agressive ball python

i had just got my ball python about a week ago and he was really nice when i handled him in the store and i took him home and sense he has been VERY aggressive i took him out to feed today and put him in a tub and put the thawd rat in there moved it around and he stuck and missed it a few times but now he keeps on striking at me and is always in the strike position ! he wont let me pick him up at all and hes not eating the small rat.... its the same size the store told me to feed him and he is pretty big so i know its the right size for him can any one help me ? can i get him to just curl into a ball or anything he is being ridiculously aggressive...

Well, sounds like he just doesn't want you to take his food away. I would feed him in his enclosure though, if your scared to pick him up. When they smell their food they are going to be in a defensive bite position.

I would just get some gloves and do it that way. You could also just throw a towel over him and pick him up that way. He thinks your trying to take his food (it's happened to my bf before). So, if you pull away everytime he strikes, it gives him a reason to strike again.

Once you get bit you will realize it doesn't hurt. I was scared until i was tagged for the first time. lol.

How did you warm up his food? Most snakes seem to take the f/t better if it is plenty warm. It is possible that he smells the food, so wants to eat, but the only warm thing he is sensing is you. If that is the case, it is no wonder he is striking at you.

i warmed it up in warm water and i had just kind of drug it around the cage for a while and he stuck a bunch of times at least a dozen but missed the rat each time than i had accidentally droped the rat and he started striking at me instead and he is ALWAYS in the position to strike he don't ball up or anything defensively. and now even with gloves i am terrified to pick him up. its almost like he thinks im the food hes ignoring the rat completely .

and i have aspen bedding so i cant feed him in his normal cage or else he might accidentally eat some of the bedding. that's what i have heard anyways plus i don't think you are supposed to do that anyways.

It's ok. I thought the same thing. However, they digest bones on a daily basis, aspen chips are no biggie, as long as they aren't huge. Next time try running the head of the mouse under some hot water. It needs to be warmer than you, because they hunt by heat, and you are heat that is moving.

okay i just stuck the tub it was in into the cage and open it up im gunna leave the rat in there for a few hours and if he don't eat it soon im gunna take it out and try and feed him again in a few days

he did not eat it... im gunna try again friday but with a large mouse instead of a small rat

Wait a week, try next wednesday.

you think it will be okay if he goes that long w/o food ? that would be 2 weeks in between meals. also i was kind of thinking about feeding live because the pet store said that is what he has been on forever. i did get a response from him as to biting the thawed rat but i think maybe it would be better for him to just stay on live. would it make him more aggressive if i feed live ?

He will be just fine. If anything, he will just be more hungry and more likely to eat. You can try live if you don't mind having a new pet if he doesn't eat :)

yea im gunna try live hopefully he will eat but if not i can try and keep him lol.

Brandon, you need to understand a bit more about these snakes I think.

These are shy, nocturnal, ambush predators. Most of us will tell you that attempting to feed a snake you've only had a week doesn't usually work anyways. They often need at least a week or more to settle in before they feel safe enough to hunt their prey.

They also need stable temperatures in order to thermoregulate for their health and to properly digest their prey. They need hides that are tight to fit their coiled up bodies and dark to allow them to feel safe inside the hide. They often use that hide to strike from (ambush predator) so feeding them inside their home enclosure is often recommended. A small ingestion of aspen will not normally cause any issues as their digestive acids are strong enough to fully digest bone, teeth and hair. If you keep their f/t prey dry it should not pick up an excessive amount of substrate.

A snake that is used to a certain type of prey and a certain style of feeding will key into that most often. Switching prey type or feeding style may cause the snake to either refuse to feed or to strike defensively at the prey and you. Especially when the snake has just been moved into a new home, it's best if you can stick to what this snake knows and once you and the snake are more comfortable, then you could consider changing things gradually.

A healthy ball python can easily go a few weeks without food as long as it has access to clean water. In the wild this is the norm for these snakes so their bodies can adjust to times when they are not eating. It's more of a concern, however, for very young snakes or snakes that are already in ill healthy or very underweight.

Do you have any idea how old this snake is or what it weighs? That's important information to help you further.

Before feeding live, please make sure you completely understand safe live feeding procedures. We'd be happy to help you with that and there are many threads here on the subject.

Please understand that this snake is simply acting like a snake. It does not have the intellect to understand these sudden changes in it's life. The only way it really can communicate it's stress to you is either by hissing or striking. It sounds to me like the strikes you are calling "aggressive" are really just the defensive striking out of a very stressed snake. Figure out what is causing the stress and you'll figure out what is triggering the strikes.

i remember when i got the snake they said it was 500 grams or w/e unit it is they use to weight snakes. they said he was a little over six months old and the breeder was going to breed him because he is half albino, but he decided to sell him to the store because i had requested a male normal because males don't get as large as females and normals are cheaper than others.

again they had said that they where feeding him small rats or a large mouse but i think that a large mouse would be a lot better because the small rat i tried to feed him seemed a little big for him. he stuck at it many many times after i started to move it around in the tub i had him in but he missed it or hit it and didn't grab on every time.

eventually i accidentally dropped the rat btw its F/T and when i went to pick it up he decided to strike at me idk if it was because he thought my hand was food or like you said stress.eventually i got him in his normal cage i just put a towl over him and got him in there.

i am ordering 2 hides and a slightly smaller water bowl from
www.reptilesupply.com plus a thermostat to keep the temps regular.

http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=35 is the hide

http://www.reptilesupply.com/product...oducts_id=1900 is the bowl

http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=75 is the thermostat

any one have any experience with this site and do you think these products will be okay

i will be ordering them sometime tomorrow.

and about feeding in the cage i have head that you should not feed in the normal cage ever. and that seems to make a lot of sense to me because if you feed him in the cage he may associate your hand with his food. okay well im off for the night than you for the advice guys and girls.

:)

There is no such thing as cage aggression, as you have noticed, you are more likely to get bit when you feed in a seperate enclosure. It is perfectly fine to feed in the home enclosure. I don't think any breeder is going to take each of their snakes out to feed them every week.
Your snake will not associate your hand with food. Your hand should have nothing to do with the feeding process. I always use tongs to feed, or just drop the mouse in their home enclosure. No hands necessary. Your hand does not look or smell like a mouse (normally) so why would they associate it with food?

I know my BPs get this hungry look on their faces when it is feeding day and I don't dare move them into another enclosure because I know they will strike at anything warm that enters the tub. They do not do this if they are not hungry. Simple as that.


As for the products you have picked out, they all look fine to me! That website should be fine to order from, I think I did at some point.

I agree - I always fed my prior snake live prey in her own cage and never had a problem with her. She was just as tame and docile as she was supposed to be. (she did get bit once, though, I think) I think she tagged hubby once, because he was dangling food and she missed. :) This time around I am going to get some food tongs before they move to bigger prey.
Just a recent observation that might help you - I got two baby balls, and they couldn't be more different in their eating styles so far! The one will snap-it-up right out of our hands while it's dangled. The other we have to put the prey in the cage and leave. It takes that snake at least 10-20 minutes to eat it. What I've done is taken a small teacup saucer and put the prey on that. That way it's not lying on the substrate. (Maybe I should get a silver one, LOL) Also, I read about some folks blow-drying their f/t prey and so I did that last night. It seemed to work very well. Not only did it help w/ heating up the prey, but then they weren't all wet from being thawed. More 'natural'.

i tryed feeding him live in the cage and he didn't eat a mouse at all he would come nose to nose with it and they just kind of sat there for a while he struck at it only once and missed... i ended up thumping one of the mice to try and see if he would eat fresh killed and he wouldn't eat that either yet he still trys to bite me as soon as i stick my hand in there and he has two hides one on the hot side and one on the cold and he always has fresh water the temp is about 75-85 lower being at night higher at day he is still very active at night and he just does not like me at all.... any one have any advice for me ? also he Rarely curls into a ball he just strikes...

Your temps are a little low. There needs to be 3 temp zones. And the temps should not change during the night. I would suggest taking a look at the bp caresheet as it can help to resolve some husbandry issues. Also, could you post some pics of your enclosure?

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but usually it is something simple related to the husbandry that causes this behavior in the snake. Or, it could just have a bad temper. :)

http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules/...warticle&id=59

yeah mine doesn't coil up either, just strikes. what's the length of yours?

btw place a cloth or gently tap on their head with a stick to get them out of strike mode.

yea i just drop a towel over him if hes being kind of a brat sometime lol and it works fairly well most of the time.

about a pic for the cage i will try and post one tomorrow but i have him in a 20 gallon right now witch is kind of small for him really but i wasn't expecting to get such a big snake from the store so i figured it would be enough space.

the cage is about 2 feet long and the snake is about 1.4 times the length of the cage when he is spread out but the is spread out as far as he can. so a little over two feet. but when he is all balled up he is a little bigger than one hand spread out. when i got him they said he was about 500 grams and only 6 months old but it seems like he is a older than that considering his size.

also this is getting confusing because i hear completely different things from some people like the whole feeding in the cage or not and some people told me that my snake was WAY to hot and a lot of people are telling me cage carpet his horrible and others are saying its great. i just need some very solid answers so i know what is best for my pet. but thank you every one for all the advice so much also i will be getting a thermostat soon i ordered it so my temps will be a lot more stable witch will be awesome because where i live the temps vary a LOT every day is different. and i still have the other live mouse and im gunna try and throw it in there because he is very active atm

If he refuses food, wait a week. It shouldn't harm him.
And if you're confused by what others are telling you, rely on the caresheet. It is one of the most informative things you could read when starting to own a bp; I know it helped me a TON.

yea he didn't eat last week either. so idk what is up with it he hasn't eaten sense i got the snake. he is SUPER active at night which is good and i have heard that its because hes in "hunting" mode and is looking for food but there is food in there right now and he is just ignoring it trying to get out and stuff instead lol.

That means he is stressed. Does he come out during the day as well?

I really don't know much about BP's, but I know a lot about animals...And anyone can correct me if I'm wrong here, and I won't feel bad here...but reading your previous threads...it sounds to me you're fearing your snake more than enjoying it...You have a negative energy around your snake, and animals can sense that...Just a hunch, but i'm pretty sure, when your holding that f/t you're a bit shaky...that shakiness, translates into neg energy...

What I thought was a happy snake, that was moving around day and night was a stressed one...

What i thought was scale rot on my snake was just a bad start of a shed...

I think by listening to everyone here, is gonna drive you a little crazy...You're gonna make mistakes as we all do (My humidity was over 85% just last week)...Yes read the caresheets...calm down a little, stop freaking out...and you'll be ok...:D


Also, try to learn from this...that snake probably came to you for a reason...to conquer this minor fear of yours...Just imagine what possibilities hold if you get over this fear...not just at home, but in life...As corny as it may sound its true... :snake:

I say you're snake couldn't have a better owner...:rockon:

Now listen to the experts...stick with a plan, and get back to us...

P.S...paint the three sides of the tank black (buy a small cheap brush, and a tube of any dark color acrylic paint);)

yea he sleeps all day but he is supper active at night and like you said i think because i am nervous he is too.but i am actually going to just get some paper and take it on the sides so i can take it off if ever needed. but i am a lot less scared than before and i can usually pick him up except on a day when hes in a bad mood. oh well i will just keep it up and eventually it will turn out okay i hope anyways.

thank you a lot for the reassurance Montie.

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Originally Posted by brandon82490

yea he sleeps all day but he is supper active at night and like you said i think because i am nervous he is too.but i am actually going to just get some paper and take it on the sides so i can take it off if ever needed. but i am a lot less scared than before and i can usually pick him up except on a day when hes in a bad mood. oh well i will just keep it up and eventually it will turn out okay i hope anyways.

thank you a lot for the reassurance Montie.

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I would suggest black foam board instead of paper. It will help to insulate your tank and bring up those temps a bit. There's a tutorial in this sticky:
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=56846

I have a BP and he's a sweet heart (for the most part). I've been feeding him live since I've had him. A word of caution. When you put the rat in the enclosure make sure you watch and be ready to take the prey out immediately if the rat becomes aggressive. It doesn't happen often but once I had a rat jump on my BP and start to attack him. Live feeding will not make your BP more aggressive. Only leave the prey in the cage for about 20-30 minutes. If he doesn't eat wait a week. Mine eats a small rat every two weeks like clockwork.

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Originally Posted by brandon82490

you think it will be okay if he goes that long w/o food ? that would be 2 weeks in between meals. also i was kind of thinking about feeding live because the pet store said that is what he has been on forever. i did get a response from him as to biting the thawed rat but i think maybe it would be better for him to just stay on live. would it make him more aggressive if i feed live ?

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I have a BP and he's a sweet heart (for the most part). I've been feeding him live since I've had him. A word of caution. When you put the rat in the enclosure make sure you watch and be ready to take the prey out immediately if the rat becomes aggressive. It doesn't happen often but once I had a rat jump on my BP and start to attack him. Live feeding will not make your BP more aggressive. Only leave the prey in the cage for about 20-30 minutes. If he doesn't eat wait a week. Mine eats a small rat every two weeks like clockwork.
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yea i think he will eat soon i hope so but he still is really aggresive towards me i used the black construction paper for the back to block it off so he couldent see and i got a thermostat and all that stuff two hides and whatnot but he still wont let me pick him up w/o striking and he never ever just curls into a ball like a ball python usually does.

also maybe he is in shed he has been sitting in his hide for a few days now coming out barely at night and hes been drinking a lot and not soaking but just kind of going through the water dish a lot. think that could be why is is always so angry with me ? his eyes do not look a different color but his scales look a little more faded .

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Originally Posted by brandon82490

yea i think he will eat soon i hope so but he still is really aggresive towards me i used the black construction paper for the back to block it off so he couldent see and i got a thermostat and all that stuff two hides and whatnot but he still wont let me pick him up w/o striking and he never ever just curls into a ball like a ball python usually does.

also maybe he is in shed he has been sitting in his hide for a few days now coming out barely at night and hes been drinking a lot and not soaking but just kind of going through the water dish a lot. think that could be why is is always so angry with me ? his eyes do not look a different color but his scales look a little more faded .

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If he is going into shed, he could be a bit grumpy. Just so you know, ball pythons don't soak normally so don't expect him to do so while shedding.

Him being in his hides 24/7 is probably a good sign. When they are hiding it means they feel safe in their surroundings. Usually they are only active at night if they are hungry (right around feeding day).

yea idk hes been doing a lot better i guess but im rly going to try and handle him for 10 mins about every two days or so to get him more comfortable and to get me to get a little more comfortable too.

it might stress him out some but he needs to get used to me sometime and i gotta get used to him too.

You got the snake around the 13th or so of this month correct? There's no rush to handle really. Focus on getting a feeding routine down and don't stress the snake while you are doing that. Nothing has to be done too quickly. Ball pythons are a pretty shy snake that needs time to get used to changes in it's life so being patient is really important when you own one.

now my snake is going crazy all the time he will no longer stay in a hide even though i have two and hisses and strikes at me any anyone even if they are not even close to the cage you cant reach in to get water in there easily and its just really really bad. he Has only curled into a ball one time and even than he was stikeing at me when i took him out after that...

i think i just got a bad snake maybe cause i have all the temps,humidity, hides, lighting, and everything the way its supposed to be and he will not strike at a rodent but only my hand... he is just kind of sitting around with the mouse and than he allways goes for me i am probably going to have to get rid of him cause i am not going to be able to put up with him i can even get him out of his cage safely....

if he dont get better soon than hes going cause ive done so many things for him and every thing is perfect 55 percent humidity about 82 degrees on the hot side and on the heat pad its about 91 degrees hes got a decent sized water bowl I blocked off the sides of the cage so he wouldn't see through them. he consistantly is out of his hides now and yes he knows where they are because he used to use them all the time.


i think im just going to have to say goodbye to this one and i really dont think im going to get another one.

I feel so bad because i really want him to be able to just be happy but he is just a very very aggreseve snake and he will not eat the rats, mice but he strikes at me as if i am food. and i tryed live he struck once and lost interest. the F/t rat he struck at a few times but i think it was cause i was putting it in his face annoying him than he went after me again...

so if he dont get better soon he is going ot have to go.

just to make this clear is is ridiculously aggressive.

he was freakeing out really bad today when i tryed to pick him up and he was hissing like crazy and struck at me like 10 times and was moveing very fast not just strikeing fast but acctually moveing around the cage fast.


He gets worse every day. hopefully the store i got him from will take him back but i doubt it. I have a friend who wants him that has a person living with him that knows a lot about reptiles so he thinks that they could help him with it maybe.

but either way unless he gets better soon i am going to get rid of him. I have dont every thing i can for him and he still just gets worse and today it got MUCH worse than before. he will not even go into his hides.

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Originally Posted by brandon82490

just to make this clear is is ridiculously aggressive.

he was freakeing out really bad today when i tryed to pick him up and he was hissing like crazy and struck at me like 10 times and was moveing very fast not just strikeing fast but acctually moveing around the cage fast.


He gets worse every day. hopefully the store i got him from will take him back but i doubt it. I have a friend who wants him that has a person living with him that knows a lot about reptiles so he thinks that they could help him with it maybe.

but either way unless he gets better soon i am going to get rid of him. I have dont every thing i can for him and he still just gets worse and today it got MUCH worse than before. he will not even go into his hides.

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Hey there Brandon, and welcome to the world of snakes. BPs husbandry can be complicated at first, but if you follow all of my instructions (and the other peoples on this site) I can guarantee we can help your snake.

Ok, I'm pretty sure he's aggressive because he's scared and feels threatened, not just aggressive for no reason.
Firstly, a 20 gallon long is not too small for him, in fact, it could be too big for him. I have an 900g ball python in a 32q tub, which is half of the floorspace of a 20g and that should suit him his entire life.

First of all, stop trying to feed him for right now. They can go months and months without food, that is not a big deal. We need to get his husbandry and temperatures correct.
I'm going to give you a rough checklist of things you need for this animal. Once husbandry is spot on in the 20 gallon, if he's still not eating, then you move him to a 10 or 15 gallon (or preferably a tub).

Heating

1. If you have a heat lamp of any type, remove it. However, if you want a viewing light, just get a very low wattage bulb so it does not suck out all of your snakes valuable humidity.
2. You have a UTH correct? What are you using to control that UTH. If your answer is nothing, you need to immediately get a herpstat, thermostat, or a temporary dimmer to control the heat from getting too hot, because I can almost guarentee the temperatures are too warm directly above the UTH without anything controlling it. Something like this is good, unfortunately these are the most expensive parts of owning a snake.
   http://www.reptilebasics.com/Thermostats-p-1-c-250.html
   I have this one.
   http://www.reptilebasics.com/Ranco-E...0-p-16171.html
3. Are you using dial thermometers? Trash them, they are extremely inaccurate and useless. Go to a petstore to get 2 reptile thermometers WITH PROBES and put on under the substrate above the UTH and one on the cool side. Your temps should not exceed 95F above the UTH.
4. Go to Walmart, or Home Depot and get yourself an Accurite Digital Thermometer/Hygrometer mixture. It should look like a little box with digital stuff all over it. This will tell you your ambient/air temp in the cage (should stay at 80-85F) and the humidity, which should stay at about 60-70%.

Security

1. Now that we have the dangerous stuff out of the way, lets go over the security issues making him aggressive. What do your hides look like? Are they clear or very big? If there is a large amount (or any actually) of empty space in the hide, it is too big. Get yourself some of these,
   http://www.reptilebasics.com/Hide-Boxes-p-1-c-282.html
   (I would guess a med-large for a 500g snake) and put one on the warm side and the cool side. If you don't want those, there are plenty of rocky looking types at petstores that do very well too. Just stay away from log hides! They are very insecure for bps.
2. Because he is in a 20g cage, there is a lot of open space here. Make sure you pack it down with fake plants and make the entire place look super cramped, leaving almost no empty floorspace. Don't put branches too high though, as they are not arboreal and can fall and hurt themselves.
3. Next, get some cardboard or dark paper and cover the sides and back of the tank (from the outside) so that he doesn't feel like he's in a bubble. I think the dark paper usually looks nicer, but cardboard is good for insulation if you have temp issues.
4. Also, they do not need to soak in a water bowl, so having a really big one is not needed. One about the size of a deli cup is fine, they only need it to drink. If you have humidity problems, there are other ways to fix that.

After that, THEN we'll talk about feeding. :D Good luck!

P.S. Your snake is also very scared because he just moved to a brand new home! Remember, he needs time to settle in, so avoid handling and feeding for a week or two, especially while fixing up his cage. :]

Hopefully you still have your snake and haven't given up on herping just yet...

Many people have given you great advice so far so I will keep this to the most important thing.... YOU'VE GOT TO STOP HANDLING THE SNAKE. It sounds like you think you HAVE to handle it so that it gets used to you and stops striking. At the moment, it's quite the opposite. With a snake like yours who is very stressed out and aggressive, all you should be doing is leaving it completely alone and changing its water. Put some more junk in the tank so it's not so open. And in a week or two of not messing with him, then trying feeding. Honestly, just leave it alone for a while.

hes got a medium Hide that he can fit in just fine and he has a Half log that is positioned so against the side of the tank witch is black because i covered it with paper to make him feel more secure and he has the aspen built up so he is secure in there too.

I have a thermostat and two thermometers and a humidity gauge.

I have all the temps correct and the humidity he fits snug in both hides got a another very small log for him to rub against if he has shed problems.

I have had people who know a lot about ball pythons tell me that he is just an agressive ball and that there are some that are just that way. There is not much traffic where i have the tank at. I try and feed him on Wednesdays he will NOT eat i think the strikes at the rodents are defensive cause they have to come up to him or i gotta put it in his face and move it around fast. but he will strike at me just about and chance he has.

i think there may be something wrong with him though because he seems to be supper clumsy now and falls around the cage a lot.

Its so frustrating but i have tried soooo much and left him alone for so long so he don't get stressed but still he is Way overly aggressive.

I really do want to keep him but so far its not looking like a possibility...

I feel really bad though because even though i have tried every thing that people tell me to do and i have all the cage specs right he still is this way its just starting to get very very bad.

I tried handling the snake for the first time in probably a week and a half... he hissed and tried to bite me many times.

actually the last time that he was picked up even was probably a little less that two weeks ago. i tried feeding in his tank cause people on here told me it was a good idea and he didn't eat. so today i just tryed to pick him up and he freaked now he strikes and hisses at every one through the glass and will not go into the hides even though they are there.

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Originally Posted by brandon82490

hes got a medium Hide that he can fit in just fine and he has a Half log that is positioned so against the side of the tank witch is black because i covered it with paper to make him feel more secure and he has the aspen built up so he is secure in there too.

I have a thermostat and two thermometers and a humidity gauge.

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Are they digital? Do they have probes?
Gauges are useless and inaccurate, you need a digital hygrometer.

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I have all the temps correct and the humidity he fits snug in both hides got a another very small log for him to rub against if he has shed problems.

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You should have two identical hides. You want him to BARELY fit inside the hide so that all sides are touching him when he is in it. You can get him a decor rock to rub on, but he needs two secure hides on both sides so he doesn't have to pick his favorite hide while sacrificing his thermoregulation.

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I have had people who know a lot about ball pythons tell me that he is just an agressive ball and that there are some that are just that way. There is not much traffic where i have the tank at. I try and feed him on Wednesdays he will NOT eat i think the strikes at the rodents are defensive cause they have to come up to him or i gotta put it in his face and move it around fast. but he will strike at me just about and chance he has.

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You should stop trying to feed him, just because it is stressing him out right now. Yes some balls are just aggressive, but 90% of the time they are aggressive for a reason. If he was handleable at the petstore, then it's even more likely that theres something bugging him.
Yes, you may have had knowledgeable people talk to you about your ball (petstore employees are not knowledgeable by any means, oftentimes they are extremely inaccurate with their information) but on this website there are hundreds of people currently hatching out baby ball pythons that cost thousands, and taking care of hundreds of animals with all of them feeding regularly.
I can honestly say, that a lot of people know what they're talking about here.

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i think there may be something wrong with him though because he seems to be supper clumsy now and falls around the cage a lot.

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Does he look like he's trying to climb out of the cage? Snakes will do this when they are looking for a more secure place. Roaming is a bad thing, and means stress because they feel insecure. They are not very coordinated snakes, because they are ground snakes and will fall if they try to climb sides of cages or branches.

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Its so frustrating but i have tried soooo much and left him alone for so long so he don't get stressed but still he is Way overly aggressive.

I really do want to keep him but so far its not looking like a possibility...

I feel really bad though because even though i have tried every thing that people tell me to do and i have all the cage specs right he still is this way its just starting to get very very bad.

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You haven't tried everything. In fact, I'm not sure what you have changed other than left him alone. I still stand on following my instructions, especially with the hides, and covering 3/4 of the snakes cage. Your case is not the first we've heard like this, and it's not unusual or different and I highly doubt theres anything wrong with your snake (neurologically) unless he is doing back flips and can't right himself back up.

i have probes one right on top of the heat pad and another one on the hot side of the tank on the surface.

lol maybe im just freaking out but he freaks out so bad when i reach in the cage that it is impossible to do anything in there .

he presses his face against the cage really really hard and you can see him shake when he does it occasionally he climbs up the walls not so much as when i first got him. I have been told to just offer him food once a week but not to force it what is what i am doing.

He does not have identical hides but they do both fit well and he has used them both so he knows that they are hides and not just things in his cage.

I don't know if I am fully getting this across to you guys exactly how bad he got today i mean it was very scary actually because he was so angry he continued to strike at me and hit the glass and he hit it hard many many times. Hopefully tomorrow he will be better and actually use one of his hides by tomorrow.

It could just be bad genes passed down to him or mishandled growing up. I mean some of us humans are born passive and some with a wicked tamper. I wouldn't blame it on his environment. Last week there was discussion about bringing your bp with you in public. Some even admitted taking them on long road trips on the dash board. I highly doubt their humidity and temperatures were in range.

Just my 0.02 cents

either that or something is wrong with him. he was decent in the store when i held him he was actually really good. The breeder droped him off basically as i picked him up.

I am gunna talk to the people at the pet store and see what they say. the people there know a lot its not a petco or petsmart its a local store with people that have a lot of experience so they know what they are talking about maybe they can tell me if something is wrong with him but if its just that he is aggressive i cant keep him i was buying a Ball because they are supposed to be very docile and not a mean snake but this guy really is very aggressive and not just aggresive because he is scared but he goes out of his way it seems like he will strike asap anymore. the he freaked on me he went from a ball before i opent the cage to striking and moving around very fast i would say he was even flipping around a little bit.

again i have had friends who have owned BP's and have experience tell me that it is just an aggressive snake and that there are some but few naturally aggressive BP's

also ive noticed he hangs off his little humidity gauge his whole body ! not just part of it and from there he likes to strike the most its like his ambush place if that makes sense or it seems like it but im gunns get off for the night i will check this again in the morning.

Dude you cannot give this snake up, not just yet...I'm pretty sure, that I'm not the only one rootin for you!...Please whatever you do, don't give up...

Don't you see? You are as freaked out as the snake is!

Take a deep breath and count to 10 backwards...

I think your doing good on the husbandry job...

Your snake is just stressed out...Just like you!

Don't you see it? You're really freaking out...hence your snake freaking out...

If anyone here disagrees, put me on blast...but I say, leave the snake alone...at least two weeks...

Just forget about him...don't look at him, ignore him...don't pay any mind to him...(just make sure his humidity and temps are good)

If he strikes through the glass, let him...

Ignore him completely...

I know this may sound crazy, but maybe you do need to get bitten...just to get over that fear as well...So you know its not that bad as you think it is...

If you read the threads...a lot of people here get bitten...and they laugh about it


True story, but i worked in a petshop over 10 years ago, and i got bitten by a BP, it was so fast and sudden, i didnt even have time to flinch...only because I didn't expect it...I actually laughed and showed my coworkers what happened...

I'm more scared of a chihuahua than a BP,

I say get bit today, and leave him alone for two weeks...completely, forget about food and all...

And whats wrong with an aggressive snake? They're not dogs...they're more like fish...as where you really can't pet a fish...:taz:

Please don't give up not just yet...

Where's the Snake Whisperer when you need one? :snake:

Put a dark towel or blanket over his cage for a week, checking his water every couple days.
See how that goes.

okay guys thank you for your help i talked to the people at the pet store and they said they are going to talk to the breeder about it and they said that they think he actually had something wrong with him and that the setup was just fine the way it is. they also told me to take him sometime if he don't quit and maybe they can refund him maybe. either way i am going to try to get him to behave better but if he don't soon im going to have to find someone who can take care of him better or else if the pet store will give me a refund.

also i didnt try to feed him today and today was the normal feeding day but im doing like you guys said for now with the dark towel and leaving him alone for a week he has been in his hide a little bit lightly but he still spends a lot of time out he just kind of sits there and if he can see you on the side of the cage w/o the towel he will still try to strike at you .

also idk if i said this or not but he has been pushing on the glass very hard wit his nose and ik that its supposed to be a sign of shedding but hes been doing it for about a week or two and had not been showing any signs of shed at all since i got him. any one know what that means ?

Forget about feeding him for now...and he shouldn't be able to see you through the sides, being that you have the three walls of his tank covered, with foam, or paint or backround paper or whatever you have....and make sure he doesn't have a day light as well...

Hi,

Also a sign of stress if it carries on for any length of time I'm afraid.

It is normal for them to explore any new tank and try and find a way out at first but they normally stop .

I think your guy is just scared. :(

Can you get us the pics of your enclosure you mentioned a couple of pages ago?

The only ones we can see is the one in your avatar and that is obviously unsuitable and out of date.

On a similar note you mentioned people talking about cage carpet quite a bit after you said you were using aspen?

On the 21st of may;

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by brandon82490

and i have aspen bedding so i cant feed him in his normal cage or else he might accidentally eat some of the bedding. that's what i have heard anyways plus i don't think you are supposed to do that anyways.

---

But on the 28th;

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by brandon82490

also this is getting confusing because i hear completely different things from some people like the whole feeding in the cage or not and some people told me that my snake was WAY to hot and a lot of people are telling me cage carpet his horrible and others are saying its great........... but thank you every one for all the advice so much also i will be getting a thermostat soon i ordered it so my temps will be a lot more stable witch will be awesome because where i live the temps vary a LOT every day is different.

---

And similarly on the 23 rd you mention planning to buy two of these hides the next day. This is also when you planned to order the thermostat mentioned in the quote above yes?

Also on the 28th you mentioned your intention to tape paper to the sides of the tank.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by brandon82490

but i am actually going to just get some paper and take it on the sides so i can take it off if ever needed.

---

So it has really only been since the 31st or so that things have been corrected at all;

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by brandon82490

yea i think he will eat soon i hope so but he still is really aggresive towards me i used the black construction paper for the back to block it off so he couldent see and i got a thermostat and all that stuff two hides and whatnot but he still wont let me pick him up w/o striking and he never ever just curls into a ball like a ball python usually does.

---

On the 2nd of june you do mention that the hides are not identical (one being a half log aginst a covered side) but I don't think that is the major cause of your problems.

It has only been 5 days approximately since you actually corrected the problems that would have made the tank less than ideal.

If you have a nervous snake then every change you make to the tank can mean you need to let it settle back down for another week.

And on the handling thing - I'm worried your not getting the idea behind the advice.

You tried feeding him (in a seperate container ) on the 21 st of may.

Since you had to put a towel over him to get him back in the tank that would also have freaked him out a bit. You then tried to feed live in his tank on the 28th - stressfull again for the lil guy.

But on the 31st you planned to handle him again which was too soon as you had only just changed his cage in some major ways (for the better but still changes ).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by brandon82490

yea idk hes been doing a lot better i guess but im rly going to try and handle him for 10 mins about every two days or so to get him more comfortable and to get me to get a little more comfortable too.

it might stress him out some but he needs to get used to me sometime and i gotta get used to him too.

---

And on the 2nd of june;

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by brandon82490

he was freakeing out really bad today when i tryed to pick him up and he was hissing like crazy and struck at me like 10 times and was moveing very fast not just strikeing fast but acctually moveing around the cage fast.

.........

but either way unless he gets better soon i am going to get rid of him. I have dont every thing i can for him and he still just gets worse and today it got MUCH worse than before. he will not even go into his hides.

---

Your plan to wait the week with the towel covered tank is the best one - the more time he has with nothing he sees as stressfull happening to him the better. But cover the whole open section of the tank as you mentioned "if he can see you on the side of the cage w/o the towel he will still try to strike at you ".

As advised above - when you reach in to change the water etc and he freaks out totally ignore him. Don't try and pick him up or anything obviously but also don't draw back - just try doing nothing. :)

There really is nothing to be gained by trying to rush the snake at this point.

If it takes him 2 or 3 weeks to learn that nothing is going to eat him that really is ok - you have 20 years to get used to each other and at 500g+ he is in no danger of starving to death because he misses a couple of meals. :gj:

You tank was off and, once you cover the rest of the open section, now it isn't - treat it as a brand new beginning and go from there. :please:


dr del