Striking?

[DarrinLowe]

My girlfriend and I got two new ball pythons, one a female born in June of last year and the male born in November of last year about a week ago.

On Friday we tried feeding and both were successful except for the fact that when adding more water, the male tried to bite me, so we waited two days to clean out the terrariums from all the poop and what not, my girlfriend took out the male and he looked somewhat angry but we needed to clean, he didn't strike at her but as soon as he saw me he started to strike, then when we put him back him he continued to strike at the window.

Why is he striking? is there anything we can do to stop this?

Ps they are in two different terrariums

[Amon Ra Reptiles]

Ok well any snake will strike if your sticking your hand in the cage after feeding. They are in feeding mode and anything they may think is food they will strike at. Also make sure after you handle any mice rats ect you wash your hands . They can smell it on you and may bite. He also just may not be used to the new home and people. Give him some time if needed handle him with gloves first until he gets used to you. I have also seen snakes that just don't like certain people. We got a redtail and the guy that gave him to us said he couldn't be handled he bites he strikes at the glass. Well we get him and have never had a problem. So he may just not like you as bad as that seems. Well good luck to you!

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Can be for several reasons, first they are still very young and young individual tend to be more defensive and strike.

The strike after the feeding is no surprise snake can stay in feeding modes hours after being fed so in the future try to avoid messing around the enclosure soon after feeding or even before.

Now if the behavior persist there could be several reasons, stress, amount of food not being adequate, husbandry problems.

How often and how big of preys do you feed?

How big is the male's enclosure? Do he have tights hides? What are the temps?

How often do you handle him?

[DarrinLowe]

He is eating hoppers, and his enclosure is a 10gallon. His hides are pretty small, aside from today, we havent handled him once since we got him (Last Saturday) The thermostat on his basking side is set to 90 and seems to be pretty consistent with that.. I never actually see him in his hides though. I dont quite know why.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

He is eating hoppers, and his enclosure is a 10gallon. His hides are pretty small, aside from today, we havent handled him once since we got him (Last Saturday) The thermostat on his basking side is set to 90 and seems to be pretty consistent with that.. I never actually see him in his hides though. I dont quite know why.

The t-stat is on 90 but what is the temperature? you do have a thermometer to read the temp correct?

If he is not in his hide much it's because he does not feel secure enough in them, at that age especially in a glass enclosure BP will hide unless the hides are not tight enough and do not provide adequate security.

As far as food by now he should be at least on small adult mice if not adult mice, BP are started on hoppers but quickly move to adults in a matter of weeks, so this could be one of your issue as well.

[llovelace]

He is eating hoppers, and his enclosure is a 10gallon. His hides are pretty small, aside from today, we havent handled him once since we got him (Last Saturday) The thermostat on his basking side is set to 90 and seems to be pretty consistent with that.. I never actually see him in his hides though. I dont quite know why.

My hatchlings from Nov. are eating 30g asf's, give your fella bigger food items, at least a grown mouse, or weaner rat. What is his weight.

[DarrinLowe]

It did seem a little small for him.

Next friday, I'll try an adult?

It's just the guy who bred them told me he was eating hoppers, and the girl large hoppers.
Hopefully that can help work it out.

In terms of weight, we couldnt really get a chance to weigh the guy. He was really agressive. Kept striking at me so I just changed his liner, cleaned his dish, put more water in his hide and fixed his probes.

Yes we do have a temperature probe right beside our thermostat probe, it reads 89.7 atm, and the light is off. I will see if I can make him a smaller hide out of something that is a little more, secure.

My main concern with him not going into the hides was that the breeder was using clouded tubs, with no hides..


My girl is now going into shed, so im trying to keep on the humidity to the best of my ability.
We did get the chance to measure her weight, but I'm not sure how accurate it was, cause I didnt get much of a look as my gf was doing it. Apparently it said 3oz, which turns out to be around 84grams or something. and from what Ive heard thats pretty small for a 6month female?

[snakesRkewl]

Yes we do have a temperature probe right beside our thermostat probe, it reads 89.7 atm, and the light is off. I will see if I can make him a smaller hide out of something that is a little more, secure.

The thermostat probe goes outside the enclosure against the UTH, the thermometer probe goes against the uth inside the enclosure to read the actual temperature directly on the hot spot.

My main concern with him not going into the hides was that the breeder was using clouded tubs, with no hides..

It's possible the snake doesn't trust the hides then.
I have only a few that use hides in the tubs and if I add hides to the ones that don't use hides they won't use them.
In a tank they usually learn to use hides, especially if you set up the tank so they don't feel so exposed the the world. Covering 3 sides of the tank helps a lot, covering a good portion of the top helps keep in heat and humidity.
Having a hide just larger than the snake for a fairly tight fit helps too.

We did get the chance to measure her weight, but I'm not sure how accurate it was, cause I didnt get much of a look as my gf was doing it. Apparently it said 3oz, which turns out to be around 84grams or something. and from what Ive heard thats pretty small for a 6month female?

That would be tiny, hopefully you can get it eating a bit larger prey

[DarrinLowe]

Well, right now they are on two seperate wooden shelves, with an iron maiden flag covering them. Maybe eddy is scaring him?

What do you mean by against the UTH, like attached to the bottom of it?

At the moment I am only using infrared bulbs.. the UTH's are on the way.

I have tinfoil covering 3/4 of the enclosure.

Edit: I'm going to get some pictures up for you guys tomorrow, so you can take a look. My main concern in terms of the pictures is the female. I'll weigh her again aswell.

About the male, what should I be doing to help him get over the striking thing? Should I be taking him out, and allowing him to try to strike, or if he tries to should I put him back in, and how often should I be handling him?
Hes not much of a "ball" python... More so a.. "Get outa my face, I dont care how big you are, I'm gonna eat you" python.

[SkullyB]

About the male, what should I be doing to help him get over the striking thing? Should I be taking him out, and allowing him to try to strike, or if he tries to should I put him back in, and how often should I be handling him?
Hes not much of a "ball" python... More so a.. "Get outa my face, I dont care how big you are, I'm gonna eat you" python.

throw on some gloves and guard your wrist let him strike a few times after he relizes it does nothing it may stop. maybe