Strange behavior suddenly in my ball python

[B-Young]

Hey there guys, this is my first post, so I hope someone with more knowledge about these animals is able to give me some insight on what's causing my snake's behavior.

So about 5 days ago, I cleaned out her cage. Moved her into a separate tub, removed all her substrate, housing and vines, and wiped down her cage with some reptile cage disinfectant that I got from when I purchased her. After wiping down the glass, and letting the disinfectant dry and ventilate out, as instructed on the bottle, I laid down some fresh substrate and put all her housing and vines back. When I put her back in the cage, she immediately went under her rock, and since then, has not left. I have fed her 3 rats, which she would immediately strike from under her rock, and then either pull it under with her, or constrict it in the open, and then hesitate before eating it, locking on to me and not returning to the rat until I have left the room. Now when I enter the room, as soon as she senses me, she will stick her head out from under the rock and lock onto me in a poised stance as if ready to strike, her tongue flicking rapidly. The humidity in her cage ranges from 60-70 with spikes up to 80 twice a day when I mist. The cool side of her cage is approx. 75 degrees while the warm side where her rock is, is about 85. I don't think either of these are the issue. I have yet to take her out of her cage since I cleaned it as I am concerned she is going to strike at me defensively. It seems as if she is extremely anxious and doesn't feel safe, or suddenly thinks that I am food. Is this possibly a result of me feeding her in her housing cage? I have a feeding cage for her, but never use it as I've read online both that you should move them from their housing cages to feed, and that it doesn't really matter, so I have just been feeding her in her housing cage.

Attached below here is a link to a video that gives a good visual as to what her behavior is like


Anyone with insight on what is causing her to behave like this, I would greatly appreciate your opinions. Thank you for the time to read this!

[Asherah]

Completely normal behavior. It looks like she might still be interested in food. It may be time to up the size of her prey (depending on what size you're feeding). Those food association with the cage tales on the internet have no real foundation. If you need to pick her up and feel that she might strike, a very light boop with an empty paper towel roll is usually enough to get them out of the "zone."

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[jennmbarker]

Hey there guys, this is my first post, so I hope someone with more knowledge about these animals is able to give me some insight on what's causing my snake's behavior.

So about 5 days ago, I cleaned out her cage. Moved her into a separate tub, removed all her substrate, housing and vines, and wiped down her cage with some reptile cage disinfectant that I got from when I purchased her. After wiping down the glass, and letting the disinfectant dry and ventilate out, as instructed on the bottle, I laid down some fresh substrate and put all her housing and vines back. When I put her back in the cage, she immediately went under her rock, and since then, has not left. I have fed her 3 rats, which she would immediately strike from under her rock, and then either pull it under with her, or constrict it in the open, and then hesitate before eating it, locking on to me and not returning to the rat until I have left the room. Now when I enter the room, as soon as she senses me, she will stick her head out from under the rock and lock onto me in a poised stance as if ready to strike, her tongue flicking rapidly. The humidity in her cage ranges from 60-70 with spikes up to 80 twice a day when I mist. The cool side of her cage is approx. 75 degrees while the warm side where her rock is, is about 85. I don't think either of these are the issue. I have yet to take her out of her cage since I cleaned it as I am concerned she is going to strike at me defensively. It seems as if she is extremely anxious and doesn't feel safe, or suddenly thinks that I am food. Is this possibly a result of me feeding her in her housing cage? I have a feeding cage for her, but never use it as I've read online both that you should move them from their housing cages to feed, and that it doesn't really matter, so I have just been feeding her in her housing cage.

Attached below here is a link to a video that gives a good visual as to what her behavior is like


Anyone with insight on what is causing her to behave like this, I would greatly appreciate your opinions. Thank you for the time to read this!

I have a large adult normal female that was cage fed prior to me getting her and she behaves the same way. If i want to handle her i use a back scratcher and gently put it on her side and slide her just a little to one side or the other to snap her out if it, then she's fine to reach in And pick up. She has actually struck at me and hit me with her nose but not her teeth. She eats large rats and is a great eater, she just gets in hunt mode when she sees her lid come off.

[Eric Alan]

What's causing her to behave like this? Natural instinct! What you're describing is the dream scenario for any ball python owner. You have a comfortable animal in a good setup with a great appetite.

To touch on the cage fed vs. separate enclosure fed "issue": it has nothing to do with this. They go into feed mode when they sense prey or they are getting hungry. It has nothing to do with a lid coming off or where they happen to be sitting when food arrives. A separate feeding tub is a thing for old wives tales and very special cases that really doesn't serve any practical purpose in normal ball python husbandry today.

As mentioned above, it may be time to re-evaluate feeding frequency and/or size of prey.

[cchardwick]

Looks like normal behavior to me! One thing to watch for is the temp of your hide since it is under that heat lamp. Better measure the temp with a laser gun and make sure it's not over 95F, better to be even a bit lower, maybe around 88F or 90F. I used to feed in separate tubs, boy what a pain the in rear. And most of the times the snake would go from a feeding instinct in their main cage to a non-feeding mode when being handled and sometimes it would be tough to get them back into a feeding mode. And then trying to handle them after they had a big meal to get them back in their main cage? Not a good idea at all. Now I feed directly in the tubs. If you want to pick them up you have to snap them out of the feeding mode, I usually approach from behind and pick them up or distract them with one hand in front and use the other to pick them up in the back. Once you pick them up they immediately snap out of it, unless you have a very aggressive or stressed out snake.

[Mitsmaster9]

Looks like she is hungry to me and curious lol


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[B-Young]

Thanks for all the feedback guys! I ended up just reaching in and picking her up and sure enough, she was as tame as a puppy dog. I thought that she may be hungry as the last time this happened, a simple rat did the trick, but I had fed her 3 and she still maintained this behavior. I think that you guys are quite right in saying that it's time I move up in food sizes, she's been growing fast and eating steadily

Once again thank you all for you insight. Cheers