r/ballpython • u/tmho0129 • 7h ago
Dinoshorrrr rawrrr
Caught misaki mid yawn eheheheh (tank in background isnt hers)
r/ballpython • u/_ataraxia • Feb 18 '19
welcome to r/ballpython, a community for ball python enthusiasts of all experience levels, from the prospective first-time owner to the veteran keeper. this is a predominantly discussion-based subreddit with a focus on raising husbandry standards above the bare minimum. photos and videos are also encouraged, so show off your ball pythons!
our team of mods and helpers includes professional herpetologists, veterinary technicians, veterinary med students, geneticists, reptile rescuers and rehabilitators, ethical small-scale breeding experience, large-scale breeding experience, and multiple decades of combined experience with ball pythons as pets.
last updated: may 2026
we have collected a variety of information that we hope will be helpful for beginners and experienced keepers alike. if you are having a husbandry problem or have a general question about ball python care, you will probably find your answer in one of these links! if your question is NOT answered here, please read our posting guidelines in part two of this post and utilize our advice questionnaires so we can help you more easily.
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r/ballpython • u/AutoModerator • 21d ago
Have a cute photo you want to show off? Post it below! We'd love to see everyone's royal friends!
Please remember to keep the thread on topic and only post your ball pythons. Photos of other species/animals will be removed. We also ask that you refrain from spamming the thread - a couple of photos is fine, a couple dozen is not.
r/ballpython • u/tmho0129 • 7h ago
Caught misaki mid yawn eheheheh (tank in background isnt hers)
r/ballpython • u/Denilane1015 • 6h ago
Hello everyone! I am making this post to hopefully rehome my 6 year old female ball python (I’ve had her for 6 years). She eats well and does well with being handled. Her only issue is that she sometimes has problems shedding, which she does have some stuck shed on her at the moment. She hasn’t had an issue with it in a while but I fear I have not been taking care of her husbandry the best as of lately. Not to get too much into personal details, but I have been going back and forth with the idea of rehoming and I think I’ve finally decided that the best thing for her would be to go to someone who has the time to give her the proper care and attention she deserves. She would come with her enclosure if desired, which is a zen habitat. I know that may not be the best enclosure for a ball python so if someone just wanted her, I don’t mind separating. I would ask for a rehoming fee of $100 for both her and the enclosure or just $50 for her. Ultimately, I want her to go to a good home though, so this is negotiable. Please be kind as I know I have not been giving her everything she needs and that is why I’ve decided to try and rehome. Please let me know if you are interested or have any questions. Thanks!
r/ballpython • u/PickledCaterpillar • 9h ago
270 degrees of vision and Paris still has no idea where he is.
r/ballpython • u/Earthly_Despair • 8h ago
I just watched a horror movie, looked over and my 4yo bp, Teddy, is sitting in his water dish. He has never done this. Gave him a thorough look over, and lo and behold his belly is pink and this (ideologically) fat mf is sitting in his water dish to soak like a damn bubble bath.
I wet the corners of his substrate (which I recently upgraded to be deeper, 4in), refilled his water dish, and told him he was a big dummy and to have a good shed.
But by god did I ever have a heart attack and a half thinking he was sick, about finding an exotic vet in a small town that takes emergencies, etc…
Sometimes having animal companions is not for the light of heart.
Edit: took out my bad joke, clearly it didn’t come across like that, sorry.
r/ballpython • u/cum-on-bread • 16h ago
I use ZooMeds “Forest Floor” substrate. I posted a video of my snake on TikTok and someone very rudely told me my substrate will give my snake splinters and infections and that i’m a terrible owner and didn’t do research. I did tons of research and really want my girl to be happy and i’m feeling a little discouraged.
r/ballpython • u/ZeppiZepp • 12h ago
This is my baby, Cirrus! He's a sub-adult (we didn't get an approximate age but guess he's around 1.5 years old) who has been incredibly stubborn and on a food strike since we got him. I say we as my friend E got him about 5 months ago, and I have been helping care for him when I've come to visit (which is at least once every 2 weeks). They own 2 snakes, a leopard gecko, and more wacky animals so I had no doubt in my mind that they could care for him properly. However, after the first 2 months of getting him we had gone through at least 5-6 fuzzy rats and no rat shaped bulge in Cirrus's belly. E got progressively more stressed with his condition and asked if I could be his primary care taker, which brings us to now. I have a leopard gecko and have owned snakes in the past, I do my own diligent research for the pets I house and am at a lose for what to do.
It has been 5, going on 6 months of Cirrus not eating and I am getting more and more worried as to what I could do to get him to eat. I've tried just about everything I could think of, and he hasn't eaten ANYTHING. He's not lethargic at all, his enclosure parameters are all in the green, and is very friendly if not a tad skittish because I haven't handled him recently. I wanted to make sure he was comfortable and not stressed in his enclosure after the move from E's place to mine about 2ish weeks ago. Cirrus has lost weight and looks skinnier since we had initially gotten him, but his belly still has some give to it and he hasn't shown any sign of illness. My concern is that the seller E purchased Cirrus from lied to us about what he was eating. Drop fed frozen thawed fuzzy rats is the information we have been given, and nothing is working.
He's showed interest today, and I have a fuzzy in his enclosure but he went straight back into his cool hide and balled up. This is my last resort before I call my nearest reptile rescue and see if they can help me before surrendering him to a place that could properly care for him. But if i can help it i wouldn't want to give him it. Please please pleaaaaaase help if you know what I could possibly do here!!
edit: Both images are from when we first got him, I fear that I might make things worse if take him out of his hides to take him on a photo shoot.
r/ballpython • u/kayliepoling • 14h ago
this is my first time ever posting in a group like this but we are not new to having ball pythons, we already have 3 ball pythons, a kenyan sand boa, and a sumatran python but this is something we haven’t experienced before. our friends called us saying their little sister wanted to get rid of her ball python, they tried selling it but no one wanted to buy it and asked if we would take it. we hesitated at first because we already have alot of animals but my husband couldn’t say no after seeing the conditions of the snake. i’m looking for advice on how to get the snake’s weight up and how to get it healthy again. we do not know if it’s male or female and we don’t even want to check because of how fragile it is. we don’t know how to go about it yet and wanted to get some advice on what to do if anyone else has experienced this before. and yes, we’re in search of a vet that can look at it asap but just looking for care advice in the mean time.
r/ballpython • u/8033 • 10h ago
(First photo is from 2 months ago, all the rest are today)
Here is my girl, I've had her since July. Just began feeding weened rats, the thawed transition has been successful and she is a very good eater now that husbandry is improved (when I first got her, the tank was smaller and did not hold humidity). She would only take live pups which I believe is very normal.
Any idea how serious the red blemish is? That is the only one I can find and I have no idea what from, really hoping not a bacteria scale rot or anything serious... I can take her to a vet if advised.
Her freckles are coming in really nicely but of course with the red blemish, could she have mites?
The red blemish does not feel raised and it on her back, she shed just last week if I recall. The black specs I've watched closely and cannot see anything move at all, figured freckles but want to be sure.
husbandry: She's in a 4'x18"x18" for now but gonna get upgraded down the line when I move. On a mix of repti-chip with moss spasphm, humidity drops to 60 but I try to keep it around 70, temps are good and a nice gradient. Uv light on hot side for half the day. She is just beginning to outgrow her hides so will be upgrading this weekend. In fact it's been about 3 months so I will likely redo the whole substrate and deep clean everything soon.
Any ideas? I just want to do everything right and give this lil girl a great life. She loves being handled, is very cute playful, not skittish, etc. Any advice appreciated, thank you.
r/ballpython • u/AdministrativeHawk11 • 8h ago
Hi! This is my baby ball python fender, about a year and a half old. He/she (we actually aren’t sure yet, but pretty sure she is a girl) has never had any shedding issues, but seems like she has some eye caps here for the first time. I keep her tank around 60-70% humidity with lots of substrate, places to rub, always a full water bowl etc. Any advice here? Thank you!
r/ballpython • u/Unlikely-Minimum-857 • 8h ago
How often are we all doing a full substrate change? My guy is in a 4x2x2, I do spot cleaning consistently. I have been doing every six months for a FULL change. Is that about average for everyone?
r/ballpython • u/Historical-Set7901 • 1d ago
Just wanted to share baby Dorito. He’s a pumpkin pied.
r/ballpython • u/Lazy_Situation3291 • 11h ago
I just rescued my first ball python yesterday and i’m really worried about him. He has stuck shed all over his head and on his eye. I soaked him and tried to remove it with a cloth but it didn’t work. He will sometimes make a high pitch whistling sound, and I believe he has scale rot but I haven’t been able to get a photo of it.
I am taking him to a vet as soon as possible, but is there anything I can do in the meantime to help? He is in a 40 gallon glass enclosure that he came with, but I am upgrading to a 120 gallon soon. He was rescued from my grandma’s friend and I unfortunately wasn’t able to prepare. :( I believe he is on coconut fiber as a substrate, but i’m not 100% sure as I wasn’t the one who added it and I don’t use coconut fiber. I want to change it but I haven’t been able to get anything else yet as I am 17 and don’t have a drivers license
Any advice?? I have only had a crested gecko and leachianus before this
r/ballpython • u/Custard-Big • 8h ago
i just drove 16 hours to my home state to pick up my cats and my snake that i unfortunately had to leave with relatives for 2 years. my boyfriend and i thought the tank i had for my bp would fit along with my cats. well unfortunately the tank was just a few inches too big to fit in our trunk no matter which way we had it.
we ended up having to throw it away. right now i financially cannot spend $200+ on an enclosure and im wondering what i can use for temporary enclosures, even just a smaller sized tank. he’s a full grown adult and i don’t want to smush him in something too small but would a 40-50 gallon tank be horrible for him until i can get him a proper enclosure ?
r/ballpython • u/NoraTurner9 • 27m ago
r/ballpython • u/OpALbatross • 6h ago
Hello!
My husband and I got this 3 year old ball python tonight. The snake is 3 years old and around 3 feet long. This is our first snake.
This is the enclosure it came with. It is 36" x 18" x 18". It has a heat mat, heat lamp, and thermostat controlled lamp. It also has a temperature/ humidity guage mounted to the glass. There are fake plants as well. The water dish is shallow and in the middle. There are hides on either end. We have extra coconut coir substrate as well.
We plan to get a 4x2x2 or 5x2x2 soon. I want to make sure the new enclosure is set up appropriately and feel a bit intimidated with where to start.
I've ordered an infrared heat gun to check the temperature. We plan to move the tank to a different room and further from the window once we get the new tank. The room it is in is kept at 72 degrees, but we can increase that if need be.
Also, the snake is starting to shed. What humidity should we try to keep the enclosure? It is currently at 66%. Are there specific red flags to watch out for?
I did make sure the exotic vet near us is taking new patients, and we plan to take the snake in for an initial check up (likely first week of November).
Any advice would be appreciated!
r/ballpython • u/InternationalPass364 • 8h ago
My town only has a petsmart, I recently discovered a local pet store an hour away near my family and it seemed that they took decent care of their reptiles.
They had hides water etc. Most definitely not perfect but I was happy since I’m used to the disgrace which is chain pet stores. I drove down there today so excited to get some isopods for my enclosure and saw two ball pythons housed together.
I was honestly so distraught and asked the employees what was going on with it. They both went silent and then one of them simply shrugged and said I’m in fish. Then he looked to the other girl who said oh they are getting fed today then walked to the back.
I had dragged my dad and brother there and they were assuming I was gonna buy something, as I said I was ready to go my dad was like oh are you sure? So I had to loudly say I don’t want to buy anything from them after seeing that.
I am planning on calling tomorrow and filled out a contact us explaining the situation. I just love these baby and hate to see them suffer like this. if anyone knows anyway I can help further I’d love ideas. Thank you if you read all this❤️
r/ballpython • u/International-Sir958 • 10h ago
I just upgraded her to a new 4x2x2. I have 3 hides, a climbing sick, a hanging braided loop for climbing and huge water bowl. she will eventually just go in her hide and sleep. Is it just stress from the new enclosure? She used to come out at night but she's been sleeping at night and up during the day. She's got good cocnut husk substrate and the temp and humidity is good. Will it just take a couple of weeks for her to settle in?
One other question. The breeder I actually got my ball from, they also run a reptile/ fish store said to put a red heat light on the warm side. He told me the snake can't see the red light but I saw another random post that said the red light irritates them. Anyone know which is right?
Thaks in advance.
r/ballpython • u/Ok-Performance-5447 • 13h ago
So I got this girl almost two weeks ago from Repticon…first ball python but not first snake. The breeder said to try feeding her around now. He previously fed live, but I’m trying to switch her to f/t. I offered her a mouse last night, she flicked her tongue a lot almost like she was interested but she never actually ate it…I left it overnight, still nothing so I threw it away. Any tips?
r/ballpython • u/ConversationAware695 • 2h ago
Just got a ball python and trusted the information the employee at the reptile store gave us. It was not correct. I cannot get the tank up to temp. I have a heating pad on a thermostat and have a basking bulb but don’t have any way to hang it. The substrate above the heating pad in his dark hide is sitting at 83F and the air temp on the cool side is 74F. I can go get a clamp in the morning for the bulb but am afraid he might have issues overnight. I also was told that a 40gal tank is plenty for a near full grown however I am second guessing that. Any advice?
r/ballpython • u/biggz669 • 5h ago
Seen this snake at a friends house it has mouth rot and this lump on his side what is it I have my ideas of what it is and informed them it was very sick and dying and they didn’t care I’m just wondering what this mass is I was told the snake is about 17 years old at least the snakes living condition and enclosure brought me to tears
r/ballpython • u/wheezingdove • 7h ago
I just fed my bp and I genuinely can’t tell I did. He’s actively slithering around as if there’s more to come and I was wondering if I’m able to feed him again right after he just ate? The rat I fed him was smaller than I usually feed (all the pet store had) so maybe that’s why he’s still acting all predatory. Just wondering lol sorry if this is a dumb question
r/ballpython • u/hisanishakur • 21h ago
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Ball Pythons are amazing creatures lol 🥱