Is my ball python hungry; biting my veins.

So I just got a year and ahalf old ball python from my ex girlfriend about a month ago and im wondering if she was under fed. My ex claimed to have been feeding the snake 2 adult mice every two weeks. When I got her I gave her proper time to settle in and I fed her two mice every week for two weeks. Then I read about proper sizing for meals and bumped her up to a small adult rat every weeks until now. The problem im having is that she is nipping my veins. She seems calm, happy, and enjoys being handled, but the past week she has been nipping me. She will calmly crawl up to one of my veins (a lot of my veins show on my hands and forearm) nudge her head against it a couple times, open up and chomp like she's eating a mouse. Im wondering if the single bigger rat is enough and if I should give her 2. The mice she used to get were half her thickest forth and the rats were about the same thickness. Any help from experienced owners will be much appreciated.

Clarification (im writing this from my phone). The mice were half the snakes birth and the rats were about the same birth as the snake. She's eaten one rat a week the last two weeks and 2 mice every week the first two weeks I had her. Should I bump to two rats a week or is there possibly another cause for the casual vein nipping?

i think she just likes the taste of your blood or your ex trained her to bite you.:O

id think the one rat the same size girth would be good.ive never heard of that vein nipping.
someone with more experience will reply soon to be of better assistance im sure.

As long as the prey item is about as big around as her (unless she's seriously skinny) and she's getting one a week, then she isn't hungry. I've seen a video of a ball python doing a similar biting behavior before, so I think I know what you're talking about. It's pretty odd ,but not unheard of. She might be going through a phase where she doesn't really want to be handled for whatever reason (going into shed, just doesn't want to be bothered, etc...) and the only advice I can give you is keep handling her regularly and see if she stops when she gets used to you.

Good luck with her!

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Originally Posted by mark and marley

i think she just likes the taste of your blood or your ex trained her to bite you.:O

id think the one rat the same size girth would be good.ive never heard of that vein nipping.
someone with more experience will reply soon to be of better assistance im sure.

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Lol, I wouldn't put it past my ex to try and train her to bite me, but at the same time she's not the brightest bulb in the socket.

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Originally Posted by Alexandra V

As long as the prey item is about as big around as her (unless she's seriously skinny) and she's getting one a week, then she isn't hungry. I've seen a video of a ball python doing a similar biting behavior before, so I think I know what you're talking about. It's pretty odd ,but not unheard of. She might be going through a phase where she doesn't really want to be handled for whatever reason (going into shed, just doesn't want to be bothered, etc...) and the only advice I can give you is keep handling her regularly and see if she stops when she gets used to you.

Good luck with her!

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She's got a tiny bit of loose skin around her neck area but it doesn't she seems pretty healthy. Thanks for the advice, ill just continue to be diligent and gentle.

If she's been underfed, I'd either feed a rat that's slightly larger than her girth or bump the feeding schedule up to every five days as opposed to once a week.

I got her a bigger rat on her last feeding day (sunday) and she seems to be content as a cucumber now. Thanks for the help all. Awesome forum. Glad I joined the community.

Did you wash your hands before touching the BP?

I'd also like to point out, BP's see heat, and anywhere your veins are is seen as a massive heat signature, hence the desire to bite you.

My hubby's one and only bite was got from his massive female, she just gently opened her mouth and chomped down right overtop a vein in his wrist.

I'd almost bet it's not hunting behavior so much as it is just an irresistible heat signature.

Gale