Close call

[Peoples]

So I picked up [handled] my 9yr old girl today who'd never even so much as hint at biting before, as I was holding her she was moving across my hand and I noticed her press her head into my wrist and opened her mouth as if about to bite into my hand, but I pulled away before she could close her mouth. (She did not strike).

I'm not sure if she was trying to bite me. before I picked her up, I'd been eating ice-cream and forgot to wash my hands. any ideas as to why she'd want to bite me also should I try picking her up again?

[pingure]

Are you sure she was not yawning. My little pin does it and scared the crap out of me the first time but i does it every now and then still and it looks like he might bite but just yawns and goes about what he was doing. Thats just my experince though with the same kind of situation.

[Peoples]

Her nose was pressed into my hand when she opened her mouth, usually she raises her head if she's gonna yawn but I didn't let my hand stick around to find out. It would really ruin her good girl streak to bite me now after 9 years.

[EverEvolvingExotics]

I'm not sure if she was trying to bite me. before I picked her up, I'd been eating ice-cream and forgot to wash my hands.

Ball pythons crave ice cream, is a big part of their diet in the wild. Not washing your hands probably triggered a feeding response. The only other thing I can think of is that she looked like she was trying to bite, but she was just yawning.

[pingure]

yeah thats kinda odd never heard of that but at least she didnt and if she was mine i'de prefer to think she wasnt going to. but only to keep her "good girl streak" especially after 9 years.
Hope she keeps her streak for you though

[Peoples]

Thanks for the response guys....

Nice one eel, you never know LOL...
Pingure I think I'll pick her up in the morning, maybe a stress response also...

[CoolioTiffany]

I had one of my Balls do this same thing to me a couple years ago, except she pressed her nose against my arm pit and tried to bite down slowly. I'm not sure what makes snakes do this but I've heard of this happening several times before. It is pretty random.. I'm sure she wasn't intentionally trying to bite you.

[Peoples]

I had one of my Balls do this same thing to me a couple years ago, except she pressed her nose against my arm pit and tried to bite down slowly. I'm not sure what makes snakes do this but I've heard of this happening several times before. It is pretty random.. I'm sure she wasn't intentionally trying to bite you.

Thanks Tiffany, thing is she's got 2 photoshoots tomorrow and I won't want her biting into a model. So I'm pretty sceptical about it now. May just cancel those shoots.

[Vypyrz]

Here is one that happened to get caught on video...

[mattchibi]

Here is one that happened to get caught on video...

"...aaaand now hes constricting my hand"

Best part of the whole video.

Do ALL live-fed snakes behave like this ? I am considering buying a juvenile boa from a breeder who only feeds live, and he was also extremely hissy when I picked him up. Just wanted to know if its easy switching them over to f/t and if after some training, they will only eat f/t? I heard boa's are a little easier than BP's in terms of switching over because they arent as finicky of eaters.