Hmmmn! That place sounds interesting to say the least! Sounds like a great place for comedy hour! 
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I will say that the redditors have a high standard of care in general and a really good introductory document for first-time ball python owners (particularly those with the intent to keep as pets). It really helped me when I was first starting out. It’s difficult to find up-to-date, comprehensive care information all in one place and the reddit has gone to the effort of putting it together.
The issue with the reddit is the groupthink aspect that reduces conceptual flexibility, though, you are correct. I follow the reddit because I prefer to get my information from multiple sources and perform a synthesis with what I find. If multiple people with very different viewpoints can agree on something in general, you can usually rely on that information to be reasonably correct.
This is the place I come with questions, because the responses on Reddit can get extreme, and I just don’t think that’s a great way to approach knowledge sharing in general. The vibe here is much kinder to people with genuine, well-meaning queries and problems that blindsided them… but I will say, there is occasionally advice I see given out here that I would never follow personally, too. I appreciate that it’s given kindly, and I appreciate that a lot of it comes from experience, but sometimes “this is how we’ve always done it” can be a fallacy too.
I’d hesitate to get too down on the reddit folks for erring too far in the other direction: just use either knowledge base with discretion, and double-check any information before taking it as gospel.
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Oh my gosh, I feel bad for not having elaborated on the reddit dumpster fire comment and I definitely want to clarify the blanket comment I made. It’s a disservice to the specific group that you’re engaged with for me to generalize. My observations of reddit as a whole are that, well, it is a hot mess. However, my opinion is solely based on the topics that appear in my feed, like play-by-play text screenshots of people trying to game the scammers, family/relationship questions and drama, stories that are supposedly true but are quite clearly pure fiction, etc. Then people go into someone’s profile after reading a comment they make and put them on blast, etc. It’s kind of like Facebook on steroids minus the facebook status posts like “Today, I woke up and ate cereal.” Purely my opinion though.
The actual reptile subreddits (I do follow a hognose sub) are more tame but, yes, still that “group” mindset. I see cute pictures of hoggies just like on here. More than once I have wanted to invite people in that subreddit to check out our community here but I can’t bring myself to do it. I like all our people here and feel safe and comfortable enough to post knowing I won’t get dragged or ridiculed.
Well so much for writing a one-sentence clarification as I had planned. Now we have a whole book of my ramblings 
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You know, that makes a lot more sense! Reddit is a mixed bag and absolutely a lot of the corners there get buckwild. (I have not been immune to going and staring at the dumpster fire from time to time… my god, the subreddit about mothers-in-law. Yoikes.)
All good either way – no shade intended and no hard feelings had. 
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It is definitely a wild place, but it is great for entertainment, Reddit that is lol. So far I am enjoying using this for questions a lot more than I did over there. Not everyone was bad, though!
And now, another question… Is it normal for my ball python to want to stay in her warm side hide during shed? I’ll usually catch her bouncing back and forth every now and then, and of course she comes out to explore at night and will switch sides on occasion. But since she has started the shed process, she hasn’t come out of her warm hide except for when I’ve bugged her and picked her up to spot clean. Anything I should be worried about? Or is she just feeling uncomfortable and just doesn’t want to move?
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Well imho only I would say that she is more comfortable on the warm side and there is nothing wrong with that. It may be more humid on that side. So no worries here…… 
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Nothing to worry about! It’s pretty common for snakes to sort of hunker down and be less active when they’re about to shed. Sometimes I don’t even notice my snakes going into shed because they hide themselves away, only to re-emerge a few days later with a fresh new paint job.
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I just took some time to check her enclosure out and take a peek at her and it looks like her eyes have cleared up a bit, and her yellows have really faded lol. She kinda looks like a normal now! But her eyes aren’t as milky looking and I hear that’s when they’re close to actually removing the old skin! I hope she does it tomorrow or Thursday! I go out of town on Thursday afternoon until Monday and I really wanted to be with her for her first shed to see how she does! Will just have to hope she does well and give her assistance if needed when I return! I just can’t believe how sweet she is even when going through this!
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Just prior to a shed, snakes secrete an oil from their new skin that helps the old skin separate from the new skin. That causes the blue eyes and dull skin. After a few days in the blue, the snake reabsorbs the oil and the eyes go back to their normal color. At this point you might be thinking, “Wait a minute, did I hallucinate my snake was in the blue? Maybe it’s not going to shed.”. We’ve all had that thought when we were noobs, trust me, it’s going to shed. After the reabsorption, it’s usually just 1-2 days until the snake sheds.
So hopefully she’ll shed for you before you leave town. But if she doesn’t shed before you leave, she’ll shed while you are away. Don’t worry, instinct will take over and she’ll shed just fine without you, but I understand wanting to be there for this “first”.
Be sure to check the shed skin for those eye caps. And sometimes there’s a smidge of blood on the shed skin by the vent. This is totally normal.
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Okay! Yeah I noticed Sunday that her eyes had cleared up, so hopefully she will tonight or tomorrow! I figured she’d be fine. My mom is stopping by and taking care of my cats while I’m gone, but there is no power in this world that would get her to check up on my snake hahahaha. I will take a close look for the eye caps. I see a lot of the snake YouTubers mentioning looking out for those, and have seen them remove them at times. I know it can be risky taking off the eye caps if they don’t remove them during shed from what I’ve heard, but luckily there is an exotic vet 1 minute from my house, so I could always run to them if I didn’t feel comfortable. It didn’t look too difficult to do, though. For some reason, I’m making myself think her first shed in her enclosure with me is the true test of my husbandry lol. I guess that’s why I’m taking it so serious!
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It is great that you are taking it seriously Tyler! I wish more people were like you! I know you want to be around for her first shed but nature will take over and everything will be fine I promise! And the shed skin isn’t going anywhere! 
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