I need a Los Angeles Vet for my ball python.

[GoldSheep]

https://www.snakesforpets.com/can-ba...ns-hear-sound/

According to this, yes. So excessive street noise, yes. Say, like a motorcycle whizzing by. And some air vibrations, which explains why she freezes when I talk to her and say, "Ah, there you are. Do you want to sit in my lap?"

She probably can also *smell* me. When I'm in the room, she always turned her head towards me, and when she's about to try to escape, takes a flick of her tongue in my direction before dashing. (Yes, I know their eyesight is poor, but their sense of smell outmatches ours). She also sometimes actively comes to find me. I know that sounds weird, but a few times she escaped, then realized there was no food, and then came to my bed, slithered over me and waited. (And mind you, I really did try to secure her cage. But she managed to bop her head against the screen enough to loosen the old silicone, and then pushed out. (during breeding season). She injured her nose on the screen once. Mind you, at the time her cage was big enough and well-furnished.

She once escaped and hid under my desk and stayed there for a month. I couldn't retrieve her, but checked on her. She'd flick her tongue at me.

So, some air sounds, yes.

But definitely her behavior isn't a typical ball python by a long shot. She's female, so is supposed to be all still during the breeding season, but she's not. (My other female isn't either, so I don't know about that--maybe they didn't study enough... The most escapes I've had were during the breeding season.)

This one hates belly heat and I'm trying to figure out how to accommodate that. Her favorite hiding spots outside her cage are all heat from above, rather than below. None of my other snakes seem to care. But this one really cares. Her current favorite spot is on a book, positioned just so (otherwise she will not hide there and believe me I tried other positions, but then she disappeared or tried to escape.) on the rack system with the heat coming from above heating the snake above her. She'll sit there all day. And then I gave her a water bowl and she'll drink from the water bowl, go back and then at night want off the spot, explore and go find me, and then I let her sit on my lap under a blanket, before putting her in her cage, then in the morning, when I pass by, she squirms her head against the screen until I open the cage, and then I put her back on that spot. She's deemed it her favorite spot in the entire apartment. And I'm trying to adjust her basking spot better, a few times, but she wants *that* spot and protests until she gets it.

She likes to greet the sun in the morning. She'll come out at dawn, stick her head out. When she was smaller, she'd also try basking in it. And then go back to hide in mid-morning to evening. She begs for food, too, by putting her head on the place where I put the rats usually around the time I feed her.

Also, I think ball python sense of direction is better than we give credit for. She managed to navigate back to her open cage when she escaped where her water bowl was.

None of my other ball pythons do this, though. They all go back to their hiding spots easily. They hide for most of the day, and they don't care where the heat is coming from. Her daughter, though, begs for food, like she does.

She does not like me touching her head--which is to be expected, but she'll freeze in place if I use a q-tip and have neosporin on it. (This one confounds me. Every other snake always runs away.) I do periodically check her mouth for mouth rot and check her teeth, especially if her sounds are a bit off.

Iunno, they definitely have personalities 'cause they have preferences and different behaviors. She's really quirky for a ball python.

Waiting for the results of the test. Her tail is a bit swollen from where they were drawing blood, but I figure that's normal given what happened. She's still treating it as sensitive. (Doesn't let me touch it, hold it, and holds it in such a way it doesn't touch objects. I'm doing a thorough clean out with F10 sc. TT It hurts me I can't upgrade her like I planned though. It'll be a few months before I can upgrade her to a bigger cage. She deserves at least a 4-5' cage. (I want a 6ft, but my apt is too small)