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Shipping him would cause so much more stress to that baby. As others have said, give him time to settle in, start eating for you, and get used to his new home.

Are you sure your setup and husbandry are correct? He could be feeling very insecure in a glass tank.

Like Drake said, babies that are a little snappy settle down with time and are usually fantastic eaters. I've never met a truly aggressive ball python. I've seen scared and defensive, but not outright aggressive.

Personally, with new additions I don't handle for anything other than cleaning or a quick photo shoot for the entire quarantine period (minimum 2 months).

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Originally Posted by Drake Moonslayer

My limited experience with my BPs the ones that started off more aggresive have been some of my best eaters never missing meals and have calmed down towards me as they got older, but still very aggresive eaters. I have also let a couple of them bite me and it seems as though after they realize that im not food they tend to mellow out afterwards.

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This always seemed to help me when I was working with babies/juveniles. Let them take a crack at me and they realize I'm too big and also not food. The ones that continuously strike the tank/tub walls I would cover up and let them chill for a few days. Every animal is going to react to stress differently. Some get over it faster than others and they all just take some time and patience. OP I woudn't send the snake back immediately. Give the little guy some time to settle in for you and maybe after a few feedings they'll relax. He/she is defending themselves the only way they know how: striking.

Give the snake time to get used to the new surroundings.

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Originally Posted by maudie

I've had him for about a week now and have only held him a couple times. One of which was to help him get some skin off his face, (that was on the first day!) I guess they had shipped him to me during his shed. Which probably didn't help his temper at all. I'm planning on shipping him back tomorrow, because of how aggressive he is. He will even strike the glass when I walk by. (pretty hard, too) And I don't want him hurting himself. He's only my second ball python and I'm really not ready to deal with one that aggressive:( Unfortunate, really. He's such a beautiful snake.

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Don't be so quick to send him back. He needs plenty of time to settle in, even stuck shed can wait a few days.

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Originally Posted by maudie

It's definitely a really exciting experience. I hope it all goes well for you!:)

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I agree with everyone to give the animal time to adjust to the new smells and sights. Along with double checking your husbandry ,is to immediately tape some dark non see through paper to 3 of the 4 sides of the enclosure! This should have a immediate positive decline in his stress level. Stay in peace and not pieces. :gj:

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Originally Posted by maudie

I've had him for about a week now and have only held him a couple times. One of which was to help him get some skin off his face, (that was on the first day!) I guess they had shipped him to me during his shed. Which probably didn't help his temper at all. I'm planning on shipping him back tomorrow, because of how aggressive he is. He will even strike the glass when I walk by. (pretty hard, too) And I don't want him hurting himself. He's only my second ball python and I'm really not ready to deal with one that aggressive:( Unfortunate, really. He's such a beautiful snake.

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Don't send him back. Your snake sounds like my bumblebee Bubo when I first got him. He was 175g when he arrived at my house and he was very very defensive. He would strike at the glass, the mesh top, anything lol. He bit me a ton of times but never even broke the skin. But his defensiveness stemmed from my improper husbandry and once I fixed it he was as calm an sweet as can be. Now he's close to 1000g and still very sweet :) just give the little guy a chance to settle and make sure your husbandry is perfect. Check on this thread on setting up a glass tank it shows you everything you need :)

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-With-Pictures!

All of the advice in this thread is great :) don't give up on the little guy so soon. If you send him back you may be missing out on a really great pet. Keep us updated please.

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Originally Posted by maudie

I've had him for about a week now and have only held him a couple times. One of which was to help him get some skin off his face, (that was on the first day!) I guess they had shipped him to me during his shed. Which probably didn't help his temper at all. I'm planning on shipping him back tomorrow, because of how aggressive he is. He will even strike the glass when I walk by. (pretty hard, too) And I don't want him hurting himself. He's only my second ball python and I'm really not ready to deal with one that aggressive:( Unfortunate, really. He's such a beautiful snake.

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If you ship him back my guess is that YOU are not ready to own a snake especially a young one.

Those are snakes not puppies, everyone owning a snake should expect this at some point even more so when not allowing the snake to settle properly.