I am new here and unfortunately for us I found this forum too late. For the past 10 years my daughter has had a male ball python. Over the past 3 months, he had problems with an inflamed genetalia; we repeatedly took him to the vet recommended by the vivarium where we pruchased the snake. For the first couple of visits, the vet (who says he is a specialist in reptiles and affilated with the closest vertinary school and a national association of reptilian vets), said that antibiotics would clear up the problem; the an antibiotic ointment. Finally, when our snake was bleeding alot, the vet recommended we neuter the snake. The snake had surgery and stayed overnight at the vet's. When my daughter picked up the snake she told the vet tech that the snake did not look right, and the tech assured her the snake was fine. She got the snake home and she called the vet back, and told the vet that the snake was listing to the side and limp, and the vet said that was normal. We went out for a couple of hours and we returned and the snake had died. I called the vet and he said the conduct of the snake after surgery was normal, and that something else could have happened to the snake - like developing a clot and that the listing was a result of pain. I know that no vet guaranties a good result, but somehow I just can't get over that he was telling my daughter the sake was acting normal in these circumstances and he didn't ask for use to bring the snake back. Could anyone give me some feed back on the situation and let us know your experiences with vet care for BPs. Needless to say, my daughter is heartbroken.