new owner

[Caligirl0113]

I got a ball python about 3 weeks ago. "She" (unsexed) Kaya has eaten twice with no problems. She is pretty aggressive with her food. The last time she fed I dumped to mouse in and didnt even get the cover on before she grabbed it and she was coiled up at the other end of the cage! I will start to put her in another enclosure for feeding but the owner of the reptile store I got her from told me to wait to pick her up for 2 feedings. Two days after she fed I went to pick her up, something I had been so good at waiting for and found I was really nervous. I was shaking. I have always wanted a snake, went to different places and handled them. I hold other peoples snakes quite a bit and they were much bigger then this baby ball python. She is about 20 inch. but I cant tell for sure till I have her out more. Well the day after I picked her up, I made myself hold her for 2 minutes, I noticed she had blue eyes so have left her alone. She shed 2 days ago and I did help get the caps off. But now I need ideas on what to expect from her. Is she more likely to be bite when I pick her up or can she bite while I am holding her? She is a captive bred but I dont know if she was handled much before I got her and I only handled her 2 times in three weeks for about 3 minutes total. I am not scared I just dont know what to expect. Please give me a game plan to get us both comfortable. Also she seems to follow me, I know it sounds weird but she is in my bedroom and when I leave the room she goes to the cool side of her tank and when I come back in and lay on my bed she goes to the side of the tank closest to me. Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this kind of behavior. I thought it was just a coincidence but it happens about 90% of the time so much so that when I didnt see her I had to check in her hide to make sure she was ok, that was when I found she was getting ready to shed. Thanks. Here is a picture of her taken off my cell phone, sorry its not too good.

[ani15174eva]

Hello and Welcome Congrats on the new baby!

Everything seems normal to me. My baby follows me too. Its kinda funny...

Many people have told me that when owning a snake expect that you will be bittin eventually. She can bit at any time.

My advice is that she prob wont bite you. To get over the fear of the unknown, just reach in and do it. Easier said than done, I know. I am still teaching myself this trick.

It will be the strike that scares you if anything. But to be honest, at this age they tend to "ball" up and hide before doing anything. After holding her a few times you will start to read the signals she gives off mood wise. Just take your time.

Mine comes out on his own now. But to get over the fear of what to expect you just have to do it. Someone on here told me that I was "overthinking" things to much before I picked him up, they were right. Don't think on it, just reach your hand in and maybe touch her side for a moment and pick her up. It will be fine...

Hope this works... There are some awsome people on here!

~Hollie~

PS do you happen to know how old she is??

[Caligirl0113]

They werent sure, they said under a year

[ani15174eva]

OoO Okay just wondering Good Luck with her!

[anendeloflorien]

Hey congratulations on your new friend! It sounds like you are off to a pretty good start with "her"! I am a new BP owner myself and I gotta say it's a constant learning process. As much as I thought I knew, even with all the research I did before I bought my girl, I've had to learn 10x as much in the couple of months that I've had her. You're in a good place though! The people on bpnet are (for the most part) extremely helpful and this site has been a great resource for me thus far and I think it will continue to be for a long time!

I don't think that its really necessary to move the snake to a different enclosure to feed, some people feel differently but my ball has never even hinted that she would bite me or my girlfriend and we feed her in her enclosure.
Lol I have not noticed my BP doing that following thing you talk about but I do know that whenever me and my girl have her out she comes right over to me and curls up either behind my neck or on my arm, it's too funny to me cuz my girl loves her too but I guess that she just likes me more
Hey good luck with your new snake!