New BP!

I received my new female 08 ball python yesterday. She is settling in well, hiding like she should and seems pretty content. (As much as a snake can I suppose). She did tag me yesteday when I went to put a hide into her cage. I know it was my fault, she was stressed having been mailed, and then I reach into the tank and put this strange object in....I have not attempted handling her and will give her several days to settle in. She was very nice when I took her out of her shipping container and transferred her to the tank. I am just kind of getting the feeling that she might be hungry. Is it OK to feed her so soon? I am also wondering if perhaps that is the reason she tagged me? She just has that "look" in her eye that tells me she is looking for something to eat, does that make sense?

Give her a few days; 3 at the very least 5-7 preferably. Let her get settled in abit more before you try and feed.

I wouldn't feed her right away. Give her some time to settle in. She imo likely struck out of stress and fear (of being shipped and put in a new home) and not because she was hungry. Here is a quick link (one of many, I just picked one real fast) on acclimating your new pet: http://www.vmsherp.com/LCAcclimation.htm. Do you have any pics of your set up? Temps, hide spots and all that? Is this your first ball python?

I'd also vote for letting her settle in a bit before attempting your first feeding with her. She may well be a bit hungry as most breeders avoid shipping a snake that's just eaten and may skip her feeding that week of shipping to make sure she's not digesting anything. Being slightly hungry though isn't a huge deal for a snake. Remember these are creatures designed to get dinner when dinner is found and in the wild that's not every Thursday at 9 p.m. LOL. They are quite able to skip the occasional meal without any real harm to them.

Settle her in, offer her the same type of prey in the same feeding style she's used to in about a week and if she's hungry, she'll nail it fast. :)