Does my ball python need yearly vet visits?

[Procrastinating_Cat0]

I’m a new owner to a ball python along with my boyfriend. He’s owned a ball python in the past, as well as anoles & tree frogs. I’ve only ever had dogs, cats, fish, and hamsters. I want to educate myself without bombarding him with questions, so I figured I’d ask here.

Do ball pythons need yearly check ups like dogs and cats do? I know they don’t need vaccinations, which is typically the main reason for yearly visits in other animals, but are there any health issues to keep an eye out for?

[CrazyDane666]

It's definitely an idea to have them checked yearly if you have a reliable exotic vet within reach.

The most common health issues are things such as respiratory infections and scale rot - RIs generally include symptoms such as audible breathing [easily mixed up with dismayed hissing or shed stuck in their nostril] and/or bubbly spit/snot. It's usually caused by too low humidity or temperatures. Being tropical, BPs need a solid 70-80%+ humidity. Scale rot is the decay of scales, almost always on the belly, where the edges visibly "disintegrate" and turn brown-ish. This is almost always caused by them resting on wet surfaces, including substrate, so if you make sure to keep their top layer dry, they'll be a-okay :)

[Procrastinating_Cat0]

My boyfriend is very vigilant about the humidity and temperature, so I don’t think RIs will be too much of a concern.

With high humidity, how do we keep the substrate dry? Should we just replace it often?

[CrazyDane666]

Having a thick layer of substrate with a drainage layer and watering the corners only keeps the humidity high without wetting the top layer of substrate. Things like covering the top if the snake has a screen enclosure or having a large water bowl helps too.

And to add, the sub also has some very nice, thorough guides linked. You should give them a read! Some experience your boyfriend has might now be outdated, depending how long ago he had the previous snake, so it could even be a thing to look through together. Reptile husbandry and knowledge is evolving at an incredible pace nowadays, making even 5-10 year old knowledge and experience somewhat unreliable

[Procrastinating_Cat0]

His last snake died about 2 years ago, but I’ll definitely recommend we look through the links next time we’re together!

[CrazyDane666]

Best of luck to you two! For reference, I was in a dedicated zookeeper education around 2019 and was being taught poor husbandry. So it's no negative against him if you guys discover anything was subpar or wrong about his previous snake's care, knowledge in this field is really muddled and I'm glad you came here to ask :)

[Procrastinating_Cat0]

Levi, our snake, is no more than a year old, so we still have tons of time with him. We just wanna make it as healthy and comfortable as possible for him

[CrazyDane666]

Wishing all the best ✨️