BP biting once in hand?

No, they dont usually bite, its kind of rare, if they do its because they are really hungry

I've had some nippy hatchlings, just defensive striking. Had one that wasn't happy about beimg held suddenly start on me once. felt something thumping against the same arm that was holding her, looked down and saw her hit me again. never evn felt teeth, though I did end up with a couple tiny droplets of blood. Never had problems with any reptile that I did not somehow cause though.

Thanks for the replies everyone :) My girl seems really calm, she's never struck at me so far. My 6 year old daughter is fascinated with her though, and I'd hate to have her experience turn sour, so I'll make sure she's calm and moving slowly when holding her. She was in blue when we got her and she would just sit all balled up in her hand, now that she's finished shedding she's very lively and my daughter is a little overwhelmed with all the movement, it's like she can't figure out where to put her hands LOL

Out of the 12 ball pythons in my house, only one has bitten me. My albino is a bit of a weirdo, and has struck me once, and tried on several other occasions. He has also been observed striking the hide in his tub, the glass, and anything else he can think of. He is not the nicest guy, but he is the exception. All my other snakes are super tame, and I have used them all for educational purposes at the vet school with kids between the ages of 10-17. They even made it onto the news :) In general BPs are docile and will usually not bite without a reason, unless you get a sour apple like I did ;)

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Originally Posted by xbikez

No, they dont usually bite, its kind of rare

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True

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if they do its because they are really hungry

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False

In the last 7 years it happened twice.

This is not a defensive strike or a feeding strike it’s just a BP that I started handling and after 10 minutes she decided to slowly start chewing on me, compare to a feeding strike it’s no big deal.

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...3/chewtoy1.jpg

LOL, that's really funny, I wonder why they would do that. Did it hurt, and was it easy to distract them from it? Do you think it was the snakes way of saying "ok, I'm done with the handling thing, can you please put me down"?

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Originally Posted by Shera

LOL, that's really funny, I wonder why they would do that. Did it hurt, and was it easy to distract them from it? Do you think it was the snakes way of saying "ok, I'm done with the handling thing, can you please put me down"?

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Hard to tell why they do this.

As far as pain it did not hurt, again the worse bites are feeding strike because of the strength of the strike.

I got her off my hand by pouring water down her nostrils.

I've been bitten by a BP that was already out of the enclosure, but she was nervous and hungry and I hadn't been paying attention to her body language and where my arm was. Tali's never bitten me, but I've/something has startled her during handling so she coiled back into the 'S' shape for a few seconds before relaxing and going back to checking stuff out. I've waved my hand in front of her a couple of times when she's like that to see if she would strike (because I'd rather get a 'you were being stupid' bite then not knowing what it looked like and it be someone else), and she's never struck, but probably if I pushed her she might.
From what I've seen/heard, most strikes come with warnings- the s shape, tense body, agitated movement so if it's not doing that you are most likely fine and if it does, you are still most likely fine, just be cautious I guess? If the snakes I've handled seemed not happy, I rotate them away from my face and other people so if they do decide to snap at something, it's open air and not me.

I've only had babies actively go for me lol although I have been bitten twice by adults (food responses only). Both of my spider babies are absolute turds and sometimes appear to calm down only bite me :rolleyes:

In my experience, it is usually only the hatchlings that get nippy once your holding them. We do have a couple of adult girls that during breeding season do not like to be messed with very much and will get a little nippy. I suggest to just keep working with the BP and get it used to being handled and should have no problems. Good luck!