Hello everyone,

My name is Steve, I just got a new ball python about 4 weeks ago. He is pretty small, I'm not sure of the age, but he's about 12-14 inches long and is captive hatched.

The guy at the pet store said he was a tiny bit aggressive and tried to snap at him once when they first got him in, however I didn't care and bought him anyway.

His name is Dante. I handled him the first day I got him for about 5 minutes, and he never tried to snap at me and showed no signs of any aggression.

I read that it's good to let them be for a little while with no handling so that they get used to the new home. He was really active the first few nights that I've had him, until I got a hide for him. Since I've gotten the hide I havn't seen him come out of it but twice, and when he sees people, he gets back in as fast as he can. I fed him frozen fuzzies 3 times in the 3 weeks that I've had him, and he took them no problem.

However, now when I try to handle him, he gets really aggressive, tries striking a lot and sometimes hisses. I've noticed that a few days ago his eyes were a little glazed over looking indicating that he might be getting ready to shed. Could this really cause such aggression?

His tank is always 75-80 on the cool side and 90ish on the warm side. and humidity is always at 50%.

How can I get him to be not so aggressive so that I can handle him without having to put on gloves? I've tried almost everything, Approaching slow, fast, and nothing he strikes at me every time I try to get near him. Is this normal?

How long should I wait before trying to handle again? Is it possible that he is just an aggressive snake and will never be handleable?

This is my first ball python, any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you