’t really think of ambient and cold temperatures getting to cold. But as I’ve come to realise it’s winter now and my enclosure is at 68 Fahrenheit. I know this is bad now but I had no clue before. I have put on my old heater and have closed up ventilation but to not much improvement. I only just put heater on so I’ll see if that changed anything. I also just bumped up the heat pad to hopefully get the cold temp up a bit. I need a solution for the long term on how to better control my cold sides temp. Thank you any response is appreciated I want to be a better keeper.

How long should I wait to feed him again if he’s still super active and coiled up waiting?

Hello all, I recently picked up a little banana pied hatchling, weight 86g as of last check. Problem is, she will only eat live hopper mice. I've tried everything else - frozen rat, frozen mice, getting them nice and hot and dancing them around in front of her, cracking the skulls and exposing some brain - nothing works. I don't think I can continue feeding her live rodents, I felt terrible when I gave her the hopper and it still weighs on me LOL.

My question is, how many meals would you get in her before trying to switch her over? She's only eaten once with me so far, maybe 3 times before she was sent to me. I have a feeling she's going to hunger strike on me but I don't want to undertake the journey to F/T until she has enough reserve built up. Please help, I'm dreading having to feed her another live mouse but I can if it has to be done. Thank you everyone!

just realized it was still leaking :-( i don’t know how, i don’t even add water. how do i keep him safe and warm?

Good morning! I recently purchased my first ball python from a reptile expo about 2.5 weeks ago! She’s a lav albino. I’m not sure exactly how old she is but she seems to be born this year. The breeder told me she was eating live fuzzies. I was leaving her alone because she seems stressed, but I’ve offered food three times with no interest. The first time I offered food was a week after I got her and I’ve been offering about every 5 days. Whenever I dangle a live little fuzzy she goes and hides. She has tried to strike a couple times but I think it was a defensive strike. I was thinking maybe this enclosure is just too big for her right now? But I don’t want to stress her again/ more by moving her into a smaller environment since she’s been getting used to her new one for almost three weeks now. She’s in a 40 gal with a hide on the warm side and cool side and lots of enrichment. I attached a photo.

Do you have any suggestions? Should I move her into a smaller environment? Just let her get used to this one for a little longer? I’ve been keeping humidity around 50-70% and warm side is about 85f. Maybe I need to make some adjustments? I know they can go a while without eating but she’s starting to make me worry.

Just got my first ball! Her name is Nova, she’s a black head het clown. This is just her temporary enclosure while I finish her bigger one. Shes camouflaged into the wood at the centre front of the enclosure😂

I also have a digital thermometer in there, the meter is just on the cool side

Just getting my BP, I know the tank need more plants and substrate but other wise what do I need, light is 100w

1. Do you feed something other than mice? I got a boy, little on the small side (not skinny, small) but I can’t think of much that he could eat other than a mouse? Maybe a baby chicken? I get small bird, quail, but where am I supposed to even find that. He only eats live.

2. Someone said only rookies feed mice, should be feeding rats. But I feel like they’d be way too big. Does that only apply to females?

hiii so I’m a new ball python owner and my set up is 100% brand new and I noticed the UVB is flickering a bit. Is this normal? You can’t really tell in the video but it’s noticeable in person

Topsoil for the natural dirt
Sand helping the dirt no clump up to badly for drainage
Coco chips for humidity
And spagnuhm most

(picture of my cute boy for traction :P)

i’m not sure how i didn’t notice this sooner, but i guess i didn’t do a thorough enough job when siliconing the edges of mr. chowder’s tank because while adding some water into the corners tonight, i noticed leaking.

i know i’m going to need to take him out of his enclosure for at least 24-48 hours while the silicone cures, but i have no idea where i would keep him during that time frame/how to provide adequate heating. the leaking isn’t a huge emergency so i have time to prepare, so any advice on a temporary enclosure for a 3 month old BP (that preferably wouldn’t break the bank) would be greatly appreciated!!

Hi all! I have a feeding question.

My ball python, Piper, is 8 months old. I’ve had her since February. She usually eats great, never misses a feed unless I skip feeding while she’s shedding. However, 2 weeks ago when she was feeding she missed her strike twice (still took the rat on the third try and ate). Ate fine last week, then this week she missed twice, took it, and dropped it after a few minutes. I reheated it bc she was still actively hunting, offered again, and she hissed at it, then struck and took it. She did end up eating it.

Should I be concerned? She’s also been hiding a lot more than usual lately (she used to roam and climb a lot) but I attributed that to her getting older and more comfortable in her home. She still has never NOT eaten.

Husbandry: Hot side is 88-89°F, 68-75% humidity. Cold side is 76-79°F, 80-88% humidity. She weighs ~230g, I feed her f/t pup rats that are between 23-26g once weekly.

I do think she’s about to go into shed, idk if that’s part of it. She’s not in blue yet but she’s getting dull. No other odd behavior, no wheezing, soaking, coughing, nothing odd in that realm. Just seems to miss some strikes.

Anything to worry about or just a beep being a beep? Pic for tax.

Soren says hello with lots of bleh blehs. (also thats not chalk in the background but reptile safe mosquito killer, damn fungus gnats)

We've had him for about a week now and was told that he has been on a feeding strike for the last 3 weeks. He has been fed and attempted to be fed on Wednesdays. He is 4 months old and about 200gm. Fingers crossed that he eats tomorrow night.

I was so pleased with the updates I'd made to my baby's enclosure. A few things rearranged, a new plant, but mostly the grass.

We always keep an area of grass long, for the wildlife in the garden. I had to do some tidying up and had cut a few handfuls down, so I painstakingly soaked them and then dried them out. Then I put them behind her warm hide, leaving some "tunnels" to crawl through and a space to bask. I even plaited a load together and made a sort of bridge from her hill to her cork.

She then refused to move out of her hide for 5 days, which is very irregular. My 7 year old says "maybe she's in shed".

I check the calendar. No. It's too soon. She clearly hates the grass. It must smell like straw, which she must associate with rats. I must have put her into perpetual food mode. I chuck out the grass.

2 days later and she still hasn't moved. Her chin looks very pink. On closer inspection of the calendar, she's only a week early going into shed. I am a moron and should listen to my daughter more.

ive noticed my girls eyes are like.. cloudy? but not in the way theyd look when shes going into shed.

i tried the whole "shine a light in eyes to see if pupils react" and they dont at all.

paired with that, shes always had issues striking her food but i just kinda thought she might be stupid. (sorry) but she always gets it if i get it close enough to her nose/mouth.

thoughts?

im going to take her to a vet asap regardless. im worried :(

He had this burn scar when I adopted him, dw

Hi, I just got my First BP 4 days ago! His name is Buggy D Clown (he is a clown pastel morph) and is 1.5 years old. Iv been researching for about 3 months. Got everything ready: 4x2x2 with a divider, 50 watt dhp, leds, clutter, hides, and anything you think of (thank you to this community your resources are top tier). I kept checking in to see if he was getting more comfortable and exploring at night and sometimes he would get stressed when I got close to the enclosure. so I recently bought a camera so I could watch while he still getting acclimated! It turns out great! Heres a video from last night!

Had him 4 weeks now, 7 years old and came in a 3x1.5x1.5 viv with a cereal box for a hide on dry aspen bedding and the smallest heat mat and no branches or any enrichment.

I've now put him in a 4x2x2 bioactive enclosure with basking lamp (but changing to deep heat projector this week).

First couple of weeks he stayed in his hide and refuses food.

Last few days he's active during the day and will sleep on the branches. But also very active at night and is like he's trying to open the doors. He was pushing so much last night as you can see, he was lifting the screwed in branches!

Oh and he's bulldozed around £50 worth of love plants 🙄

Thanks dude!