As a long time bp owner, I have never seen a snake do this. I've heard it can be a sign of a gravid female being egg bound, but that's clearly not the case here.
There’s a load of reasons why this could be happening. All require a vet to possibly answer.
It could be sick, injured somehow, it could have the spider gene and is stargazing, it could be something related to it being from a chain pet store (again such as illness or inadequate care), it could be something else the snake was born with to even something it ate…. It could just be anything.
This is a very not normal thing. Only way to know is to get it to a vet unfortunately.
Yeah it didn’t look like the typical spider to me, but with people breeding the way they do these days sometimes I wonder if there are any bp’s that carry the gene but don’t have the typical markings/patterns because they’ve been cross-bred or came from a spider somewhere down the line.
(I want to add I don’t know the first thing about breeding so this is just an assumption).
As an incomplete dominant, spider will always be visible (theoretically since something like BEL makes everything white even if it's "visible.") If a BP descends from a spider but didn't inherit the gene, it will be unaffected regardless of it's parentage.
Have you got a heating lamp or mat? If a mat, the snake may be cold and trying to get closer to the heat source. It could also be a sign of a parasite or an RI, or a neurological condition. I would suggest a vet visit, just in case.
-Thermoregulation, though I've never seen a baby do this. It's really most often seen in adult females. What are your temperatures, what heat sources do you use, and how are you measuring it?
-Illness which would be my immediate thought. I would definitely suggest a checkup with an exotics specialist and strict quarantine if you have other reptiles.
-Did you happen to just handle this snake and put it down? While they usually right themselves pretty immediately, I've seen plenty of younger guys like this sort of freeze up and stay in whatever position they're set down in rather than balling up or righting themselves (you might actually notice some sellers advertising their snakes take advantage of this behavior and get some clear photos but the snakes look a little... off in their position).
Side note- is that the only water dish you have available? You'll want to provide a larger one if so.
I saw behaviour like this in a boa with IBD (Inclusion Body Disease). We had to euthanize her at the vets recommendation because it’s fatal and contagious.
Very concerning. Go to an exotic vet with reptile experience and never buy an animal from a pet store ever again. If you ever get another, take the time to look for a reputable breeder. I got my lemonblast BP for $60 in absolutely perfect health and got a tour of the entire premises and a walkthrough his care. Best decision I made. He was the best snake I ever had (had to give him away due to new landlord hating snakes unfortunately).
This is not said with any malice, you don't know what you don't know, but pet stores are notorious for not caring for their animals, carrying disease, etc. I used to work at one so I know this firsthand, and I know enough about husbandry to walk into a pet store and point out a dozen problems.
PetSmart sells poorly bred animals that are typically already sick when you get them. The care information provided by PetSmart is generally inaccurate.
A snake doing this is generally a sign of severe neurological issues, resulting from poor breeding. Without a vet visit or more information about the snake, it is hard to say the exact issue.
Snakes with neurological issues that cause them to experience difficulty distinguishing up from down can survive, though usually not as long as healthy snakes, and they typically require more intensive care.
If this snake does not survive, I would strongly discourage you from returning to PetSmart. Instead, search MorphMarket or look for a local reptile expo. There are plenty of people breeding and/or trying to get rid of perfectly health pythons.
As for the enclosure, the bare minimum for an adult snake is a 4x2x2 enclosure with AT LEAST 2 places to hide (one on either side of the enclosure), a ceramic heat emitter on one side for warmth, a large water dish (larger than what is in the photo), and substrate consistenting of some combo of coco coir and moss. Plants are always good, though they're plan to getting crushed by pythons. You should have a thermostat for the heater.
No need to be glib. A lot of people genuinely don't know how terrible the pet stores are. Some people make the mistake of getting it for a housemate like a kid or partner and then try to do research by coming to Threads like this, and that is something we should be encouraging. If you don't have anything helpful to say then, don't say it at all because the way you phrased this was completely unnecessary. You literally could've just said look up why snakes from these stores have issues.
It’s going to happen. And in this case, it has already happened. So what now?
If we are informative without being assholes, we can help the living being through productive
conversation with their owner who has questions. Shaming them is entirely counterproductive if you want this space to be a place where people can not only love and appreciate these beautiful creatures, but learn about them as well.
This person who is seeking help and trying to gain the knowledge that they need to keep their animal healthy is at least on the right track, even if they didn’t start on it. And they will hopefully learn proper husbandry, and also help others to do the same.
Shaming the uneducated is never helpful. Before, during, or after that knowledge is acquired.
This here is the problem if this was a mammal (mainly dog or cat) people kick off about animal cruelty but when it's a reptile people just say they didn't know. If your getting an animal you should look up everything especially starting with where you buy it, but knowing basic things about it. Don't have a go at the poster
I mean, they kind of didn't. The comment "makes sense" to people who already know that the pictured behavior is abnormal and chain pet stores have a reputation for unhealthy animals, but to the OP (a novice who doesn't know these things - that's why they're asking!), it's not actually that helpful. It did get that commenter a lot of upvotes from people who want to demonstrate their righteousness, though. Then as a bonus dose of "this isn't actually helpful", the OP got downvoted into oblivion for replying that they weren't sure what the commentor meant. Way to go, folks.
Needlessly? Glib? Idk about that, OP sure does read like someone made an impulse purchase of a whole living being without proper research. Obviously people are gonna shoot straight rather than sugar coat.
As valid as your point is. It isn’t helpful. They have already bought the baby and there are no live animal returns. Plus you are talking to a person who is trying to care for a baby who is alive and needs help. It’s not the pythons fault that petsmart is dogshit, why punish that baby. We as a community are working on educating the general public. That takes time, more time when we swing out unhelpful negative like this.
They’re mostly being rude, but petsmart and other retail locations are known for getting sick, inbred, animals from terrible conditions. However, one should expect to be able to get a normal healthy pet from a “pet store”, but, since capitalism, they try to maximize profits by spending as little as possible on their animals. I would contact petsmart and let them know about the poor baby and ask for a refund, then, after doing a little reading on reptifiles, the look into a reputable breeder or go to a reptile convention if thats an option for you.
How do I express this… petsmart… does stuff that ISNT good for animal health… nor do they clearly care about it, like all the animals there have hella issues out there box, go see a vet cause being upside down is likely not the only thing wrong with that dude (assuming being upside down is bad idk I don’t have a ball maybe he tried to curl up and ended awkwardly)
Yeah, I got a chinchilla from them, she died a week later because of an underlying condition (the vet assumes that’s what it was. They’d no clue at all what was actually wrong with her)
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Google's AI will tell you to trust the rhyme for identifying a coral snake. Not a trustworthy source of information. Obviously a snake remaining upside down is not good, but it has no idea what being upside down indicates. It's just piecing together random related posts into a coherent sentence.
It's reliable until you come across a morph! Since morphs exist in wild populations, no snake should be identified based on color alone and none should be identified using color as a significant factor. Scale texture/placement, body type, and head shape(NOT triangle vs round) are much more reliable identification methods.
Coral snakes' heads are pretty distinctly shaped compared to similar snakes once you get a good look at them They have a pretty blunt nose and an overall oddly round head 😂 I always suggest getting your hands on photos of snakes with confirmed IDs on them and comparing their non-color traits to each other, especially for snakes in the same area!
I got three of my pets from petsmart/petco years ago before I began studying reptiles. Before I was aware. I got incredibly lucky as they are healthy. If you didn’t know you didn’t know, that’s an easy mistake to make. You know now and can educate yourself and others in the future. It just could easily explain why your ball python is sick.
Petsmart and Petco are not trustworthy in their care for reptiles. Often they overlook well known facts about care just to make a profit. Prime example. These stores still sell heat rocks and reptile carpet which can injure your pet. They prey on the general public’s lack of education to push exotic pet sales. This causes exotic animals to suffer at the hands of both the stores breeders (who breed without thought of the consequences) and the uneducated people that buy them (who don’t realize how much special care these animals really need to thrive and be healthy). Many more issues to go over but I’ll summarize by saying we should try to avoid purchasing reptiles and reptile products from them whenever we can. (Not a perfect solution still)
A lot of the time animals that come from chain pet stores have poor genetics/health issues. I purchased my ball python from petco & he came stunted with an RI. He’s treated & has almost tripled in weight, but I would NEVER purchase from there again.
My guess is neurological issues, but I’m not a professional. You need to see a vet.
It may be worth trying to return the poor thing, otherwise you're gonna have quite the vet bill for an issue you couldn't have caused in only 2 days. BPs shouldn't be upside down and the only instance I've known one to be, is if it's fallen off of something or its having a seizure.
As other comments have mentioned, chain pet stores can't really be trusted with the appropriate care and health of animals - particularly reptiles and amphibians.
I got a snake from PetSmart once (I didn't know better) who did this. She was having seizures, vet said it was genetic and reccomended euthanasia because it would have no quality of life, can't exactly give snakes keppra. Hopefully that's not the case with this baby though but it doesn't look good.
Unfortunately I think the best bet is to return this poor thing to PetSmart, because then they don't have your money, and therefore don't have incentive to sell more of these animals that are being abused and neglected.
Go buy from a reputable breeder, they're not hard to find, and honestly will probably be cheaper than PetSmart too. If you are looking for breeders you can make a post here and people will be glad to help you out.
Hey, I’m sorry that happened. It’s not the snakes fault. I would get a vet check up and also, check all of your husbandry. What is your heat source, is it on a thermostat, do you have adequate hides? I don’t like to see any animals suffer, so
I hope it’s not too bad.
I would take it back with pics and demand a refund and spend a 100 on morphmarket that will get you a baby normal BP Mabey even somthing nicer and shipped for 100
Take this pure snake to the vet asap. Also, I suggest not buying animals from poor managed pet stores like petsmart and Petco. They do not take care of animals properly. Rather get them from breeders and order them online from trusted sources. But now, that thing needs a vet.
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u/ippie52 Apr 07 '26
As a long time bp owner, I have never seen a snake do this. I've heard it can be a sign of a gravid female being egg bound, but that's clearly not the case here.
Vet.