I currently have a male ball python and we have had him for over a year now. We had adopted him from some "less than experienced" owner who, from his description, bought him and named him Spike or something ultra common because he thought it would look cool. When we got him he was in a filthy tank and hadnt shed or eaten in a while. We nursed him back to health, damaged scales, eye caps, nasal congestion... The whollllle 9 really. He was fine up until around last night, we tried to move somethings around in his tank and change out some water when we noticed he was wincing and drawing back dramatically to EVERY touch. My fiance tried to pick him up to get him away from our other python and he was hissing and flailing about, we put him back and took the other calm snake out instead. He proceeded to flail wildly some more and run into things like his hide, branch, and the glass wall of the tank. I dont know what is wrong with him but he settled down later. Has anyone else encountered this? I have searched repeadetly to find something that could make sense, hunger, pain, stress, disease, something but nothing yields really accurate results and im not placing security in the blank stare of the petcorporate employee. If you know what it might be PLEASE dont hesistate to tell me or troubleshoot. Ive regulated tank temp, humidity and he loves the other snakes company so Ive tried to rule those out. Please contact me if anyone knows. Thanks!!