Holding my ball python

I was wondering how you can tell if your snake is stressed out when you handle them. He is still young so I hold him maybe once to twice a week just to socialize him and check his enclosure. What are some signs that they are stressed? He doesn't curl up into a ball and doesn't really roam around, he just lays on my lap, and I usually have my heating blanket on so he chills on that on my lap, or goes inside of it with just his head peeking out.

If the snake is breathing very heavy then it's probably too stressed and should go back in its enclosure.

If it's curled up in your lap, not balled up and breathing normally i'd say he's content where he is.

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Originally Posted by Karbon

If the snake is breathing very heavy then it's probably too stressed and should go back in its enclosure.

If it's curled up in your lap, not balled up and breathing normally i'd say he's content where he is.

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Well said.

How can you tell if he's breathing heavily?

Unfortunately, I have a loud computer in my room that's on 24/7 :[

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Karbon

If the snake is breathing very heavy then it's probably too stressed and should go back in its enclosure.

If it's curled up in your lap, not balled up and breathing normally i'd say he's content where he is.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Flowerbridge

How can you tell if he's breathing heavily?

Unfortunately, I have a loud computer in my room that's on 24/7 :[

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If you can hear a snake breathe that's a bad sign period! But you can usually see them breathe just like any other animal with inhale/exhale movements

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Originally Posted by Valentine Pirate

If you can hear a snake breathe that's a bad sign period! But you can usually see them breathe just like any other animal with inhale/exhale movements

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Exactly. You should never actually hear your snake breathe.

You just look at it's body and see how fast it's inhaling and exhaling. It's pretty easy to see how quickly the snake is breathing that way.