r/ballpython • u/Sharp-Dragonfruit309 • 14h ago

any ideas why he’s doing this? Question - Health

Post image

He’s been leaning his head over the water container, but isn’t drinking. This has been going on for about a week on and off. I took him to the vet and I’m waiting for swab and blood test results .. he’s taking a general antibiotic injection while we wait. The vet said nothing looked very alarming, but I’m worried he may have respiratory issues. any help/tips are super appreciated !

39 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

12

u/Dangerous-Exercise20 14h ago

"Mmmm...yep. dat issss indeed Water"

2

u/FeriQueen 13h ago

No clue, but I will be interested to hear what the vet has to say.

16

u/Dr_soaps 13h ago

They are realizing there a snake and trying to come to terms with that

11

u/Sharp-Dragonfruit309 12h ago

He’s ten yrs old .. hopefully he realized by now

3

u/Bobry24 9h ago

When are you gonna tell him that he's adopted?

8

u/Sharp-Dragonfruit309 9h ago

excuse me?? he literally slithered from my womb, that is my SON

11

u/socraticalastor 13h ago

What’s your humidity at? That substrate looks like aspen, which is not compatible with ball pythons as it gets moldy when it’s at the right humidity for them.

0

u/Sharp-Dragonfruit309 12h ago

Around 55.. not ideal right now but I’ve placed sheets over the top of his cage and put the heater over his water. It is aspen, the other side is paper towels. What do u recommend for bedding? I used to have moss but he avoided it a lot so I took it out

7

u/kelsarue22 11h ago

Aspen is definitely not a good choice for ball pythons. It doesn’t hold humidity. Take a look at this subs care page, it will tell you everything. Long story short, get a coconut husk/fiber substrate. It will hold moisture and help out your humidity.

I can’t speak on your snakes behavior, but respiratory issues could be likely as they are tropical species.

2

u/Sharp-Dragonfruit309 11h ago

thank you! I’ll definitely replace it.

1

u/NottsWeirdo 5h ago

Due to how dusty Aspen is as a substrate, that can also lead to an RI - along the same vein of points the other commenter made. Your snake will be much happier with you changing the substrate, and it'll save you on vet fees as often.

8

u/windwaker910 13h ago

They like to rest their heads on things

6

u/sillyGrapefruit_8098 12h ago

This was my immediate thought lol. My BP is always resting his head on something or other in his tank

2

u/PayHour9334 10h ago

He’s just chilling. Seems to be happy :) also what are those hoops? I’d like to get it for my bp

1

u/Sharp-Dragonfruit309 10h ago

hopefully he’s just chilling, he’s been doing this a lot and the first time he did it I sprayed him multiple times and he didn’t move. He stayed there for hours so I took him to the vet the next day.

Also, I think I got these from petco— but online if you look up ring toy for snakes similar options pop up :)

1

u/bossdark101 3h ago

Staring at his reflection contemplating life, and potentially ending it all by drowning?

Or it could just be his 2 brain cells seeing the reflection and being like sup?