is this normal...?

[jakespade]

My and my fiance acquired 2 young ball pythons. They are both very curious when out of the cage, both eat very well and they are totally nonaggressive. Occasionally they get spooked and recoil quickly, but other than that they are just awesome.

One shed right after we got them, the other started to show signs of shedding like the eyes weren't clear, skin was a little rough and so on. We let him be for the most part. Used some warm baths and sprayed my hands with the spray from pet smart and let him mostly run through my hands. I know you aren't supposed to handle them when shedding, but I thought he should have shed already.

So last night I looked into his dwelling and noticed his eyes were no longer fogged up. I thought maybe his skin was in his hide so I wanted to get it out. To my surprise, there was no shed in the enclosure. I took him out to take a good look at him and he began to try to burrow through my hand with his nose. He kept this up so I let him do it. Eventually he began to peel back his skin and started to shed. I know you are not supposed to pull the shed off so I didn't. He stayed in my hands and continued on. At one point I put my index and thumb to make a circle for him to help out. He completely shed in my hands! Only one break, but mostly a complete shed. When he was done he explored for a few minutes, then came back to my hands and rubbed his head against them as if he may had an itch, but my fiance said it looked like he was showing appreciation for the help.

Is this normal?

[ChaosAffect]

Sounds like you've got a very affectionate snake!

Hmm... You know, in any other venue that comment would be quite obscene.

[jakespade]

Lol!

I'm glad he's affectionate I was just curious if ball pythons are affectionate or if they realize that they have humans like 4 legged pets.
These two little guys are a blessing, we adore them. :-)

[Kat_Dog]

How cute!
I've heard a few stories like this, and I used to want it to happen to me, but after the last massive poop my corn snake took during shed last time, I decided it wasn't worth it xD

[jakespade]

Kat_dog.... I never really considered the I'll effects lol!
Hope that doesn't happen, though I wouldn't mind assisting with another shed.

[jakespade]

So here's an update to my affectionate BP. I took him out of the cage and walked him to his feeding tank. Usually after I feed him, he's not too active. After he ate, I let him hang out for a few minutes before transporting back to his cage. He decided when I picked him up, he wanted to climb up my arm. I got him to his home and usually I'll hold him and let him climb onto the log in there. He didn't want to go. He wanted to climb up my arm and hang out. I gently took him with my free hand and tried to remove him from my arm. As I did this he started to smell with his tongue then nudged my hand as he did after his shed. After a few minutes, I finally coaxed him into his cage.

I thought after a day, he would have forgotten about it and went back to normal.

[Archimedes]

I think you've got a case of "The snake chooses the human" going on here. Very sweet tales, absolutely. What's his name?

[jakespade]

We have 2 brothers from the same hatch. This is Mowgli and his brother is Kaa. Jungle Book fans thanks to the two legged kids lol. Kaa is the messy eater I asked about in the other post.

[Archimedes]

Aww, that's sweet. Sounds like you've got a pair of snake-onalities there, hehe.