Aggressive Baby

I bought a baby ball python a week ago. She's about two months old now and still extremely defensive. I've tried watching videos and reading articles on handling aggressive hatchlings. Everything I've seen, people keep saying that handle them even if they're aggressive, so that way they know that they aren't going to be harmed. People say they will stop striking after a few times. She does not, and I've tried the exercises with her. She will strike continuously and even bite down if she can. She doesn't seem to tire of it. I offered a mouse the day she should have fed, thinking maybe food was they key to her heart. She had absolutely no interest in the mouse whatsoever, just the strong desire to kill me. She will strike even if someone walks by her enclosure.

She's housed in a 40 gallon breeder tank, coconut fiber substrate, two hides, two climbing logs, heat lamp on one side with heat pad on the other as well as a decent sized lagoon water dish. Cool side temperature between 78-82 while the warm side is between 86-95. I've had another ball python for 3 years so far, kept under the same conditions

This is not a habit I want to promote. My first ball acted polar opposite of this one. She never had a mean strike and she was always calm and curious from the day I got her. She was also a couple of months old when I got her. Does anyone have any advice?

First, you really don't want to be handling during the first week, the snake needs time to settle in. The standard recommendation is to bring the snake home, get it into the enclosure, and not handle it at all until after you have had 3 successful feedings. Right now, that baby is just terrified. Give it time to adjust to it's new home, get a few good meals down, then start working on handling.

95 may be a bit too warm also, you really don't want anything over 90 for a BP.

1. All baby snakes must be defensive to survive in the natural world...this is instinctive. Not all survive, no matter what, but it's NORMAL.

2. You only got her a week ago. When you get a new snake, for BEST results, allow them time to settle in, & remember handling should NOT be the priority.

3. The first priority for a new snake is feeding. When you persist in handling, you will likely have a snake that won't eat, and when too stressed to eat, they are
more likely to get sick...that's not the goal, here, is it?

4. If you want a happy & healthy pet, put their needs FIRST. They're living animals with instincts, fears & feelings. They have NO idea how & why they no longer
recognize their entire world, and to them this means danger...they don't feel safe yet.

5. For best results: leave a new snake alone to settle in for at LEAST a week, preferably 2. THEN, try offering food by preferred methods for species (night, etc).
If they eat, great...leave them alone to digest & try feeding again in a week (if a young snake) Repeat a few times, BEFORE you handle them. Just because you got
away with it before, doesn't mean you should jump right into handling this poor terrified soul...you're causing the problem, AND making it worse.

6. Your "warm side" is too hot: please stop at 90*, not 95*.

7. Your 40 gal. tank is HUGE and making her more afraid. A smaller cage for now would be best, or LOTS more clutter & hides.

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She's about two months old now

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She's housed in a 40 gallon breeder tank

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Cool side temperature between 78-82 while the warm side is between 86-95.

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If you want to address the source of your issue which is stress due to husbandry you must

Downsize to a 10 gallons tank

Get your temps stable and lower nothing over 92 on the hot side and the temps should not fluctuate as much 2 degrees max.

Because you keep an animal in the same condition for 3 years does not mean the next animal will tolerate it or react the same way to it.

40 gallon is way too big for a snake that small. Get a tub or like someone else mentioned a 10 gallon.. that poor snake is scare to death. Fix the husbandry, leave it alone for a period of time and then check back. Hope this helps!

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Originally Posted by Moose84

40 gallon is way too big for a snake that small. Get a tub or like someone else mentioned a 10 gallon.. that poor snake is scare to death. Fix the husbandry, leave it alone for a period of time and then check back. Hope this helps!

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Not many people will know what I’m talking about but u do. Good job man! It’s hard to bite ur tongue sometimes but u got it now! Good to see u post some more too!!

Those temps are all over the place and too hot. 90 should be the absolute max.

Since there's that much variance in the temps I have to ask...are your heat sources regulated by a thermostat???

Also, you're handling too soon. Let the snake settle in until it's eating regularly. I always suggest no handling until the snake has eaten three consecutive meals without refusal.

The animal is stressed and needs time to settle in.

Also, like others have said,a 40 gallon may not be offering enough security and the snake is stressed. You may want to downsize.

Lastly, is the enclosure in a room that gets a lot of traffic?

Hardest thing to do is not play with ur new animal. But it’s going to be there for like25-30 years! U will have time!

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Originally Posted by Danger noodles

Hardest thing to do is not play with ur new animal. But it’s going to be there for like25-30 years! U will have time!

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Truth.

Downsized on the tank, fixed the temperatures and the humidity is perfect. I live in a state where it's always super cold or super hot. We seem to go from one extreme to the next.
I saw her poking her head out a little bit last night, but she'd still rather stay in her hide. But her mood seems to have improved just slightly.

Now when it comes to feeding, the breeder was feeding pre-killed and I'm trying frozen-thawed. I want to remove her from her enclosure to put in a feed tub so she doesn't get the wrong idea down the road. How will I go about this if she is more intent on "killing" me than the mouse?

Thanks for the advice.