My Ball Python Amazed Me Today.

[tarakatrine]

So I have a couple of ball pythons. I am pretty close to my male. He has been a really fun snake, very tame, and genuinely seems to like people and enjoy being held. He's is the coolest snake.
Though I have been advised not to feed in the cage, I do anyway. I do not allow the mice to run loose in the cage with the snake at any time to avoid bites, and mostly to keep the mice from defecating all over the place. I hand feed them. Today, my male snake missed the mouse and i dropped it. Without even thinking, i reached in to pick up the mouse since he was running away. With the set up being pretty elaborate, the mice have plenty of space to hide and plenty of time to "eliminate" everywhere...which is sick. haha. So anyway, when a snake strikes and misses, they are usually sort of disoriented for a moment. Sort of..overexcited about trying to find the prey they just lost out on. Well, he was still in strike mode when i reached my hand in. I got bitten. Granted, it was completely 100% my fault, but he knew he messed up. When I gave him the mouse a second time...he didnt strike at it. It was as if he knew that he bit me and he shouldn't have. He moved in slowly to make sure he knew what he was eating. The second mouse i gave him 30 minutes later...he did the same thing. This python.....very slowly moved toward my hand and opened his mouth and grabbed the mouse, but not before being nipped on the nose because he was moving so slowly. It was the most bizarre thing I have ever seen a snake do. Normally when a snake strikes, it is so fast you cant even see it. My snake took a live mouse from my hand like a well behaved golden retriever would take a side of bacon. Amazing. Could it possibly be that snakes are smart enough to learn from a mistake? Or have problem solving skills? What do you think about this?? I loooove my ball python!

[CoolioTiffany]

Actually, feeding in the enclosure is most recommended to prevent as less stress as possible when feeding time comes around.

My Ball python did the same thing before, not sure why, but sometimes snakes just have those moments where they stop trying to strike and just take it like a well-behaved snake. Most likely the next feeding he won't do this again, just because fast striking is in their nature and is what they do. He didn't necessarily learn from a mistake, he just decided to stop trying IMO. My female was missing so many strikes one time during feeding that she just gave up and took the mouse very gently, which I thought was kind of funny. Next time feeding she just struck fast and wrapped around like she always does.

[jjmitchell]

I purchased some cheap kitchen tongs for this purpose.... I dont worry about them to much but feeding primarily frozen thawed it puts some sepration between the rat and my hand, and lets me make the puppet dance a bit

[Vilenica]

Could it possibly be that snakes are smart enough to learn from a mistake? Or have problem solving skills? What do you think about this?? I loooove my ball python!

Yes, maybe, hell yeah, and me too

[CA cowgirl]

I purchased some cheap kitchen tongs for this purpose.... I dont worry about them to much but feeding primarily frozen thawed it puts some sepration between the rat and my hand, and lets me make the puppet dance a bit

Ditto... I bought a pair of feeding tongs from a reptile show for cheap and I'm glad I did. Every time I feed my albino redtail female my breath is taken away, she hits her food hard!

[rabernet]

You said that you don't allow the mouse to run loose in the enclosure to avoid bites, and yet your snake got a nip on the nose anyway.

I feed live in enclosures every single week. I've never had a problem with my snakes getting injured from a rodent being allowed to wander in the enclosure before being constricted by the snake.

You may not have had any problems hand feeding to date, but one day, you may be in for a big surprise when your snake misses the rodent and constricts your hand instead.

[bsd13]

Today, my male snake missed the mouse and i dropped it. Without even thinking, i reached in to pick up the mouse since he was running away.

Why in the world would you be hand feeding a live animal to a snake?

Well, he was still in strike mode when i reached my hand in. I got bitten. Granted, it was completely 100% my fault, but he knew he messed up.

More importantly why would you stick you hand in with a snake that's on the hunt? Especially one you know is wound up for food. And no, he didn't mess up. You did by having your hand in there.

As far as intelligence and problem solving skills. I might be convinced when it comes to retics but ball pythons, no.