Suddenly agressive Ball Python, needing suggestions

[Jeanie78]

Hi! Hoping to get some ideas and hopefully answers about our ball python, Spike. She is about 6 years old, we've had her for 3 years. She is about 4.5 feet long, and fairly normal in size. She has always been very gentle, timid, healthy and eating well. When we first got her, the previous owner was feeding her live mice, in a separate container, and since we've had her, she has graduated to a small rat. We have always fed her live rats, and in a separate container, since we were told that it was best to feed her out of the terrarium. We have tried a couple of times to feed her frozen (thawed) rats, but she refuses to feed when we do that. I am aware that feeding live is not great, for obvious safety reasons, so when we do feed, we monitor her very closely to make sure that she is safe, and eating well. We then transfer her gently back to her terrarium after about an hour.
She lives in a corner of our kitchen in a 45 gallon terrarium. She has a ceramic cave that she loves to hide in, a branch to climb on, and a fairly large water tub that she will drink from and slither through.

Here's our situation: We fed her a small rat on Wednesday, and Friday, she was already back out of her cave, "hunting" again, and seemed agitated. Saturday, she had her whole body in her tub for several hours, and when I walked closer to her, she struck at the glass. She had never done that before. After researching online, my husband and I decided to see if she was hungry and fed her another small rat, even though it wasn't her normal feeding day. She ate the rat very quickly, and when we put her back in her tank, she went in her cave, and has been calm since.

My question is, does she need to graduate to a medium rat? Does she need to feed more often? I would like to keep her feedings to around every 10-14 days, but I also don't want her to be so hungry and agitated that we can't handle her without being bit. I would also like to start feeding her frozen rats, but I'm not sure how to go about that. She has so far refused the frozen, but I wonder if it would be different if we fed her in her terrarium and not in the separate container, if she associates that with live rats.

I hope some of you can give me some suggestions, and if you would like more information, please let me know. I really appreciate it.

I don't claim to be an expert on snakes, and a lot of the ways we do things with Spike is with advice from the previous owner, and whatever advice we've picked up along the way.
Thanks so much!

[ErostheSnake]

Hi! Hoping to get some ideas and hopefully answers about our ball python, Spike. She is about 6 years old, we've had her for 3 years. She is about 4.5 feet long, and fairly normal in size. She has always been very gentle, timid, healthy and eating well. When we first got her, the previous owner was feeding her live mice, in a separate container, and since we've had her, she has graduated to a small rat. We have always fed her live rats, and in a separate container, since we were told that it was best to feed her out of the terrarium. We have tried a couple of times to feed her frozen (thawed) rats, but she refuses to feed when we do that. I am aware that feeding live is not great, for obvious safety reasons, so when we do feed, we monitor her very closely to make sure that she is safe, and eating well. We then transfer her gently back to her terrarium after about an hour.
She lives in a corner of our kitchen in a 45 gallon terrarium. She has a ceramic cave that she loves to hide in, a branch to climb on, and a fairly large water tub that she will drink from and slither through.

Here's our situation: We fed her a small rat on Wednesday, and Friday, she was already back out of her cave, "hunting" again, and seemed agitated. Saturday, she had her whole body in her tub for several hours, and when I walked closer to her, she struck at the glass. She had never done that before. After researching online, my husband and I decided to see if she was hungry and fed her another small rat, even though it wasn't her normal feeding day. She ate the rat very quickly, and when we put her back in her tank, she went in her cave, and has been calm since.

My question is, does she need to graduate to a medium rat? Does she need to feed more often? I would like to keep her feedings to around every 10-14 days, but I also don't want her to be so hungry and agitated that we can't handle her without being bit. I would also like to start feeding her frozen rats, but I'm not sure how to go about that. She has so far refused the frozen, but I wonder if it would be different if we fed her in her terrarium and not in the separate container, if she associates that with live rats.

I hope some of you can give me some suggestions, and if you would like more information, please let me know. I really appreciate it.

I don't claim to be an expert on snakes, and a lot of the ways we do things with Spike is with advice from the previous owner, and whatever advice we've picked up along the way.
Thanks so much!

I would stop moving her to feed her. It’s stressful for them.

Does she have 2 hides? Are temps and humidity good?



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[Bogertophis]

She is probably hungry...there is a chart (hopefully someone will re-post) to show you what the prey should weigh for a given size snake, or you can compare
the prey to the snake's (un-fed) body: the prey should be roughly the same diameter (not larger than) the mid-body of the snake. She is likely ready for medium.

Always feed IN the snake's normal enclosure...there is no truth to that bit about avoiding aggression this way, if anything, it makes it worse since you are trying
to handle a snake that is hungry, and then trying to put the snake back that is still pumped up (in "feed mode") & is very likely to bite you.

Few snakes are actually aggressive, most bites are defensive (out of instinctive fear) or confusion about food...most bites are avoidable. Another thing that makes
snakes MORE likely to bite is feeding live prey. Not only is it unsafe (sooner or later your snake will need the vet...rats bite hard, & can actually kill the snake, either
directly or by injury & infection that doesn't respond to treatment) but it keeps your snake in a highly-defensive snake, never knowing when a live rat shows up
that she must do battle with. Snakes fed pre-killed (f/t OR fresh killed by you) tend to be calmer pets, though it may take some time for yours to learn to relax now
that she's used to live.

Bad idea feeding another rodent only a few days after the first...likely to cause a regurgitation of both. Snakes need time to fully digest & replenish digestive enzymes.

[Jakethesnake69]

This is a great place to start. My guess is she is well out of small rat territory.

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[dakski]

She is probably hungry...there is a chart (hopefully someone will re-post) to show you what the prey should weigh for a given size snake, or you can compare
the prey to the snake's (un-fed) body: the prey should be roughly the same diameter (not larger than) the mid-body of the snake. She is likely ready for medium.

Always feed IN the snake's normal enclosure...there is no truth to that bit about avoiding aggression this way, if anything, it makes it worse since you are trying
to handle a snake that is hungry, and then trying to put the snake back that is still pumped up (in "feed mode") & is very likely to bite you.

Few snakes are actually aggressive, most bites are defensive (out of instinctive fear) or confusion about food...most bites are avoidable. Another thing that makes
snakes MORE likely to bite is feeding live prey. Not only is it unsafe (sooner or later your snake will need the vet...rats bite hard, & can actually kill the snake, either
directly or by injury & infection that doesn't respond to treatment) but it keeps your snake in a highly-defensive snake, never knowing when a live rat shows up
that she must do battle with. Snakes fed pre-killed (f/t OR fresh killed by you) tend to be calmer pets, though it may take some time for yours to learn to relax now
that she's used to live.

Bad idea feeding another rodent only a few days after the first...likely to cause a regurgitation of both. Snakes need time to fully digest & replenish digestive enzymes.

Chart below. I think as the BP's get older, every other week is usually okay for a feeding schedule. Adults will often refuse weekly feedings. However, some animals will eat and do well with every week. Read your animal.

Additionally, FEED IN THE TANK, and I would try F/T as Bogertophis said. Feeding separate is a recipe for stress for the animal and bites for you.

Aside from a very young colubrid, I would not feed anything more than once a week.

Feed an appropriately sized meal weekly.

Also, make sure temps and humidity are good and the enclosure is appropriate for a BP and there are plenty of equal sized hides. If temps are too low, or the snake does not feel safe on the warm side, etc. and you feed too close together, you are probably asking for regurgitation. That's very bad.

[Bogertophis]

Not only is it unsafe (sooner or later your snake will need the vet...rats bite hard, & can actually kill the snake, either
directly or by injury & infection that doesn't respond to treatment) but it keeps your snake in a highly-defensive snake, never knowing when a live rat shows up
that she must do battle with. Snakes fed pre-killed (f/t OR fresh killed by you) tend to be calmer pets, though it may take some time for yours to learn to relax now
that she's used to live.....

Pardon my typo Meant to say "it keeps your snake in a highly-defensive STATE, never knowing when..."

And again, it's not about the cage (DO feed in usual cage), it's about the snake confusing you with her dinner: ball pythons have heat-sensing pits on their face,
and guess what? YOU are warm & wiggling, & to a near-sighted snake, you look as though you might be dinner heading her way. Snakes see motion very well but
they don't recognize things (you, prey, or anything else) just by vision alone...that gets their attention, then they identify it by smell & sometimes touch. If they
stopped to smell it in the wild, they'd starve, so it's up to YOU not to send confusing signals to your snake. Identify yourself by scent (I often blow air across my
hand thru the screen toward the snake...they'll flick their tongue to identify that you don't smell like food), or by touch ("hook training"). The more you remember
how the world looks to your snake, the better communication you'll have & a calmer pet that doesn't make mistakes & bite you.

[Bogertophis]

By the way, there are many threads here already on switching a ball python from live food to pre-killed...I hope you'll consider doing just that...it should be
fairly easy, judging from the appetite your snake seems to have.

When you tried feeding f/t, how did you thaw it? -warm it? -offer it? Do you have feeding tongs? (get some, they can be professional "giant tweezer"-type
or even a BBQ tool with rounded -safe!- ends) It may seem easier to just feed live....until your snake gets injured...prevention is way better than trying to fix.

One thing that seems to work great for everyone is using a hair-dryer (blow dryer) to briefly warm up the prey RIGHT before it's offered, so the snake responds
to the body heat as if it's alive. If you do this right, when your snake is hungry, preferably in evening hours, using tongs to slightly wiggle the prey (but without
appearing to approach or chase the snake with it...you want it to look to the snake as if the rat just happens to be strolling past, not towards, the snake) and if
the prey has the right heat signature to the snake, your snake is very likely to take it...I hope you'll give it another try.

[Jakethesnake69]

Another thing to consider is hook training. I’m just starting that with my Boa while she is small. Not sure how big she will actually get but not getting bit is always a good idea. I know there is a recent thread on this and it’s quite thorough. I am training my BP’s also. 4.5 feet striking out at you sounds as bad as 7-8 feet too me.
I switched to F/T rats and it went really well actually, may take a little time but well worth the time investment. My Pastel YB was sold in a matter of seconds but my Banana was a holdout for a couple weeks but no hesitation now. I picked up a small freezer (snake food only) for just over $100 and it’s saving me a nice sum by buying in bulk. If frozen rats in with your food poses no problems a single purpose freezer is one less expense.

[Jeanie78]

Thank you so much for all your advice. You've been very helpful, and I really appreciate it. Next feeding, we will definitely try to do F/T. I watched a bunch of videos on YouTube on how to feed F/T, so I feel a little more confident trying it. I am not ready to try freshly killed just yet. We have tried F/T before but it was in her feeding box, so I'm wondering if that's why she wouldn't take it. Maybe she associates the box with live feed.

[Jeanie78]

I may try the hook training if she stays aggressive. I don't want it to get to the point where we're terrified of taking her out. She's always been super sweet and gentle, and only slightly irritated when she is shedding. When she's like that, we just make sure to leave her alone. We'll see how she does.

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks. We're gonna try feeding in her terrarium from now on.