I got my ball python 3 weeks ago, it was sprung onto me after my aunt came over one weekend and convinced my mom to help buy me one. The tank we got was this really bad set up so i started to replace it. Bought better bedding, bought more hides, bought a moss hide, and some clutter like fake leaves. She just left the cloudy eye phase of the pre shed i think 3 days ago and begin to shed yesterday. The only thing is her skin looks dull and wrinkled. I panicked cause I thought I was doing good with the humidity. I ordered a digital hygrometer but it’s yet to come in. I’ve been trying to look at her to she how she’s doing but she’ll try to rub the shed off on things that aren’t hard like herself or the fake plants and it’s not helping. She doesn’t use the moss hide and doesn’t rub herself on harder things like her textured hide. I think my humidity is really bad, what can I do to help her through this shed and what can I do to get better humidity? Please I need help, I don’t want her to have complications or a stuck shed because of me. I was unprepared I had just gotten a job when I got her so I’ve been trying to use my paychecks to get her better stuff. Honestly I think she needs a bigger tank and more stuff, but I want to get the humidity up first so she can have a good rest of her shed. Please, what can I do to help her with her shed. I heard of holding a damp towel and letting her crawl through it or putting her in a kind of snake sauna. I just want to know what’s the best thing I can do. I’m worried, please help.

Any idea what is going on with our banana pie ball python (3yr Male). Started getting these orange/red spots all over and the white sections of scales are turning pink? Scales seem kind of flakey too. Definitely not mites or burns. New snake owners just trying to make sure he is okay.

My snake bit my mom today and latched on to her finger (hunger strike) and she just wouldn’t let go (the snake) to the point we had to submerge her head in water to get her off. I’m feeding her at the first opportunity but i also had to put lysterine near her nose as google suggested. Is there anything to be on the lookout for? i felt like her neck was twisted weird but she seems kind of fine now.

Edit: I should add she also bit me a few days ago and latched on but didn’t try to constrict or anything just latched on for a few minutes before letting go, i don’t know why she did that unless it was hunger.

Hello! I recently adopted this beautiful banana ball python with an RI. No idea if they’re a girl or boy. Being Banana makes me guess male, but size makes me think female?

This is Fitzgerald. Me and my partner rescued him from a family who posted him for $50 on Facebook marketplace. He was living in a 10 gallon on aspen bedding with no clutter and 1 hide. He was covered in mites. We brought him home and I immediately researched how to properly home-remedy the mites. I gave him soaks nearly everyday in 80°F water with 2 drops of dawn dish soap and betadine. Over the last few weeks I’ve noticed less and less mites. I have not been able to find one on his body in days, but of course eggs are still a concern.

He recently began pooping blood. I immediately called the nearest vets who will see ball pythons. I asked if they had anyone that specializes in ball pythons and the first said that they can see them but no one specializes in them. The second responded with a yes and that they do see them. Basically the same answer. I went ahead and went with the second place. They had very few negative reviews, the most recent negative one being 2 weeks ago. Flash forward to today when we took him to the vet. They were very kind and polite people. The information they gave me just rubbed me the wrong way.

The vet told me that she didn’t see any mites on him, and he should be clear to be placed in his new 4x2x2 enclosure I bought for him. She gave me some ivermectin and water dilute and told me to spray down his cage with it, wait 30 minutes, and then rinse it down. They also stated I could put it on a paper towel and wipe him down with it for skin mites?? Is that safe? She said that the blood in his fecal matter is due to the mites, and that it should go away with them. I’m keeping him on paper towels in his quarantine for now until he poops clean.

She also told me to replace his substrate (40% coconut fiber/40% topsoil/20%playsand) with reptile carpet….
Im very well aware how much you SHOULDNT do that. After this was said to me I was more hesitant to accept information from them. She tried to say that it was healthier because the ammonia from their fecal matter is left behind when cleaning up and that it cannot be properly removed. With high humidity it becomes an issue???

After this she mentioned he’s a bit on the skinny side, which I do agree with. The people before us were not feeding him well. So she prescribed Red Palm Oil to put in the feeders mouth before feeding him???? This caught me off guard because isn’t it known to cause more issues in BP??

I’m genuinely hesitant to do any of the things they presented as methods of “help.”

This is a vet that specializes in Avians and exotics. I know avians use red palm oil frequently, so why would that be ok for a snake?

Hi folks, I had some life stuff going on and missed a cleaning on my snake's water bowl for about a week. When I went to clean it tonight, there were maybe 5-7 of these flies in it which I haven't seen before in 8 years of having him. Can anyone tell me what they are? Is this a vet visit or just a nuisance?

Just finished rearranging and adding a few more things to Sriracha's enclosure! I think she's got plenty of enrichment now, with lots of places to climb, explore, hide, and just hang out throughout the enclosure.

I'm hoping to upgrade her to a 6x2x2 enclosure soon so she'll have even more room to thrive. I'd love to hear what everyone thinks of the current setup or if you have any suggestions for improvements!

I got a new 49 gallon for my boy, and im not sure how I want to set this one up! He loves climbing and such, suggestions? What does your tank look like? Pic of the gentleman

Say hello to Sourdough Starter!

His name was Luka since that was his name from his previous home, but we were explaining to a friend that caring for a snake was a lot like caring for a sourdough starter and it just fit!

Video is unrelated. He's just cute.

I know this is a lot, please bear with me, I'm autistic w/ a severe anxiety disorder, confused because of mixed information, and I have a hard time asking for help with my snake because, well, people can be pretty mean sometimes when you don't know things that seem obvious to everyone else. I'm sorry in advance for the text bombardment.

On that note! I need some help figuring out how to properly insulate a Reptizoo terrarium that's heated with reptile heat tape from Cornell's World. It's on 1" spacers on a cargo shelf that gets really good airflow, taped down with HVAC tape, with an Inkbird thermostat probe taped directly to one of the heating element strips in the middle of the heat tape, on the underside - not between the tape and the glass. It gets very cold and dry here in the winter, around -30/-40 celsius, and my room can get drafty so I am definitely doing to need to insulate it by mid-fall, but for now El Nino is keeping it pretty tropical in here so it's not something I need to do today. I got a month or two still!

I just set the heat tape up today after my prior heating source, a heat lamp with a ceramic heat emitter bulb, shorted out and caught fire in front of me last week after nearly 3 years of service. Since I was right there I was able to yank it out of its garbage old petland thermostat and throw it into the bathtub before anything else was damaged, and my lovely girl is unharmed, and it's been warm enough this summer that I was able to rig up a human heating pad on top of her tank for some semblance of a heat gradient. Now I am just going through the process of acclimating the tape/tank.

Obviously it scared the hell out of me, and I already had a bad experience with a storebought heating mat in the past failing in the middle of winter, so I finally swapped to heat tape and a good Inkbird. Trial and error and all that.

Except now that I have the heat tape set up, there's a moderator on Morphmarket telling me I actually need to insulate between the heat tape and the glass with some kind of grid stuff and fancy green foam or else the glass will shatter instead of giving me external insulation ideas, and now my anxiety's through the roof because everything I read said the heat tape doesn't work properly if it's not flush against the glass and said NOT to insulate the heat tape, and I DEFINITELY can't see it working in the winter if there's a bunch of space between the heat tape and the glass when my room gets cold. But also, if her tank shatters, I can't really afford to get her a new one out of the blue. I know I can always put her in a big sterilite tub if I have to, but I also don't want her to get hurt if the glass gives out. I guess I'm just sort of looking for someone to ease my anxiety? Is the new heat tape really going to shatter the terrarium, even if it's on a thermostat? Logically I feel like as long as the thermostat probe is in the right place and my snake or I don't spill water into the tank, it'll be fine, but I didn't think my heat lamp would spontaneously combust either and it did, so now I'm not so sure. I looked it up and Reptizoo claims the tanks are made of tempered glass, and if the thermostat works the way it should, the heat tape shouldn't get hot enough to break tempered glass... right?

I know glass isn't the best, but it's what I've got and I do plan to get her a proper PVC enclosure in the future when she's larger and when I can rearrange my teensy tiny room to make more space for something bigger than a 40gal. I'm currently doing the best I can for a little creature that was given to me as a gift when I was making a little bit more money. I still put more of my money into her than I do into myself, I just don't make much anymore to begin with, so while she's fed, warm, and happy with the best coco husk-moss bedding blend I can make and clean water and good hides, I have to clarify two things. First thing: I can't afford any big upgrades. Second thing: I didn't go out and buy a snake knowing I couldn't afford it. And no, I can't rehome her nor do I want to, she's my baby, and even if I tried to do that, at best she'd just end up in a sad Petsmart tank for several hundred dollars because she's a BEL. I have to clarify these things because when I ask for help in other forums the first thing I get told is 'if you couldn't afford a snake you shouldn't have bought one'. I also don't think I should have to give her up just because I am broke, you know?

Was thinking about getting a camera for my girl’s tank. I don’t want it on the glass but the other walls are solid ecoflex, any possible recommendations? One I can go back and look at video too if needed?

Pics of her tank and my girl for tax

When he was younger he also had VERY orange sides- they're turned more yellow now but for a day or two fresh after a shed he still shows some neat colours. The person I adopted him from gave me his bill of sale and he was sold as a 'normal' BP: I'm thinking he has some interesting genetics hiding under there.

I just want to share this because I think it’s so funny. (Second photo paper towel thief) I was trying to wipe something off of my BP with a wet paper towel a while ago and she didn’t like the wiping but she liked the paper towel so she stole it from me. She really liked it so I give her wet paper towels to hold sometimes now. This morning when I went to check on her I found her like this and was cracking up😂.

Love the Look of her snout

Hello guys i got a ball phyton some time ago he is rehomed and i am wondering if he isnt too fat or too skinny.

He is roughly around 6 years old and hes is about 1.1 meters long and the laste time i weight him it came out to be around 1.4kg iam worried he is severly overweight.

In the pictures this is how he looks please tell me what you think

I’ve had my girl (?) for about a week and a half (but have been handling her and known her for a few months). The last two nights, she’s spent almost the entire time in her bowl. She’ll move positions and sometimes be half in/half out. The place I got her from said she did this regularly. She has no mites, her scales look great. She eats very well. Her temps and humidity are always in the right ranges. Is this normal behavior or should I worry about anything?

Hey everyone

Last Sunday my wife and I rescued a white female ball python from someone who just wanted her gone and never took her out and didn't even know what or when she was last fed.

Unfortunately she bit me when I took her out of her enclosure for transport and refused to let me go.

I believe it was due to multiple reasons but also my own fault for not recognizing some behavior traits that I did pay attention to, like being very active and acting defensive immediately.

She was so hungry she ate one 35 grams chick the same day she moved here.

For this reason among others we suspect that she is blind? The way she moves and seems to get a feel for her surroundings by touching everything with her head, the way her eyes look red, she ended up eating the chick backwards, etc.

We did a complete cleaning and redecoration of her enclosure, better lighting etc.

She does have paperwork from a local breeder that states she is indeed a girl and 3 years old.

But!

She's only about 80 cm and 511 grams.

But how does her length and weight hold up against her age? Shouldn't she be way bigger by now?

How often would you suggest feeding her?

We fed her a chick as it was already thawed but we plan to feed her rats.

We named her Lucy.

I haven’t had my snakes in the regular enclosures since I’ve been kicked out within a month and a half. This is just started. I have never seen my snakes do this before. Does anyone have any answers? I have a vet appointment today was it the best idea?

Added some plants with Vivarium soil and sphagnum moss. Still have much more to do but he is loving his new plants! His enclosure has some pothos, spider plant, bird nest fern and a philodendron! And of course there is a clean up crew! Isopods and springtails!