Good evening everyone,


My fiancé and I are new snake owners, we have had her for roughly 6 months. She has been great since! She eats properly, handling her is a breeze. We have put sufficient hides, she has a heat lamp as well as a heating pad (not used simultaneously). And her tank has always kept at good temperature, and is kept clean, and her shedding has always been clean and successful, no complications. Same with her poop, well maybe not clean lol. However, today after we fed her (no change in brand, or type of mice, we upgraded her from a small to a medium a few weeks ago, and she has been doing fine) she ate, and usually we pick her up and set her back in her tank. However, she was being awfully defensive and kind of agitated. We did not know what to do, but give her some space and try again later. She refused to be picked up, and looked as if she was about to strike. We held the box over the tank and let her find her way into the box.

Once in the tank, she drank a lot of water (which we always make sure she has plenty of, and we changed it before we put her back) We assumed maybe she needed fresh water and perhaps was acting this way, but we do not want to take her out and make her more upset. Alice -- our ball python is such a sweet heart, I am unsure what is wrong or if we did something wrong. Hope to find some help from more experienced snake care-providers.

Thank-you.