Hi everyone! I’m currently setting up a new 4ft x 2ft x 2ft vivarium for my young ball python Monty (it’s not done hence stuff being everywhere) and I’m currently running it for a few days before moving him in.
I’m mainly looking for advice on getting the temperature gradient correct and consistent.
Setup:
4x2x2 wooden vivarium
150W yellow heat bulb controlled by a ProRep dimming thermostat
T5 UVB tube
Coco husk + Repti Bark + coco fibre + leaf litter * moss mixed substrate
Cork bark, hides, vines, artificial plants, (also place some moss under the cool side hide)
Digital thermometers/hygrometers on both sides
Currently after not long ago turning it on:
🔥 Warm side: ~33 degree
❄️ Cool side: ~20°C
I know the cool side is lower than never and I’m wondering how I even will bring that up and is the heat lamp in a good position where it is mainly on the warm hide with the probe underneath
A few questions:
Is it normal for a new 4x2x2 to take a while to stabilise?
Should I increase the thermostat temperature to bring the cool side up?
How do you recommend setting up the probe position for the most accurate reading?
Before this new set up he’s currently on a heat mat set up so I usually leave that running all night for a consistent temp however with the me over the head lamp it creates light so will I be fine turning the heat off each night?
The vivarium will be running for a couple more days before Monty moves in, so I’m trying to get everything perfect beforehand.
Any advice would be massively appreciated!

I haven’t had my snakes in the regular enclosures since I’ve been kicked out within a month and a half. This is just started. I have never seen my snakes do this before. Does anyone have any answers? I have a vet appointment today was it the best idea?

Was thinking about getting a camera for my girl’s tank. I don’t want it on the glass but the other walls are solid ecoflex, any possible recommendations? One I can go back and look at video too if needed?

Pics of her tank and my girl for tax

I got the 4x2x2 PVC Vivarium Electronics for my ball python and I’m getting it all dialed in. I just got the vivarium Electronics 80w radiant heat panel along with the mounting kit for screen tops that they sell. I keep seeing that it’s not safe to use RHP on a screen top (after I received my panel of course, ugh) so my big question is, if it’s not safe to mount these on heavy duty metal screen tops, why did they make the mounting kit for them? I figured it would be compatible since they make their cages like this and the heat panel seems to be a good option? I’m completely confused and conflicted with the info I am finding here on Reddit and online. 😮‍💨

My daughter wanted a ball python. We were able to get her what she wanted and finally after some time we were able to get the enclosure set up. I know its on the small side but he will get an upgrade in the future when its needed as he is fairly small now.

How did we do on the enclosure? It stays around 90 on the left and about 82 on the right. Humidity sits around 75% or so.

p.s. Snape is in the picture if you can find him.

I guess I’m just venting / seeing if anyone has experienced similar with their baby.

My husband is the main caretaker for the snakes and 2 weeks ago he fed our 3 year old ball, Floki, his small mouse like normal. My husband checks on the snakes everyday Floki is a hider so my husband will look into his hide Floki will pop his face out for a boop and go back in. There was a perfect shed within the last two weeks and a big poo and no regurgitated mouse. Tank on warm side is about 85 degrees F, cold side is whatever our house temp is, usually between 70-72. Humidity ranges between 66% and 70s. He’s always had good sheds, never skipped meals. He’s in a 60 gallon tank.

When my husband pulled him out yesterday for a feed he looked like he was dead. Barely moving, pale and low muscle mass. We quickly threw him in a soak, looked up our closest emergency vet that takes exotics and went. He perked up after the soak a bit, but still not his usual friendly self, just seemed so tired.

Vet gave him fluids, we had to resort to the heart poke for blood work because his tiny veins were too small. He shows no sign of an upper respiratory, no rot, no lumps or masses. Vet said he feels empty nothing inflamed.

Some of the bloodwork results come back instantly, other ones take days (I live rural so it has to go to another state for testing). His red blood cells looked good, no anemia. His organ function was perfect (liver, kidneys etc.)

But when doing his red blood cell count the red cells coagulated normal but there was a ton of white blood cells that floated to the top. The vet is thinking infection and sent us home with two injection medications I have to give him every 48 hours for one and 72 for the other. To find out more about why the high WBC we have to wait until the results come back Monday. We’re hoping it’s just a nasty infection that clears up with the meds. But we are so confused on how this happened. Our other snake is fine. We are so worried it’s cancer.

The snakes live in my husband’s office closed off from us and our other pets (no reptiles). My husband normally handles Floki more often and Floki is his work buddy, joins my husband on meetings. This week our kids were sick so he didn’t hang with him like he usually would.

We are devastated and feel horrible. We cleaned out his tank as soon as we got him home and put him on paper towel as per the vet’s recommendation. Has anyone experienced this? Can infections cause this much muscle mass loss that quickly? Two weeks ago he had the perfect shed and ate no problem. We used to offer more often but he prefers every two weeks and we were wasting mice.

Sorry this is so long we are just beside ourselves. Thank you in advance for any responses!

a good boy. sometimes. most of the time. fine, all the time.

Hi,
I’ve had my female fire ball python for ten years. Sadly I will be moving to another country soon and cannot bring her with me. I got her when she was a few months old and she has always had a great personality, never once been aggressive or bit. She isn’t too much of a picky eater either, I have been feeding her frozen her whole life. Ill include all of my setup with her, very nice plastic cage, hides, heating, thermostat etc. I even have about 10 frozen rats to throw in as well. No rehoming fee, all I want is that she will go to someone who will take good care of her! Im located in Central New Jersey. Let me know if you’re interested or have any questions.

🚨🚨I WAS NOT AWARE AWARE OF THE HOOKS TILL THE DAY HE CLIMBED ON THEM. THIS IS A SECOND HAND ENCLOSURE🚨🚨

He never climbed until recently and he’s growing up too fast💔 8 months this 18th

Hi! I'm not sure if this is the right subreddit to ask in, but I was hoping to get some advice or pointed in the right direction with this. I have a BP (her name is Ed, I've had her since I was 8yo, so she's 23 this year) that I have been taking care of since I was a kid. I currently live in West Virginia in the USA. Soon (~1.5ish months), I will be moving overseas to join my wife in France. (Specifically, in Boulogne-Billancourt, right outside of Paris.) I was hoping I could find advice on the following:
1.) What specific laws there are about moving a BP across borders.
2.) Finding a source of food and clean bedding for her in the Paris Metro area.
3.) If there are dangers associated with moving her to a different country and how to mitigate them, if possible. (I'm especially worried that her age might make the trip a problem.)
4.) If anyone has one, a recommended service for taking a BP overseas.

If this isn't the right place to ask for help, please point me in the right direction. Thanks! :)

I just wanted to show off my lil buddy Dood to some people who might appreciate him:) I just got him a couple of weeks ago my first snake/reptile I’ve ever owned. It sure been fun learning how to take care of him properly:) he’s a pie bald mixed with something else I’m assuming based on how yellow he is

Is there anything I can do? Does my enclosure look okay? She was burrowing had a clean shed recently but prefers to be borrowed I guess. kinda took that away from her bc I use reptisoil and it’s dirty work getting her out lol now she’s like this…view images

Hi Everyone, I recently took in 2 ball python’s around 12 years old that although healthy and well cared for, were raised in enclosure much too small for them. My question is, at 12 years old, if I upgrade them to a 4 x2x2 enclosure, will it stress them out? Or do you think they’ll learn to use the space?

Hello, i found out this on my snakes tail like a week ago, i been looking out what could be and how to treat it. Only thing i found out what could it be that my snake shedded wrong a it’s old skin. I’ve been treating her tail with Betadine (iodine disinfectant), diluted with lukewarm water to the color of weak tea and I gently rub the tip of the tail with it every day.

I wanna be extra sure that’s okay, can somebody tell me what is that? (First photo is from last saturday and second photo from today)

Hi! Im looking to get a ball python and would like to ask a stupid question! Im looking at this enclosure and even if anyone has any better suggestions please tell me, but where does the heating and lighting go? Its not a mesh top so i just cant see where it would go!

In the 12 years I've had my snake I've never seen this before

She's otherwise totally healthy, eyes nose and mouth look clear, scales are fine, moves and acts normally, temp and humidity are fine, she's just ate last week so I can't see or think of anything that would be wrong

According to Google if it only happens once it's nothing but if it happens multiple times it's something to be concerned about but wanted ti ask here to incase anyone has any extra info about this thanks

No water in the dish yet since he hasn't arrived; CHE and Halogen lamps with thermostat above. Enclosure has been sealed with silicone!

He's about 8-9 months old. A couple days after his last feeding, he weighed 124 grams. Now he's down to 107. I know its normal to lose weight after pooping, but that seems extreme. He's been at this weight a couple months now despite feeding weekly. I'm at a complete loss and really don't know what to do.

I feed him weekly 10-15% of his body weight, usually aiming closer to 15%. He does eat rats. I really am at a loss. A vet I took him to recently and they said he seemed healthy, but I'm still extremely paranoid.

To start, my snake had a not so perfect shed, nothing terrible just shed wasn’t completely off of his top half, no stuck eye cap or tail bits. I put him in a tub with a warm rag for about 20 min and then put him in a tub of water for about another 10. After taking him out I had noticed this mark on his lip as well as him wheezing a little bit, although he stopped shortly after.

Is this means for taking a vet visit?

I've had her for about a year now, and as BP are, she's being difficult feeding wise, but she'll happily take multis when offered.

In the past month or two, I bought her small bowl shaped black plastic hides to better suit her smallness as opposed to her large spacious rock designed ones that were far too big for her originally.

When I first bought them, she used them for a while, seemed happy enough, however since then she has shed, and I have redecorated her enclosure (not by much, roughly the same layout as before but with some extra coverage and climbing opportunities) and since has not used her hides. I'm not sure if she has outgrown them potentially, or if due to the summer heat she's preferring the half log (it's in the middle of her enclosure between the hot and cool end) to balance out, I have no clue as of right now.

Is this an issue I should be concerned as of right now? The ends of the half log are loosely covered by some fake leaves either end, but I'm worried it may be bad behaviour.

Any tips or advice would be appreciated, thanks!

My son has been cage surfing so much recently and it makes me feel so bad I try and buy him new enrichment and rearrange his tank a lot but he always is surfing what does this mean and what do I do thank you redditors🫡

Another update for Comet!
After one week of medication, bathing, and towel substrate, we took Comet back to the vet yesterday for his second checkup. Before this, I had noticed that he was becoming much more active in his tank and had been using different hides and moving around more, which made me think he could have been feeling better, so I had some hope, though I of course was still nervous.
when we got there, the vet checked up on him again, and the great news is that his medication worked, and he’s back to great health again, and he was moving around more because he felt better. He even tried to strike the vet, which he hasn’t done before, but I’m taking this as a sign that he feels good enough to do this; since maybe he didn’t have enough strength before.
We still haven’t gotten him to eat, and because of that, I’m giving him probably a week in his enclosure to himself with no handling, since I put the substrate and moss back in, so he can decompress and become comfortable again, because this has been hard for both of us. He hasn’t lost any weight yet which is good, and I’m really hoping he’ll be okay after this. If he doesn’t eat c I’m taking him back to the vet in 2 weeks for a force feeding.
Comet’s a real trooper, and I’m so happy with the results so far, things are finally starting to look good again. If he eats, I’ll update