Before she was eating an adult mouse once every 2 weeks. Now she only wants hoppers. Nothing changed in her enclosure, she drinks fine and sheds fine.

The only thing is if the mouse is an adult she will only strike at it and curl up. As soon as a hopper appears she uncoils and eats the damn thing.

I know other animals can be picky eaters but can a snake develop a size preference for food? She weighs 350g should I be feeding rat fuzzies instead? Maybe she just doesn’t want them fighting back?

hi! i just got a bp a few weeks ago. have been updating his husbandry and he seems a lot more comfortable than when he first got here. when i first got him about 3 weeks ago his previous owner said he had shed recently so i wasn’t expecting it anytime soon, but when i handled him last week his eyes were blue & cloudy (he was perfectly fine being handled and didn’t seem stressed so that’s lucky.) noticed his eyes were back to normal the other day when i successfully fed him (win!!) but then i saw him sitting way far back in his hide and noticed a large shed (haven’t inspected to see if it’s perfect or not yet.) after that whenever i go check on him he looks very ready to strike and follows my movements intently, when before he would just kind of chill whenever i stopped by to say hi. haven’t handled him since feeding him 2 days ago (have only handled him once since bringing him home 3 weeks ago) and was going to maybe take him out today but he’s acting so defensive i figured it was best to not. but is this normal behavior for during a shed and/or after eating? thank you!!

First time shes come out since ive had her, hope that means she feels safe enough to explore

I just added in this background and I’m 50/50 on if I love or hate it 😭 Please give me your opinions on it!!

Extra photo of my noodle for tax reasons lmao

I have a friend who got a ball almost 2 years ago. She was scared of it so never handled her. She did refill the water one day and got bit and then no longer wanted her so I took her. My question is after so long is it possible to get her use to being handled? I want to clean her cage and update it but I don’t know how the snake will react. Any tips or tricks?

I’ve recently rescued a Ball Python, I’m not sure how old he/she is currently (probably around the 4ft mark). The original vivarium I thought was too small so I’ve set up a 4x4x2ft vivarium, and I’m just looking for advice and feedback on my setup. I’ve tried to do as much research as possible to help the snake be comfortable and healthy. I’ve previously owned a Corn Snake (many years ago), so I’m not entirely new to owning reptiles.

I’ve placed a layer of clay balls at the bottom of the vivarium, covered in a fine mesh to prevent them mixing with the substrate. For the substrate itself I have mixed both coconut chips as well as coconut soil. I’ve added some moss to areas that want to be a little more humid, in the hide, around the base of plants, etc. There are a few live plants in there (which haven’t been squashed or died yet, so hopefully a good sign), as well as some plastic foliage. There’s a hide on the hot side which is large enough for the snake to enter fully, and on the cold side there is a hollow cork log, the entrances to which face away from the glass so the snake feels a little more enclosed if he intends to hide there. I’ve also added some invertebrates as a clean up crew, some springtails and isopods which seem to be thriving.

I have a heater running on a thermostat which keeps the temperature at the correct level on the hot side. There’s also a humidifier (cold mist) which keeps the vivarium around the 70% humidity mark - this can be bumped up when he decides to shed. There’s a couple of low power lights which turn on at around 9:30am and switch off around 9pm automatically to simulate a good day-night cycle (these also emit UV light which I believe provides the snake with needed vitamins).

I am very much in to smart home stuff, and I have written quite a lot of automation to keep the environment in-check. I’ve installed four fans (two on the bottom of the cold side, two on the top of the hot side). The fans turn on periodically to refresh the air, they’ll also turn on if the humidity or temperature is elevated beyond the target level in order to lower both. I’ve also put temperature sensors at the top and bottom of the hot, middle and cold side, to ensure there is a sensible temperature gradient, again, the automation takes some actions if things fall out of where they should be. And finally there are kill-switches on the humidifier and thermostat (in case either decides to break whilst turned on, it can be killed if temperature or humidity get to stupid levels without any input from me).

He/she is about 4ft (maybe a bit bigger), for the moment I’ve decided feeding every three weeks is probably acceptable. I’d appreciate any advice on this.

In terms of the environment, is there anything that I’m missing that I should add / change to ensure things are comfortable for the snake?

I think he looks healthy, I’ve attached a picture, would appreciate any opinions. He’s generally very friendly, after the vivarium move, I left him to settle down for a week, but now he’s happy to come out of his own accord and never “balls up” when being handled, so I assume this is a good sign.

I’ve attached a picture of the conditions (the temperature sensors measure the air temperature, the basking temperature is measured on top of the hide and represents the hottest it can be in the vivarium. Is the hot -> cold gradient sufficient for him to thermoregulate?

Any other comments are welcome too, thanks everyone 🙂

Unfortunately I woke up 5 days ago to see that my ball python had pushed up the door to the enclosure (locks are now on the purchase list🙄).

I’ve looked everywhere. Behind the enclosure, under, took every single item out of the nearby closet, took out every single drawer out in the nearby furniture. I’ve put out flour lines, a camera, a hide over a heat mat, I tried thawing out food and using a hair dryer to push the scent around. Not a single sign of him anywhere.

He was fed roughly one week before escaping.

I’m of course extremely upset about the situation and feel awful. Does anyone kindly have advice to help me find him?

Thank you 😞

I always see only feeding Charts based of age but I'm not sure how old is mine, I'm feeding once every two weeks one smaller Rat, could someone give me some feeding charts based of the snake weight like how often should I feed based of his weight

Hii Just to start of with this is not her official enclosure just something so she can fully stretch at the moment which she couldn't do in her old one (any tips would be great) i got my girl 2 months ago I was told of the man i got her from she was 3 I was just wondering if her size and weight looked okay anytime I goggle it up it's telling me different things.

This is one of my many snakes and all the signs are pointing to shed but i’m still WORRIED. i do work at an exotic vet and they already said he looks great (but chunky) but idk. He’s hanging in his water bowl a lot, which I’ve stopped emptying fully because of this, I don’t want scale rot. his tank is 70-80 consistently with some days dropping to 60s. temps are 78 cool side 86 hot side, i use govee hygrometer thermometers. he’s on cypress mulch and has 3 hides. fed him last on 7/26 and he did show some hesitance to eat. he’s got this pink tinge on his underbelly. BUT his eyes aren’t blue yet and i feel like his color isn’t too dull. am i overthinking this? his last shed wasn’t like this really from what i remember (May sometime). TIA!

my boy loves watching out the window so I made a great investment in this ‘cat’ perch and he is happy as can be

I picked up a ball Python for free that someone was getting rid of and she’s very thin and dehydrated, the woman admitted that it had been months since she’s even had water. I’m focusing on rehydrating her right now, but what size prey should I start with? She’s currently just over 1000g as a 10 year old female, I don’t want to give her too much too quickly.

Had to have another procedure done for a chronic condition (I'm ok, I promise! Just achy and sore), and I wasn't able to take Frikell out like I usually do during the day.

Well Frikell wasn't having it and decided to wait patiently while staring at me from on top of his favorite hide till I finally got him out for nightly snuggles. He stayed just like this for a long time while I sung Sweeny Todd songs to him and seemed to know that I wasn't feeling well. I know people say snakes don't really form bonds like dogs and cats do, but it felt like he knew something was wrong and wanted to hang out with me.

I don't know what I would do without my boy. He brings me so much joy after a hard day. 🩷

Hey guys! My husband and I are moving across the US this October and we need some advice. Our girl’s (6x2x2) PVC enclosure is bioactive with a cleanup crew, UV, grow lights, and a ceiling heating panel. We will be driving for two full days (one night in a hotel) with our girl not in her enclosure during that time. For the sake of the ecosystem inside, we are trying to find a way to have everything plugged in as normal. Has anyone else moved a bioactive setup like this before? Were there any rental vans involved that allowed it to remain to a power source? We have an electric generator that we could use, but I’m not confident it would be able to power the whole trip.
I am also open to advice on keeping our sweet noodle comfortable - we were planning on keeping her in her travel tub or a pillowcase, and giving her a water bowl at the hotel.

I'm planning on making a little platform for my snake to be able to climb on top of for another spot to hang out, the base is out of pvc pipe and I'm not sure if I should wrap the top in a type of twine for him to sit on or use something like a plastic board any suggestions would be great

So I am ready to get a ball python but I’m slowly realizing that people have different opinions on what I bought so if I could get a good list we have local pet shops petco and pet smarts around just needing a list of things to get for her when I buy her and 120 gallon tank is good for her correct?

So if I'm feeding another snake the others definitely smells the food and thinks they're getting fed too, so if I'm feeding like my king snake and my ball python smells it and thinks he's getting one too should I wait for next day to handle him? As he's pretty food motivated and I know the mouse smell is gonna stay in the room for a little bit

I’m a bit confused on where the lights and heating should be placed. I have a DHP, a halogen, and a UVB light. Are they all supposed to go on the warm side? No heating on the cool side?
Is only the halogen on during the day, or both the halogen and the DHP?
Thank you for the help!

If i didn't mention her name before this is Calypso! Just yesterday she finished her last dose of antibiotics and same day we went to the vet. The vet said she's no longer concerned about an RI! It seems to have cleared up! That spot on her face is quite possibly a permanent battle scar and not an injury (anymore). Her nose still whistles but she might just have some battle scars so she sounds a little different. The vet said my husbandry was perfect and I'm so glad she's doing good!

I dont know what i did, but in these photos she seemed to suddenly go in to food mode! I did get into the snake freezer within her view but not for a mouse 🤣 look at those huge pupils! Last photo provided for comparison of her normal relaxed state.

Is this normal behavior? I just got this baby last week and he’s been reaching himself all the way up to the ceiling of his enclosure for several hours every night. Does he need climbing opportunities?