First time owner has a few qiestions for you fine people

Hey you guys! My name is Hannah, im 20 and I just bought my first snake about two months ago. I realize now that Frank, my baby male ball python, has a horrible mother as I barely had time for him. I bought him right before a lot of personal stuff happened. Anywhoosle, I never really held him and when I took him out to clean his cage once, he fell off of my arm. It was only about a foot but I know balls hate being dropped. Now he hisses when I open his enclosure and has struck at me, only once. I just finished my semester and I don't take summer courses which means ill have more time for Frank.

My question to all of you: is there any way to go about handling there he may not bite? And because I know that the answer is probably a no, heres another question. How long does it take, in your expierence, for a ball python to trust you and possibly tolerate you again. I am willing to get bitten but am getting nervous about it because I have heard that sometimes they dont let go at first. I dont mind blood but if there are any tips for not getting bit, they would me much appreciated.

Thanks again, ^-^
Hannah and Frank

Put on a pair of dishwashing gloves (the yellow ones). It will stop you from flinching away from him.

Otherwise, just handle him for a few short sessions a week and he'll calm down. I think it took my pastel all of a couple of weeks to start treating me like furniture, and he was a year old snake previously owned by a spazzy kid so he was pretty twitchy. First time I've ever seen a snake actually FLINCH when touched - it was the strangest thing.

:welcome: Hannah

Getting bit isn't bad, the real shock is how quick it happens. Frank should calm down relatively quick with short handling sessions as cptjack said, about 15 minutes a few days a week.


To assist you further, could you describe your setup as well. Enclosure, substrate, hides, temperatures, what you're feeding and how often. Pics if possible.

Thanks for the quick replies you guys!

Ill be sure to buy some gloves.

His enclosure is a small(12x8x5) plastic container with heating pads on one side. I only have enough room for one hide because of the size of the container. Once he gets bigger, ill put two in his new enclosure. The water is on the cold side and the hide is on the warm side.

Another question has just occured to me. Is it best to pick him up when he is out of his hide roaming around or does it not matter if I take him out of his hide?

Thanks again, you guys are so helpful!

BPs have two different types of bites.

one is the agressive/defensive bite, also called the tag. you get hit by the teeth and the BP retreats immediately and goes back into striking position. really fast.

the second one is the feeding bite, they also strike fast but they hold on and usually an attempt to constrict follows. that only happens when they are looking for food or smelling rhodents, or during feeding when they hit your hand instead of the rhodent you are holding. to get them to release, two tricks that can work is to spray some cold water on the BP, or even flowing water, or to just blow air against the nose.

i think you are dealing with bite number 1. there are some strategies to prevent getting bit. one is to get the attention of the snake by moving around one hand, and picking her up wth the other hand while her head is distracted and focused on something else. and if she tries to strike, you dodge it by moving your hand out of range. you see this on snakebytesTV all the time when you pay attention to it, with all kinds and sizes of snakes.

another strategy is to make your hand flat, and use it as a shield, and approach the head from above. if done correctly, when they try to strike, it will just be a head bump. for the teeth to reach your skin, they would need to either turn their head around sideways, or to tilt their head all the way back, and they generally dont do that. so all you get is nose bumps. then you move down the hand over the head, and pick her up.

I've heard some people say hold him for an hour everyday. Although you wouldn't want him to get overwhelmed. If he does bite you don't put him back immediately or he will figure out a trend.

Thanks you guys!
I'm glad to know that he probably won't be attacking me and holding on. That really was my biggest worry.

Also, thanks for the heads up about not putting him back right away if he bites me. I probably would have if I hadn't known.
Hannah

If he bites you just bite him back. That will put an end to that...

i forgot the most important thing....

the moment where you risk a bite is when you approach him and pick him up. when he is sitting on your hands/arms, the risk is basically down to zero.

i also have a video, unfortunately its not in english. at 2:40 in the video, he shows how to do it incorrectly and gets tagged a few times, then shows how to do it correctly. then he gets stinked at 4:00. and he shows how to release a feeding bite with a puff of air at 4:25.

the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgCP...id=P-oZa3-bHKs
but without translations its really a bit weird because he explains it all, and does everything you should do and everything you should not do as he explains it. so when he says "snakes dont like it when you grab them and hold them tight" he does just that and the snake doesnt like it. its funny how he gets tagged when he shows how not to do it, and makes it part of his presentation. also he gets bit in both hands, it even starts bleeding a bit, and it doesnt affect him at all. pay attention to the flat hand being used as a shield.