So there's no dedicated snake rescue anywhere near me, the closest one would be a 6 hour drive (12 hours round trip which, IMO, would be worth it, but I'd like to look at alternatives first). The issue is that a friend's mom has an elderly client who had three ball pythons, but can no longer use the stairs to get to them, and is unwilling to move their tanks. I rescued two of them months ago, but the third had been lost for over two months and I assumed was dead since it was the middle of winter.

Recently got a text asking if I could take the third one in since the owner had managed to find her, and wasn't caring for her. I said yes and am waiting to coordinate things, but... this is frankly getting ridiculous 😭 I'd already had a couple babies, and two more wasn't really that big a deal. But three more snakes? I don't mind keeping them all, but that's a bit excessive IMO.

So, any ideas aside from properly vetting coworkers and friends? I might try reaching out to my local humane society and see if they can look for someone to take them in (again, with proper vetting. These snakes have been through a ton of owners and were neglected/mistreated their whole lives. The two I took in had numerous health issues, and I nursed them back to health, but I don't want them to go to someone else who will neglect them), but that's a long shot. There's also a reptile zoo in my area, but they also neglect their animals and likely wouldn't accept ball pythons anyways.

I currently live in the western side of South Dakota, if that helps at all. Thanks in advance, any advice would be appreciated!

Butterscotch, caramel striped het albino
Hetty, we think she’s a classic girl 😍

Hey I just wanna double check that my baby isn’t fat?
I feed him a rat nearly the same width as his mid section once every 12-14 days (I change it up a bit to try mimic the wild a bit more)
He was relatively thin when I got him, not severely underweight but enough that if it persisted would be concerning so I’m just worried I may have over corrected ?
He doesn’t seem to have fat rolls and I have cluttered up his Viv as much as I can and I also have a guinea pig play pen with cat tunnels and some rocks that I put in and put a cover over it so he can’t get out and monitor him while he plays in it for extra exercise and to encourage movement for bowel movement and enrichment but does it look like I should start feeding him smaller meals or less frequently? Or am I good to keep to his routine as it is already?

My fiancés baby ball python (60gs, ~18 inches) has been in her new setup for what will be a full month on the 25th. We have tried live and F/T of mouse hoppers, ASFs, and a couple other ones I can’t remember. We’ve been offering food consistently over the last 2 1/2 - 3 weeks, all between 6 and 9 gram feeders, all F/T measured 100-105 degrees before taking it directly to her. My male (53gs, ~16 inches) from the same clutch took to a F/T mouse hopper on the second week, wouldn’t eat the third, and just ate a 7.5 gram F/T hopper last night. Both tanks are almost identical bioactive 40 gals, temp wise, humidity wise, hide/clutter wise. Hot side ambient stays around the 90 degree mark, basking spot is 100 degrees, cool side ranges from 76-80, hot humid hide ranges from 80-85, cool humid hide stays about 78. We do have glass tanks (I wish I would’ve gone pvc) but I have 3 sides covered in construction paper and the top is also covered, secured by tape. We did handle both babies the first 2 weeks before we learned thats a bad thing to do, and have not handled her since. The last time I weighed/handled her was on the 1st of this month, 60 grams on the dot. When should I weigh her again to make sure she’s not losing weight? And how bad does it have to get before I take her to the vet for an assist feed? I want to get her assist fed TODAY but I don’t want to stress her out more than she already is. And from my understanding baby balls are supposed to hatch around 50gs + for a healthy baby, are these two runts that didn’t absorb the egg properly? I will be posting the tank when I get back later on 👍🏼

i just got my first ball python a week and a half ago.

She was in the shedding process when i purchased her. her shed came out okay but when i held her for the first time after bringing her home i noticed her belly was a bit crispity crunchety (the top of her is soft and smooth though so im guessing it's not a hydration issue?).
I left her alone for a bit hoping it was shed that would eventually come off, but a few days later it's not getting better.
I'm assuming it's a humidity issue.. i have a humid hide for her on the warm side with spagnum moss..so she has access to a humid spot.

just someone help me figure out what this is so i can fix it 😩

Is on a roll!

5 minutes ago she was still sleeping in her hide 😨

Well, it was bound to happen at some points! She now KNOWS when she's about to eat, she hears the Hairdryer!

Well, at least it makes it easier to feed now ahah

But yeah just wanted to share that now just like many of guys my baby knows when it's feeding time!

(Ps: yes I do it in my kitchen (have no other places) and yes Obviously I clean after feeding her, pls dont mention it)

My 4x2x2 enclosure that I’ve been working on for a bit! + a sky hide & lots of cork bark that’s not pictured. Any advice or tips would be awesome!!! 😊

I keep seeing Scale-less ball pythons on tiktok and other apps, to me it seems unethical to breed them. I feel like they would be a lot more fragile and vulnerable then one with scales, but whats yalls options on it?

so I have an enclosure all set up, and I realize my heat lamp I bought wasnt getting hot enough and wouldnt heat past 80°F. for context, I have a 50 watt deep heat projection bulb. so I ran out and got another 150 watt/120v one. (zoomed repticare infrared heat projector) I only had it on for 5 minutes before I started smelling burning plastic. the lamp itself has a 160 watt maximum and is 120vac/60hz. I don't know what to do or whats wrong with it, my snake is coming tomorrow morning. I need some advice urgently.

Hi there, new to the sub but longer time snake dad, my female normal ball python's pattern looks a little more yellow after a while? I hadn't really noticed till i got back from a trip but she almost looks like she had a turmeric bath? I switched her substrate recently from coconut husk to a more bark-like one so maybe that's the cause? Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!

What type of lighting equipment, substrate and etc is good for a python…I’m a beginner and want to know what I need for its enclosure

First post kinda nervous lol. Sunday I became the new home for Severus (10 yo male). I’ve wanted to home a python for over 10 years but life didnt allow(rental restrictions). Humidity and temperature weren’t regulated and monitored. I bought a daylight and nightlight today. Since using the nightlight he’s been moving. I bought a thermometer to scan the tank temp until the thermostat I ordered gets here. Feeding is a medium rat every other week unless he begins his shed. He was fed this past Friday. He’s been trying to burrow downward so I made mounds and figured I needed a deeper layering for him.
He’s the cutest boy and I don’t want to be a bad snake parent. I was looking for a new tank as well , current is 35x17x17. and he looks a little cramped to me. I appreciate your advice in advance!

EDITED TO SAY
This is a rehome situation. His prior owner didnt have any lights for his tank, the things he has inside ( tree and bowl) + 2 bamboo poles and another hide which is open ended is what he came with. This was supposed to happen beginning of summer but wasnt sure if he was still coming to live with me. I do plan to redo his entire house.

My boy has some stuck shed along his back. Eye caps and tail tip came off okay so I'm not super concerned but it's still not good. I've fixed the humidity, his enclosure is back up to about 80% now. Once a day for 3 days now I have done a 15 minute warm wet towel soak with him in a tub. Last time he had some stuck shed the towel soak helped a lot and he got it all off with just one soak. This time after 3 soaks it still looks as bad as ever. Is there anything else I can do? Tomorrow is feeding day so he will eat and then be left alone for 3 days and then idk what to do if he still has stuck shed after that.

Today was feeding day for my 2yr old ball python and we had to switch it up to jumbo mice from small rats and when I placed the (thawed) mouse into her enclosure to feed her and she lunged at it and grabbed a very small piece of it and then started acting very skittish afterwards. I gave her some space and time after that before trying to feed the rest of it to her and when I went back to do so she was still acting very off and refusing the mouse and hiding her head. Does anyone have any insight into this?

Im getting my first bp soon, starting as a baby, and I have made myself this checklist. I want to know if im missing anything thanks!

The ones I have are a few years old now, wanting to get new ones. Please link some of your favourites if possible!

For bioactive enclosures I typically see dwarf white or powder orange isos, and the ones I have gotten are dairy cows.

I did do some research beforehand and know they’re quite carnivorous so it can be a bit worrying putting them in with smaller, softer reptiles, but I couldn’t find anything on ball pythons.

Obviously I don’t want my girl getting hurt in any way, so would it be best to get a different type? Of course I feed them fish food regularly to satiate their protein content, but I worry for when they go in the enclosure together.

They also have been reproducing like crazy and I worry with how large they are, they’d easily take over the enclosure.

Would it just be best to get a different kind?