Advice to get a yearling female to quit biting me?

I bought a female mojave at the Tinley NARBC in March, and since she got settled in she just strikes me every time I attempt to handle her. When I am handling her she just sits rigid in my hands like she is waiting to strike. She does not seem to be stressed as she is feeding on a good schedule. Whenever I move by her tub she just watches my every movement. Could it just be her personality? I have seen her strike things that I was moving in the enclosure. Any advice would be a great help.

Not all balls are the same. I have one that I NEVER handle because he's just a biter. He's very uncomfortable and stressed being taken out and bothered. Handling him isn't worth stressing him out so bad. The main reasons for defensive behavior is:
-personality
-stress (usually due to bad husbandry)
-age

I've got one that has the strongest strike temperament that I've ever seen. You could walk by her in an enclosed rack and hear her striking at the side. She would strike at every opportunity she could get. She was a real demon. She now can be held and does not strike. She changed with short handling sessions of around 10 - 15 minutes two or three times a day. The key is to get the snake used to being held in short periods. They strike mostly out of fear. The snake has to learn that you are nothing to fear. Good luck, keep working with him. As they get older, they typically settle down some.

I had a mean female pastel for a year and she literally became a sweet heart overnight

Obviously washing your hands so that you don't smell like prey items.

But x2 on what everyone else said.

Like the posts above me mentioned, every snake is different and it is not uncommon to have a ball python with attitude especially as a hatchling or a juvenile. If this is just her 'personality' coming out try give her regular handling to see if this will calm her down. I have found that with really aggressive juveniles covering them completely in your hands for about 30 or 45 seconds calms them down and makes them more submissive, similar practices are used quite widely among many species of animals where bagging them or covering their eyes/heads puts them into a submissive state. Don't be forceful, just be confident and control her.

Can you tell us a little bit about your setup? Sometimes optimizing your husbandry can take the edge off a snappy snake.

Lastly...

:welcome: to BP.net

Keep handling her at least once a week, wear gardening gloves as protection, and just wait. Almost all biters calm down after their 2nd winter, when the hormones turn on. (You can't get a mate if you strike at everything indiscriminately.)

Even Mr. Nibbles and Nancy the Attack Pewter stopped biting me when they got to their 2nd winter. (Though Nancy does still bite when she's in shed. And she still knows how to make it hurt.)

She is in a 32qt tub, with a warm and cool hide and water bowl. The ambient temp on the cool side is about 75-77 and the substrate temp right on top of uth is about 87

When you want to start your handling, you have to make sure you are not timid when you are reaching in for her. She will take that as a split second of time she can reach out and nip you. When you go to pull her out, reach in sort of quick and try to reach in behind her, not near her head. I have to use this to grab my female blood python, she was a biter BIG time. I started just reaching in to grab her quickly not letting her have time to do anything and now she never strikes at me.

Just do it quickly...not toward her head.... it should get better with repitition.