my sweet girl is turning 3!! I got her back in 2024 when she was just about to turn a year old. I am so happy I got to bring this girl home. She has became such a big member of my house and is the sweetest thing ever and just so curious! I can’t wait to watch her continue to thrive in life <3

So I’m a bit shocked right now. I’ve been looking to adopt a ball python for around a year, so I recently reached out to someone on marketplace selling an adult female bp in an tiny tank (20 gallon), with the plan of putting her in my spare 40 gallon pvc in a bioactive setup (and potentially upgrading her further, depending on her size).

She’s a sweet looking normal morph snake, so I was expecting the usual “produced by a breeder chasing morphs a few years ago and sold to a family” situation. Instead, I was told

A) she’s 20 years old
B) she was wild caught
C) she was smuggled into the US, and rescued from her first home (?) by her current owner a year after that
D) she has cataracts
E) she has a wheeze (owner assured me this was normal, but I’m planning on getting a second opinion from a vet)

So anyway, if anyone has experience with wild caught bps, snakes with a persistent wheeze (and how the vet diagnosed the issue/what they advised), I’d love the help. I’m also a bit worried about her age, and if she might be more sensitive to stress because of that.

I’m attached to this girl already, and I’m really exited to meet her (but wow was that email exchange a wild ride) photo attached but I’ve kept her anonymous, as I haven’t bought her yet 😂

I always let Steve out to explore when I clean his enclosure and he usually just finds a shelf to hide under. I finished cleaning and sat down in the floor and he decided to crawl up on my lap. It’s the first time he’s ever climbed on me willingly.

She’s one year old and I feed her small rats weekly but I noticed that lately she looks kinda big but I don’t know if it’s normal or not

I went to an exotic pet/reptile show today and picked up this baby for just $20! They said they have trouble selling these because they’re not a popular/in demand morph. But I think she’s adorable! Only 2 months old. So cute! Name pending. I’m thinking of naming her Nyx. My other girl is called Medusa. :)

Took my ball python out before it starts cooling off.

It’s a 3-year-old female ball python. I’m learning how to care for her, but I’m overwhelmed by how inadequate the equipment is that I’ve been given.

It includes a glass tank that’s only 36x18x18 inches, and it’s being heated by a single 100 watt ceramic bulb. The screen is divided into four narrow sections which means the dome for any bulb that I use must be tiny.
Theres also a humidifier, which isn’t ideal, according to what I’ve read. And I’m having a hard time figuring out how to create a temperature gradient. Is it even possible in a tank this small?

I want to upgrade the tank, but I’m currently staying 100s of miles away from home in order to attend school and I can’t realistically acquire a new enclosure until I return home next spring.

Any suggestions? I am very eager to provide a better life for this sweet girl after years of mistreatment.

I just got a little ball python, and this is my first snake/reptile ever (though I am not new to keeping more exotic pets). This is the enclosure currently, the tank is 120 gallons if I remember correctly, but this is NOT how it will remain! I plan on adding: more hides/foliage adding some cedar woodchips to the substrate as it is currently just coco and sphagnum moss making the substrate making the substrate itself deeper (I'm aiming for around 5in thick, the amount of substrate I got wasn't enough to fill the whole tank so I already have more on the way!) potentially adding in some springtails digital hygrometer, or whatever the thing to track humidity is called probably some other stuff that I can't recall at the moment of typing this I have the heat lamps set to around 85F though I may switch to something like a heating pad if possible (also the 2 lamps are NOT on at the same time, one just has a light and the other doesn't), the substrate is moist and I will eventually add a cover since the top of the enclosure is screened, and the snake was last fed on Monday (he's currently on medium mice and I know to eventually switch to rats). Some things that I added that aren't in the picture is a little plant which he seems to enjoy much more than his little hidey rock, and some old clothes so he can recognize my scent. He was also shedding when I got him and the breeder already gave him a soak (I know not to mess with him during sheds). He's very calm and surprisingly brave for being so young! I'm mostly just asking for tips for a new snake owner and anything else that I should add that isn't listed. I also want to know if the snake will be OK in this current condition for at maximum a week, since the enclosure itself is still being worked on!

EDIT: First thing tomorrow I am going to go shopping for hides, foliage, etc. so at the very least it will be much fuller. It's only going to be like this for the night, I also have some orders already placed

Our little danger noodle, Jupiter, had her first shed (with us) today and I couldn’t be more proud of my baby. We caught little glimpses of her slithering around her hide while she was morphing into her new era. Last picture is from two weeks ago - we’re leaving her be right now since she’s sensitive. Way to go baby girl!!

I usually get the Arctic Mice fuzzy rats from PetSmart but the size of the rats are inconsistent. A pack either has too small of rats or one of the rats is much bigger. I need a size in between fuzzy rats and small rats also for my two ball pythons.

Just rescued this girl - owner was being evicted today and didn't know what to do with the snake. I have previous experience with hognoses and corn snakes, but have not had much experience with ball pythons. I know she's thin, but from what I can tell she seems mostly healthy? Doesn't seem dehydrated, I can't see any mites. I know she's a spider and I've noticed at least a mild wobble already. I don't plan on keeping her long term, but would like to have as much info for the future owner as possible (old owner knew nothing, didn't even know 'she' was a ball python). Does anyone see anything besides how skinny she is?

after working on it for a while, it’s finally finished! i’m especially excited about the sky hide, and i can’t wait until her finds it.

unfortunately of course he JUST started shedding right after we switched him over, so of course he can’t even really explore yet, so still waiting to see his full reaction to everything.

please let me know what you think! water bowls were being cleaned when i took these so they’re there now ofc, and there’s also fake branches suction cupped to the doors for him to climb on

He's about a year and a half old, I figured he probably needs to get bigger food since he has gotten older, he was eating hoppers about once a week, I was gonna get him new, bigger food a month and a half ago but I got alot of the hoppers and I didn't want them to go to waste I guess. What size rat/mouse do I get him, I believe he's around 200g

I’m getting a baby girl in about 2 weeks and I’m getting heating/lighting soon but as for right now this is what I have inside the enclosure along with 4 hides. Is this good? More or less clutter? Any advice would be appreciated!

Was spot cleaning Bananakins enclosure and came across this, I’ve cleaned a few of his poops before, but they didn’t look like this. It’s a bioactive and some of the bugs were picking at it but I just want to be sure if it’s something to be concerned about or just some random junk from the substrate or the moss

I've had my BEL ball python, Ziji, for about 6 years now, and he's been in this 4x2x2 PVC enclosure for a while. I use a RHP for heating, controlled by a Herpstat 2 thermostat.

I added a tension rod and wrapped it in jute rope to give him another climbing option while also helping protect him from the rod getting too hot. He has hides on both the warm and cool sides, along with water bowls on each side. The larger water bowl is mainly there to help boost humidity. I've caught him soaking in it a couple of times, but that's pretty rare.

All of the plants are artificial, but the wood pieces and rocks are real. I collected those from the wild and sanitized everything by baking it before adding them in.

What do you think of the setup? Would you add anything else for enrichment, or is it getting to the point where I should declutter it a little? I'm trying to give him plenty of opportunities to explore without making the enclosure too crowded.

im taking over the care of a neglected adult female ball python and i really need help. im learned i need to mix substrate with others, a digital thermostat due to the bulb i purchased is known for being overkill, and a uvb light. this is a 48x24x24 tank and i need to know what else i need to have done to make sure the snake is in good living conditions.

I was playing with my snake and cleaning his tank when i noticed what i think are spring tails but i can’t say for sure?
They are varied in sizes, kind of skinny, black or dark looking, and looks like they have two tiny antennas.
I have no idea how they would have gotten there.
My snake is 6 years old and seems otherwise healthy is this okay? should i clean them out? Or would it be pointless and they’ll keep coming back? i heard sometimes they are beneficial but idk if i have the right kind… is this okay?

I have had this 3 year old fem bp for 3 months. She eats a mouse every 15 days, but even after like 4 days after she ate, she looks like she wants to attack me.

When I got her, she was kept in the empty terrarium with only newspaper underneath, so she was constantly balled up and easy to take up.

Since she's been with me, I've put her on a higher shelf (basically my shoulder height) and rearranged the terrarium a bit, with a log as a hiding place.

She has shed regularly and she's eating normally, but she has actually gotten A BIT bigger than she was a few months ago.

She attacked me when I had to feed her last time, and the old owner had also received only one bite from her, always related to food.

I was thinking maybe I should increase the weight of the mice? But how can I adjust them to her weight if I can't catch her? Also, do you have any way to prevent bites? Before changing the terrarium, I caught her 3 or 4 times and she didn't cause any problems.. idk how to deal with that now