True or False: Female BPs tend to be more aggressive and less docile than males?

For the past several weeks I have been actively looking for a large adult female ball python to keep as a pet. No breeding aspirations. I already own an adult male, six years old, and he has become a much loved member of our household. Very sweet, gentle temperament. We often allow small children to gently handle him (with close adult supervision) and he has never, ever shown any aggression whatsoever. Nothing seems to bother him at all. You can even stroke his head and he doesn't mind. Well, years ago I owned a red tail boa that I dearly loved. He too was a gentle, docile snake and liked to be held. Unfortunately, he eventually grew to such a large size that it was difficult to handle him. I've always admired larger snakes and although I like the temperament of boas, even smaller varieties like Dumerils and Hogg Islands grow bigger than I want. From the standpoint of behavior and "personality" my favorite snakes of all are ball pythons. Soooooooo........I decided the perfect larger snake for me would be a big female BP. Just the right size.....not too big.......and good temperament. Or maybe not? This past weekend I had a long conversation with a gentleman who has bred BPs professionally for years. He advised me that, in his experience, females tend to be more aggressive and less docile & gentle than males. He further said that females often get grouchy and "nasty" as they age regardless of how often they are handled. Is that true?? He told me that the BPs he and his extended family keep as pets are ALWAYS males and suggested if I wanted a big BP I should limit my search to a jumbo male. I would appreciate hearing what those of you with experience think. If the consensus is that females are generally not as good as males for pets, I'll stop looking for one.

Both males and females are dociles, only younger smaller ones are defensive compare to adults.

That being said they are wild animals, they do not like to be held, they tolerate it and even though they are docile it does not mean that at a point or another you will not get tagged especially if you are not paying attention.

Very well said!^^

Based on my experience with my collection the females have been much jumpier. Not necessarily aggressive but definitely not anywhere near how calm all my boys are.


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I may be the odd man out but my female tolerates handling much better than my male.
My male is larger than the female but, he is less tolerant of fast movements.
Then again my itty-bitty I-J carpet is the mellowest of the bunch. And, according to everything I've been told she is supposed to be my "bitey-est" snake.

I think it is safe to say that along with species temperments you will find a variation in individual temperment. With age and regular handling being key factors.

Every snake is different. I don't think sex makes a difference as much as the individual snake. I have a female bee that is my sweetest, most mellow laid back ball. You aren't going to get the personality and temperment of a boa in a ball, though. They are totally different creatures.

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Originally Posted by DooLittle

Every snake is different. I don't think sex makes a difference as much as the individual snake.
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x2 just like people

They are all different as said, almost every one of my ball pythons enjoy being held, I wouldn't say they are tolerating it at all, but more like, they are actually enjoying themselves :P
The more you hold them the more they tend to enjoy being held.

I don't have as much experience as some of the people on these forums but with mine Sif (female) still balls up when I pick her up but eventually (normally a min or so now but used to be 20-30min when Ifirst got her) start exploring. My male Thor tho has always just crawled up my arm as soon as iI put my hand in his tank for anything, sometimes even after he has just eaten. The pet store I got him from used to call him cuddlebug and anytime someone wanted to hold a ball Python he was the one they let hold.

I would say age is more a factor, the older a snake gets the more its socialized like a dog. However, you'll run into the big breeder scenario where the ball wasn't handled too often or at all besides cleaning and feeding and it didn't socialize very well.

All snakes a different, some are more docile others are not. The ones that are not can usually be worked with to where they become docile. The hand that feeds haha.

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