Nervous to reach in my Ball's tank...advise?

Thank you all so much for your replies!! I think its time to up his prey size. Not sure on his age, but hes 456g and about 30 inches long. I've been feeding him one large adult mouse every 7 days. Last week since was acting so hungry I gave him one large adult and a small/medium adult mouse that I had left over from winter. I'm feeding f/t. I know the general rule of thumb is nothing bigger than their widest part, and about 10-15% of their body weight. So based on that I'm going to move up. Small rats sound ok?

Thank you again! I love this forum :D

Mittens.

I really do recommend feeding in a cardboard box if your ball python starts showing cage aggression like this. My black pastel male is a sweetheart and a real Don Juan, but he doesn't have much in the brains department. Every time I've ever tried feeding him in the tank, he's started biting and lunging at me. So now he goes in the cardboard box for meals--and after a week or two he stops with the cage aggression.

In the mean time, wear gardening gloves.

My bee is 342g or so and he's eating 45-50g small rats. Your snake needs more food! That should help a lot with his behavior. I would try offering every 5 days. Personally I rotate 4 and then 5 day feed schedule until the python is decently sized.

Regards,

B

Ah, not completely unusual. Just try not to worry about it, pick him up while he is focused checking something out beyond his cage - once they are in your hands they will become as calm as they come.