Hey there guys!

Hopefully this question hasn't been done to death, but I'm new here, and this is my first week owning my first snake, a cute little bp, Nazareth! Things have been going smoothly; I held him for a good half an hour before I purchased him, he's eaten very very well, (less than a minute to strike...SO cool to watch for the first time!!), he's been active at night (he's playing right now!!), and hasn't had much of a fuss in general...
...but he won't let me pick him up!!
I've held plenty of snakes, but never picked one up myself!! I've stood at his tank for +20 minutes just petting him, making quiet noises to let him know I'm still there, but he always turns around, hisses, goes into a tiny "s" like he'll mock strike, or tenses up. I don't want to stress him, but then again I don't want to have to go through the fuss of cajoling him into a little box and moving him every time I have to feed him (which took about 10 minutes of gentle tapping/guiding with an unsharpened pencil; he was so mad every time I went to grab him, and I need to feed him again very soon!), or never being able to hold him! :c

Basically, what I'm asking is,


  • If I don't get him used to being handled sooner rather than later, will I run into problems with handling him as he grows up?
  • How can I pick up my new little guy without scaring or stressing him a lot?
  • And of course...How much does a Ball Python bite hurt?



Thank you so much for reading!! <3