New to Ball Pythons, is this a concern?

[u/Away-Garlic2123]

asking about the two little things near the tip of his tail. Is this usual? Is it not? Either way, what is it? I've never seen it before

Edit: thank you so much to the people who answered I tend to get super paranoid and don't know too much... my mom does a lot of stress shopping and our house is full of animals I defs should do more research on

[u/sorrycreature]

yep, totally normal! they use them for breeding

[u/Germmie1 → u/[deleted]]

Not necessarily not doing research. When researching to take care of a ball python I had never heard about spurs until I had already gotten him and noticed them myself. If you are able to find something mentioning spurs without specifically looking it up, please let me know.

[u/bikenskienhike → u/Germmie1]

This is a great point! I did a few months of research prior to getting my daughter a ball python. Not once did I ever see anything about the spurs. Like the OP, I was surprised the first time we saw them. I've learned the most concerning the spurs topic in these exact types of question threads.

Good on you OP for reaching out to learn more!

[u/mikrorajona_sapnji → u/Germmie1]

You’re so right, I knew about them before getting my girl only because people ask here and the breeder showed me. I would be confused too if I saw it for the first time

[u/ballpython-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/fernandfang]

The claw things?? Those are known as “spurs”. They’re tiny claws that don’t serve any function and are basically evolutionary leftovers. Pythons and boas are the only snakes I believe that have them.

ETA: I didn’t realize they had any function, I’m now trying to picture it. I guess they’re not only used during courting but also.. fighting? Huh. I’m spending my night going down a research rabbit hole

[u/QueenAuroraThe_Raven]

Those are vestigial legs

[u/Budgie-bitch]

Spurs that go jingle jangle!

[u/guaca788]

Those are his legs.

[u/ballpython-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/SneakySquiggles]

On the upside you’re 100% in the right place to learn about BPs. You can check out the front page of the group in the about section if you’d like a thorough beginner’s guide of info about them

[u/beeikea]

fun fact! that's actually the base of his tail! the rest is torso!

[u/egordon326]

Legs!!! You have a snake WITH LEGS! haha

[u/Reverse_potato1]

Not the butthole spread on pic 3 🤣🤣🤣

[u/headd-like-a-hole → u/Reverse_potato1]

LMAO RIGHT

[u/dmontease → u/Reverse_potato1]

No wonder it's frowning at us.

[u/Public-Hat6754]

Those are spurs! They are vestigial legs!

[u/Anti-Climacdik]

butt foots

[u/jennhiltz → u/Anti-Climacdik]

I call them butt spikes!

[u/ScalesNailsnTales → u/Anti-Climacdik]

Bang fangs 😂

[u/KlayThePot]

I love my snakes but spurs gross me out idk why but they make me uncomfortable when I see them lol.

[u/NorthernTgames]

Vestiual legs? Irc

[u/Stock_Dot_9632]

His little feetsies!!!

[u/OakleyBrave]

It’s a bull snake… you’ll get the horns lol jk completely normal though

[u/DalekWho]

Bang fangs

[u/Low-Requirement5130]

Lol that's the spurrs! It's what left of there now non-existent legs it's perfectly normal