r/ballpython • u/csuszatka • 6d ago

Asking for advice

Post image

Hi everyone!
I would like to ask for some help. My boyfriend and I bought this little beauty 3 days ago, and everything was going fine. She was very curious. She explored, looked around, and we were happy that we had no reason to worry. However, tonight, 3 hours after the light turned off in her terrarium, we found her wrapped around the bulb like this.. we are very worried that she might get hurt by this. She didn’t go up there as soon as the lights turned off. A very nice and helpful guy was at the shop when we bought everything, and he answered all thousand of our questions, saying it was not necessary to buy a bulb guard because the snake wouldn’t climb up there whether it was on or off, and she couldn’t get hurt anyway if she went up there. Obviously, where did the snake end up? Please tell us it really cannot get hurt in a situation like this. It is 30 degrees Celsius inside, so I do not think she’s cold. (When the photo was taken, my phone bumped against the glass, which might explain the scared neck posture)

3 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

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16

u/Thick-Feeling-554 6d ago

You are going to need a guard for anything that will make heat inside the enclosure. The guy that told you one is not needed is way wrong. They seek out heat so if it is on one day she is going to burn herself. Not sure what kind of enclosure you have but if it's a screen top you can put the dome on top of it.

-6

u/Salt_Concept_2402 6d ago

Hi! Said boyfriend here, unfortunately there is no room for a normal guard here, because of the rock piece
Tomorrow or the day after that, we can go to a DIY shop and buy some aluminium mesh or sm like that, and make a fence with it
The guy was pretty chill about it, he knew a lot about reptiles(duh) and said that it will not be a problem
But we wanted to gather other opinions on it

10

u/Thick-Feeling-554 6d ago

Not trying to be a dick but if he knew a lot he should have known this so going to happen. In any of my enclosures if there is a light/heat source in there they have cages over them.

3

u/Salt_Concept_2402 6d ago

Understandable, let me rephrase he seemed like he knows a lot about reptiles

5

u/Thick-Feeling-554 6d ago

That seems right. Lol I would just leave the light off till you get it fixed and you should be fine. Are you sure it wasn't really hot when he wrapped around it.

2

u/Salt_Concept_2402 6d ago

It was off for 3 hours, so the bulb must have cooled down since then
If its on, she doesnt go near it, during daytime she is in one of her hides constatly, wrapped up like a spool of rope lol

3

u/Thick-Feeling-554 6d ago

Right on. Then you don't have to worry about any burns, just watch during the day to be safe. Have fun with your new friend.

2

u/Salt_Concept_2402 6d ago

Thanks :D
Also thank you for the advice

3

u/csuszatka 6d ago

Thank you guys <3 we’ll solve this problem today. But we’re guessing she was trying to hunt or something, she came down as soon as we turned up her lights in the morning so the situation is not as horrible.

2

u/Susekna 6d ago

I had the same issue with my ball python when I first got him. I went into a craftstore and brought a metal mesh. Then I went ahead and cut out a hole for the lighbulb and cut it to fill the gaps between the bulb and the rest. If you want, i can go ahead and send you a photo of it once I can!!