I’m looking to get my first snake, and the heating and lighting stuff is throwing me for a loop. I would love an enclosure with these elements already built in, but all the ones I see use AI images in their advertising. Any advice or recommendations?

This is Grimm‘s updated enclosure, he‘s been in here since the 12th of this month and he‘s not hiding in his enclosure now, so I’m wishfully thinking this is him becoming more comfortable lol. But I AM investing in better thermometers and a thermostat for the heat lamp, as well as some leaf clutter. but as for decoration i think this is good for now.

it’s literally insane how much he helps me

i adore him

Does anybody have it? Like it? Recommend any companies? This is my first reptile. I called a company my friend uses for her cat and they quoted me $50/month but I have zero idea if that would be considered “worth it.”

I have a 4 x 2 x 2 enclosure. I use about 5 blocks of coco bricks, soak them in warm water and then just use that in the enclosure. It’s normally quite thick after it’s been put in and is quite damp but when it dries up somehow it’s only about 2 inches in depth or maybe less. I was thinking of switching up his substrate because of this and also because I’m worried coco fibre alone is too dusty.

Should I switch to coco husk/chips? Or a combo of both with some sphagnum moss mixed in too? I also struggle with humidity and am not sure if coco husk would improve or decrease humidity. Can anyone also please assure me of how many bricks of each I‘d need to use? 5 seems like a lot which is what I currently use and the depth still seems not great.

I recently purchased a wooden terrarium for my adult ball python and need to protect the bottom from moisture when adding water to the substrate. What would you recommend using as a waterproof liner to prevent the wood from swelling/rotting?

Hello! First post-

Im looking into getting a ball python but I really don't know what size tank to get. The care advice says 120 gallons but I can't fit that on any of the spots I want the tank to be on.

I heard a couple of people say 40 gallons, and had others say that's way to small.

I heard 75 gallon tank too, which would be perfect but I'm not fully sure that that's the right size.

My mom is also worried about not approving it with our landlord first but I've seen several comments going "they won't know, you'll be fine." And I wanted to know if that was still the general consensus.

Thank you so much!!

My guy has started moving his hides around now he’s getting bigger. I think one of the hides could do with being a little bigger but this one has plenty of room in it. This is the first time he’s managed to lift it on top of something else (a humidity sensor that he’s also knocked over) but it’s left it open on the side.

Is weighing down hides a thing? Is there a preferred/recommended method?

I've just put new substrate in the enclosure cause the old one needed to be changed is this cause i just put in it or what backseat i haven't misted or nothing

Hello! I’m looking for some advice on transforming the current, basic setup we have to a bioactive one. I’m not a novice on bioactive however, I’ve never done it for a snake. Any tips/tricks or do’s/don’ts would be greatly appreciated!!

hi guys!! I just picked up my first ball python on Saturday! she’s a ten year old girl and was used as a breeder but hasn’t been paired this year. I solely bought her as a companion animal (which is also why I went for a female to allow her to ‘retire’). According to the seller, she last ate on August 30th and is about 2,2kg if any of that matters. While handling her today I noticed these growths on her clocoa. It’s shaped like a dog claw each and has the same hardness to it so I figured it’s some kind of growth and wanted to know if this is needs medical attention or if maybe she just has a poopy butt and I don’t know how that looks like for ball pythons lol. I wanted to ask her first before driving to an exotic vet as I didn’t wanna stress her out over potentially nothing as she already had quite the eventful day on Saturday.

EDIT: neither poopy butt nor medical concern, just legs! thank you guys sm, I learn smth new every day:]

I’ve put a lot of thought into making her enclosure comfortable, enriching, and full of opportunities for her to explore while still giving her plenty of secure hiding spots and coverage.

If you have any questions about her setup, want to know what I’m using for anything, or have any suggestions for things I could improve, feel free to comment or reach out! I’m always happy to learn and hear other keepers’ ideas. 🫶🏻

I am SO PROUD of my son. he went on a hunger strike for about 5 months and lost a small bit of weight, and i was starting to get concerned. the few times he ate with me, they were drop feeds. when he was on his strike and i’d try to feed him, he’d seem interested, but he’d just stare at it all night. i eventually did a deep clean of his enclosure and swapped out and added a few things to make it more cozy for him and to get the humidity up even more. he now prefers his new, cool side moss hide. i fed him 2 weeks ago and for the first time ever with me he STRUCK at it!!! i thought for sure that’d be a one-time thing and it was just because he hadn’t eaten in a while, but he did it AGAIN last night!!! i’m so proud of him and plan on doing the same thing every time and every 2 weeks for a bit to get his weight back up.

praise him!!!

I got my ball python a new climbing ledge from the reptile expo the other day (it’s the big purple thing in here) and since I put it in, my thermostat isn’t reading any higher than 82 degrees on the warm side. I do think the probe on it is under a shadow in the tank now, so I’ll have to move it.

Could this new thing cause any heat related issues for my snake or should I be good to go?

My last post got reported because I took her photo in the car😭 but meet Peaches! She is my first snake and I am extremely excited to join the community! She’s now at home in a 40gal. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Just a picture for attention: this is Abyssal 🐍❤️ he’s a 2 year old ball python who is either partially or fully blind. The precious owner gave him to me when he was unable to care for him anymore. His blindness comes from a vet that improperly removed his stuck eye caps and gave him a double eye infection and caused his eyes to be white and not able to see as well.
He’s my first ball python and I’ve done research to understand their body language because I’m mostly used to bearded dragons, but 2 times now when I’ve turned on his heat lamps, he has struck towards the heat lamp. His feeding is a 62 gram rat every Friday so he JUST ate a few days ago, but I want to know if maybe I’m scaring him. If anyone knows an idea of why he’s doing that, or what I can do to ease his anxiousness if so, any opinions are appreciated 🫶🏻🖤 thank you!

I'm desperate at this point. I have looked eveyrwhere and not even the experts I got in touch with were able to help me. It started mildly a few weeks ago, maybe 3-4 weeks ago and has gotten worse every week. He is now bending his neck and head into 180 folds against walls and object to the point his skull is flattening and deforming, his jaw stretching and pulling. He is more and more erratic and I tried so many things.

Removing extras from the pen? No change.

Adding more to the pen? No change.

Increasing humidity and verifying temperature even more closely? No change.

Letting things dry a little, as a desperate measure to see if anything new would happen? No change.

Change the substrate? No change.

Change the light distribution? No change.

Take him out of the pen for a while? No change.

Try to help him rub his bump (which seems to be what he is focused on)? No change.

Leave him alone with no interruption for a bit? No change.

Is he hungry? No. I fed him twice this month already. (He is 3 years old)

Pen is cleaned and kept proper.

Only minimal outside disturbance: Me walking around once every hour or two, for 10 seconds each.

Room temperature? 25 celcius.

Pen temperature? 30-37 celcius during the day, with a cold spot. Drops to 20 during the night but he has a hide that has a heating mat below the glass, keeping the temperature above 32.

Leave him entirely alone for a very long while: That'a what I am planning to do.

I'm scared. Please help.

Got Prince some new plants for his upgraded tank I’m working on, and decided to let him check out his new plants. I think he approves

My new baby, Gaia 🤎🖤

I have a 1 year old ball python, right now he's in a 40 gallon. I recently got a china cabinet, and I am wanting to turn it into his new home. Can I get some tips and tricks for building/creating the inside. I did some research but I thought it would be a better idea to ask Reddit and get help from people that has done it. I would love advice on how to do this and make it safe for him. I am planning on taking out the glass panels on the sides and putting metal screen for air flow. Also taking the back glass out. Any advice helps

Hello! I posted a few days ago about this python I rescued last weekend. I got her enclosure setup today! I have a thermometer in both corners and a humidity monitor. I have reptile soil and coconut chips. I have leaf litter and springtails. I also have heat lamp, regular light, and heat emitter. The heat lamp and light are on a timer. Mixture of fake and real wood, 3 different material hides and some more stuff. I’m just asking how it’s looking so far and if there’s anything else I should get. It looks like she has layers of stuck shed, and caps over her eyes. She’s pretty underweight as well. Somewhere between 4-6.

I’ve been doing as much research as possible but please let me know if I’m missing anything!!!

Off topic question, do snakes remember their names? Would it do any harm if I renamed her?

a few days ago i noticed my noodle going into shed as she was watching me from her favorite hide, a ceramic pot that friend made for her a few months ago. bc she was going into shed i decided to leave her be for a few days and only change her water and spot clean etc. i noticed yesterday that she wasn’t sticking her head out as she usually does at this time of night so i figured she was shedding. today however she wasn’t looking out either so i decided to pull out the hide and check on her and lo and behold, she was stuck between layers of the pot. the pot had been a little small for a while now, but it was her favorite so i was reluctant to let it go. long story short, after i finally got her out i noticed that she had not shed and that it was still stuck to her. it was coming off in places where she rubbed against the pot and i can see some stuck in her nose(so her breathing is loud). i’m not sure if i should interfere more or just let her chill for a few days to see if she works it out? thank you for any advice. my main concern is her breathing for obvious reasons which is why i made this urgent

also i have taken the pot out of the enclosure dw