Aggresive BP and breeder practices

[devonascended]

Okay so heres the story, I picked up my second snake, a bea-UTIFUL young bumblebee on Friday, she was quite shook up by the transport, and when I was putting her away in her tub, attempted to strike me a couple times. No big deal, doesn't bother me. Now, I tend to open my other pythons enclosure almost daily to check his set up, spot clean, change water, etc, but I decided to leave her a lone for a little longer to settle. I opened her tub to change the water this morning, and same thing, instantly in S formation, attempted to strike me twice more, and was hissing all the while. I would in a normal situation not think too much of it and attempt to tame her over time, but my girlfriend was there to see it and she flipped right out. : / She doesn't want to share the house with a 'violent snake'. I fought with her a little about it, but now here we are. What should I do? Should I email the breeder I got her from with hopes he'll take her back? Should I put up a kingsnake listing? Shes beautiful, and Im not about making money or anything, I would only want the money I payed for her, and Im sure she could grow up to be a lovely snake, but for a small time hobbyist like me, im not sure its worth the fight. My other guy is sweet as a button, and its pretty frustrating, cause my girlfriend was just starting to come around holding him and everything!! I need some serious advise here!

[Kodieh]

I think it's funny, people who want to "return" a snake because it's nippy. She'll eventually calm down. Or you can just sell her yourself, but if it were me I'd laugh at you and refuse to take her back.

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[BigJayPiercer]

A lot of Babies tend to be very defensive. All it takes is a gentle approach and regular albeit moderate handling to ease them out of that fear response activity.

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[Rickys_Reptiles]

I would handle the snake every day for 2 weeks. I may strike at you, but after a few days it'll figure out you're not a threat. By then your snake should be fine. Just ask your g/f to hold off making you get rid of it for a month so you can calm it down.

[200xth]

It's only been 3 days. She may just need some more time.

Is she about to shed? One of the snakes I bought was in shed and grumpy as hell when I first got her. After her shed she's been fine.

I'd say:

1. See if she's in shed.
2. Check the temp, hide, and other setup information. Make sure temps are right, she has a place to feel secure, etc.
3. Give her another 5 or 6 days alone.

[Freakie_frog]

Every snake has a different personality. Your snake isn't violent she's defencive aka scared aka dosen't want you to eat her. It's a snake take this time to figure out what you can offer her to make her feel more secure and not so threatened..

[MootWorm]

You could try emailing the breeder, but I'm not sure if any guarantee temperament... But you've only had her 3 days, I would give her some time to settle in. What's her set-up like? Temps? Hides? Your snake isn't violent, she's just defensive. I have one that sounds like your bee. She's gotten better with time and a super cluttered enclosure, but I don't think she'll ever be as sweet as my male. I would try to work with her, but if it's something you don't think you can handle in the long run, I'd consider rehoming her.

[Crazymonkee]

Young snakes can be more snippy but with time will calm down. Even if it's not snippy at the breeders, relocation is very stressful to a baby.
Are you gonna rehome every snake you get that is nippy at first???
You may be doing it a lot.


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[mvptext1]

I can relate to your situation. I just got into BP's and I did not want to end up with an aggressive one. Long story short, I got a female het pied for a deal at a show and she was striking at me soon as I got her home. Every time I went to get her out of her cage, she would hiss and get in that S position. I found though that once she was in my hands, she was fine. If I had her out in my hands she would calm down and be cool. If I put her on the ground however and let her crawl around on her own and then try to pick her back up she would strike at me.

So that went on for the first two weeks or so. But I can say after about a month I noticed she calmed down some. She still hisses at me sometimes, but no more striking which is great.

So my advice is ask your girlfriend to give you time to work with the snake. I'd ask for a couple months at least to see if you can get your snake to calm down. If she doesn't calm down in the agreed upon time and your girlfriend still has fears about her you can rehome her then (snake, not girlfriend). But I think if you can get more time you may be able to have your cake and eat it too.

[Marrissa]

Have you showed her the pinpricks of full grown ball python bites? Most people are shocked to see it's nothing. Explain to your girlfriend the new snake is just scared and doing what it thinks will keep it alive. She's going to calm down. I wouldn't try to return a snake for being defensive. The breeder will probably think you didn't do your research before purchasing the animal, and since their's nothing wrong with the animal, there's no real reason to return it.