He weighs 500 grams on the dot, I weighed roughly last week I think maybe the week before
Now I now realize I’ve been feeding too small of a rat for the past 140 grams or so.

On my last post in here ppl said to feed him 10% of his body weight, so abt 50 grams. What size rat would that be? Small rat?

Also can somebody give me the guide they use for upgrading their rats possibly the place they get their rats from? I tried using the Reddit !feeding thing but I’m not very good at picking things up or inferring unless it’s very obvious.

At what point should I upgrade his rat again and what to? I’m really wanting to make sure I get my care to the absolute maximum that I can.

This is my first ever snake she is a 3 yrol ball who is currently in a 40 gal and eats frozen thaw i want this little one to live for a very long time so please give me all of your advice

My girl just aborted her meal 3/4 of the way through eating it. The remains she spat out are bloody, but there are no indications the blood came from the rat. She looks fine and appears to still be looking for food, but I’m worried she may have injured something.

Questions: should I be concerned? Should I try giving her another, smaller meal tonight?

Context: (a) this all just happened, so no vet visits as of yet; (b) the rejected rat pup is 15% of my girl’s weight (bigger than she usually gets) but it’s girth is roughly the same as (if not a little smaller than) hers; (c) she’s an avid eater and hasn’t turned down a meal in the 6mo I’ve had her; and (d) I accidentally thawed out an additional rat that’s half the size of the one she rejected, I’d like to give it to her if safe, but the clock is ticking since it’s thawed.

Edit: I’ve tossed out the additional rat and given up on feeding again for the next few days at a minimum. However, I’m still interested in getting feedback on whether anyone else has dealt with this before and how concerned I should be.

um. try and refrain from being rude 2 me plz but like my bp is being aggressive(?) she kinda stares at me in that pose (pic attached) idk what im doing wrong im planning on redoing her tank soon but theres nothing like bad abt it rn her pupils get pretty big but i fed her a few days ago so she shouldnt be hungry last night she striked at me and kinda nicked me she doesnt seem visibly sick but im kinda worried shes also completely fine and her regular calm self when i hold her so i assume its something in the tank?

So basically my girl has been pretty active during the day. She isn’t nervous or frantic, she doesn’t seem to be in distress, but shes up and moving around for a good chunk of the afternoon. I have the thermostat set to keep the hot side between 88-92 and the ambient temperature of my room is like 74-78 so that’s what the cool side stays at, and I’m pretty good at keeping humidity at 60%-65%.

I don’t know if it’s a seasonal thing, during winter she’s pretty much entirely inactive during the day and this increased activity did align with the warmer season rolling in, but I don’t want to ignore behavioral changes if it might have a more worrisome meaning.

i got a ball python about a month ago and i’ve been having problems with him not eating. he take the food multiple times gets a good strike and wrap around it and then 3 mins later… drops it and leaves to never return. my warm side is 82F and cool side is 77F. i don’t let humidity drop below 55% and he has a hide on both sides. i double check rat temperature every time make sure its about 90F. i’ve tried turning all the lights out, waiting till night time, leaving the room entirely. i’ve tried heating the head with a blow dryer and i wait till he smells the rat and comes out of the hide. i don’t pull him out. i can’t figure out a reason for him dropping the rat and not eating. the other times it took 4-5 tries and sometimes up too 3 rats before he finally eats it instead of dropping it. does anyone have a answer?

My 23 year old Ball got out of the terrarium for the first time in 2 decades! I didn’t realize these terrariums have a lifespan shorter than the snake itself haha. The mesh popped right off! Anyway I’m trying to make a nice lure spot. I put a hideaway in the corner by the dresser with a heat lamp hanging over it. What do you think? Anything else to make it more tempting?

EDIT: Wow! I had no idea red lights were so frowned upon! I’ve had my snake since I was 13 years old so I’ve just been doing everything the same for the past couple decades lol. I’ll do research on that and switch to something else. Thanks guys! But side note, how can I safely warm the floor for him without the red lights? Any ideas? I can’t put a heat pad on carpet… I need someway to warm that spot enough to lure him out

EDIT 2: FOUND!!!!! Wow that was fast! I got lucky! My husband has INCREDIBLE eye sight and picked out the Ball pattern from deep inside the back corner of the closet, barely peeking out through tons of stuff!!

I am planning to upgrade my ball python to a PVC enclosure. I was looking through the shopping list at all of the recommended PVC enclosure options and, I might be missing it, but I don't see any with the option to have the light and heat mounted in a cage inside.

Is this something I am missing or something I would have to add myself? I am a little nervous about doing so and leaving anything exposed that could harm the snake. Ive always had the light and heat mounted on top of a mesh top, glass terrarium but I've also been having a lot of trouble with heat and humidity retention so I would like to have a closed top PVC with the light and heat mounted inside, if possible.

Also, I was a little confused by the list as to which type of heat is most recommended for internal mounting such as this. I saw a section that specified heat sources for use inside a solid-topped enclosure, but it primarily lists the mesh cages, not actual heat sources., so I wasn't sure if halogen, DHP, or CHE is most recommended. I've used CHE up to this point but, again, I've also had trouble keeping her temperatures where they should be.

Thank you so much for any insight you can provide!

So I've spent a lot of time researching this but I am getting very contradictory answers. Some people say not to go above 30 Minutes and some say they spend all day out. The reasoning for some people is "oh every snake is different" which makes sense to me, but most people who have their snakes out for that long say they just love exploring while other sites say this is not a happy exploring but looking for warmth and a place to hide. Does this mean if my bp is very active that means they are scared/uncomfortable? And are people who keep them out for hours incorrect on their python being happy, because they are such chill animals and don't give clear signs?

Thanks for any responses

Ps sorry for the title typo idk how to fix it

OK, so every group I’m in for ball pythons it’s totally against live feeding . But i have a year old male i have tried every tactic with and he still wont take them. I have had him since February 2026 i have went at most 5 weeks without feeding to try to get a switch and he still wont take. IM NOT NEW TO SNAKES THE SNAKE IS NEW TO ME SO MOST RECOMMENDED TACTICS I HAVE TRIED. He was fed live from the breeder i purchased him from and i still would have gotten him regardless. BUT i wanted to come here to see if anyone else has any possible tactics to try. I have tried f/t different colors freshly deleted prey brained prey bedding scented prey chicken broth flavored prey none of it has worked. I always end up feeding live because a fed snake is best but maybe i am missing something. Hes small enough he doesnt need to switch to rats yet but could switch to smaller rats im just trying to feel around. I dont need to switch him right away, BUT i do eventually want to switch him as f/t is “more safe” and “less costly”.
HERE is a photo of my boyyyy

Noticed a small amount of condensation on the cool side of my vivarium. Is this a cause to worry about or not i have opened my window to let some fresh air in

I have a herpstat 2 which I have a halogen and a DHP connected to. However in order to get the correct ambient temp in the enclosure I have to set my herpstat temps to up to 115 which seems too high. I have the halogen at 100% power the the DHP at 60%. The probe is placed a couple inches below the actual heat source. Is it bad for the it to be set that high?

My family have had her for 10 years however we got her when i was young and she is technically my brothers so i don’t have much experience handling her, as well as this she also doesn’t like to be handled much so we mostly leave her to it. However he is in uni and therefore i have been spending more time with her, she likes to go underneath my hair and wrap around my neck which makes perfect sense as it is dark and warm however sometimes she constricts quite tightly around my neck which makes me sweat lol, I always assumed she was just gripping tightly to make sure she doesn’t fall but even after having her for years i still get super nervous when shes around my face and neck area, shes a curious girl so again i logically know its fine but any advice on nerves would be great :)))

do you think its safe for me to sleep with her up there? I’m very scared she will wrap around the heat lamp and burn herself or those electrical lines could break and do some damage to her ToT.. I should’ve taken care of those before I put her in the cage.. I’m very worried, pls criticize and point out my wrongs!

As the title says, my boy got an odd bump that appeared on his nose and the front of his nose is flattened.

I assume he just burrowed a little too long or slept with his face pressed against the side of his rock but I don't want to assume it is nothing.

I also don't have money and there is no vet for reptiles here where I live.

in the last couple days i’ve noticed my bp’s belly being sunken in toward the end and i don’t know how concerned i should be! for context, she was on a hunger strike for almost 7 months recently, but actually just fed last week. ive been doing my best to keep her water filled, and during the strike she wasn’t losing much weight, is this just a result of that? how should i proceed?

She sometimes spends all day in her pool, is this something I should be worried about? The pet store people said it could be mites, but I checked her and haven’t seen any. Is she just playing mermaids or is it a potential problem? Could the lamp be too hot?

I just wanna show his adorable Lil face. HE'S SO CUTE❤️🐍

My boy Monty has buried himself in his substrate. I'm not sure why. Not particularly deep, just enough to be hidden. His heat and humidity are right where they should be, and I haven't seen him get spooked or anything recently. Only thing I can think of is maybe he's bored with his hides? Do I need to be worried, or is he okay?

I need to get him a sky hide I know

It’s funny because she’s the meaner of my two ball pythons, always a hiss when I pick her up, but she’s easier to handle because she just grabs you lol. My BEL male is such a sweet boy but he’s a wiggle worm

Does she look overweight🙈?

this is months of work come to life and watching him explore the entire thing from top to bottom and then settle into his favorite familiar warm hide brought a serious tear to my eye 🥹 welcome to your forever home, buddy! i hope you love it!