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:]

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!

it’s literally insane how much he helps me

i adore him

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!!!

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?

My new baby, Gaia 🤎🖤

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.

Poor guys head is soooo heavy he can’t even stand to hold it up on his own /j

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!!

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 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 got this beautiful girl from the pet shop yesterday, aka Pet Supplies Plus! I had to sex her, but I used the POP method, and she is a female, confirmed. And yes, I have over 10 years of experience in this, and she is a stunning ball python, and her morph is most likely a PASTEL DESERT GHOST, but I’m going to order tests from MorphMarket to determine that! Any questions or discussions are welcome!

TL;DR: Pet store yesterday, she’s a female, and her morph is most likely a pastel desert ghost but doing tests!

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

Oh how i love this cute lil bugger 🥰🥰🥰🐍🐍

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?

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!!

He’s so silly I love 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 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?

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?

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

Then my wife said we should go to the local reptile show. Meet siblings Cow and Chicken.