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head pressing behavior

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  • 07-14-2013, 09:33 PM
    kameo37
    head pressing behavior
    So, I'm new to BPs and relatively new to snakes, in general...so sorry if this is a non-issue. My 4 month old bp is very toleratnt of handling and has never struck..at a human, at least. She just completed a shed 4 days ago. While she was in shed, she would press her head into my arm a little bit during handling. Kind of like flattening her head against me, which I thought was just part of that weird inching back and forth kind of thing they do when they are about to shed. Like they are trying to get the shed started by rubbing on you. Then tonight, she started doing the head pressing thing again, only REALLY hard. To the point where I actually lifted her head off off me because I wanted to check to see if she was actually biting me and I just wasn't realizing it. She was really constricting my wrist at the time also.
    Is this weird or normal behavior?
    She's just finished with a shed and she ate 48 hours ago. My husband thought she was about to poop on me...nice. She didn't, btw. Do all BPs do this and mine just now got the hang of it?
    Head pressing...what's that about?
  • 07-15-2013, 01:16 PM
    kameo37
    I guess it IS weird then since no one has commented.
  • 07-15-2013, 01:22 PM
    steve_r34
    maybe his head is itchy
  • 07-15-2013, 01:54 PM
    ballpythonluvr
    Re: head pressing behavior
    There is nothing unusual about this at all. I have had snakes do this to me right before and even right after a shed. Perfectly normal.
  • 07-16-2013, 10:47 AM
    DVirginiana
    I'm new to BPs too, but my colubrids do that all the time especially around shed time. Sometimes I think their faces are just itchy.
  • 07-16-2013, 10:56 AM
    West Coast Jungle
    The shed begins at the head so it is probably a reflex to break the initial spot of shed or she is trying to burrow somewhere safe. BP"s spend most of their life in a dark burrow in the ground and may feel vulnerable out in the open.
  • 07-16-2013, 11:09 AM
    kameo37
    That's true! I didn't think about it being a security thing. It could be that too, though I am currently attributing it to a just before and just after shed thing.
    Thanks for all the support!
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