aggresive baby ball

People here have you on the right path. I simply wanted to comment on one item.

Focusing just on being intimidated (understandably) by an upset snake, I had to go through that with my boa constrictor (I do have a BP too). He wasn't expressly mean but as a baby holy COW, he had the being intimidating thing down.

It took me a really long time to commit, just reach in reasonably quickly, and grab his tail with confidence. Here's the thing: With any snake, you must reach in with confidence. If you go too slow, they'll get nervous. If you move too fast, they'll get upset. If you go at a good speed, stop, return to good speed, but otherwise falter, that's when it will get REALLY upset.

Also, it's not just physical actions. If you are nervous, if you are a bit afraid, that snake will detect that. This in turn will cause them to feel the same way. It is a nasty loop sort of thing.

So you have to get into the right mentality: That of: I'm going to confidently yet calmly reach in there, grab its tail, and pick it up. I may get bit, but here's how I'll react: Act like it doesn't bother me. Don't let it scare you away.

This isn't as easy as I make it sound. But you'll get there. My BP used to strike at me every single chance she could get. And I always let it scare me away. Thus, she got the idea that she could make me go away. I had to break that. Same thing with the Boa.

So: Reach in there, be ready to NOT react to a bite, and pick it up anyway. Get it in both your hands so that it can get as stable of a stance as possible. Let it wrap its tail around your fingers. Keep your hands very low and above whatever surface, if that means you have to sit on the floor, so be it. So if it does panic and get out, it won't get hurt.

You may only be able to pull this off for 30 seconds at a time. But eventually that will become 60 seconds. And then 5 minutes, and so on. With persistence, it will calm down, realize you are not a threat, and stay out as long as you'll keep it out: for hours.

This is actually a kind of special time: Both of you have to build trust for the other, so each of you has to get into an uncomfortable / low confidence zone for short periods to build that up. It's really quite amazing to be a part of this. For example with my boa, he initiates this by coming right up to my face and just staring at me from inches away. I don't like it, but it's obvious that he is both nervous and curious, too. After about 30 seconds of that he calmly pulls away as if he's had enough.

These things in addition to confirming your husbandry is right, and with persistence, should result in an incredibly docile snake! Keep at it.


Added note: A small snake simply doesn't have much weight, and when it is on a surface, it does not have a firm connection or grip, and feels insecure. This can cause them to panic. As they get older they get bigger, and put on more weight. As this happens, they have a better connection, and gain confidence. This is true while they are in your hands, as well.

oh, is he on f/t or live mice right now? I'd try feeding him two hoppers, one after the other--one hopper a week probably isn't enough for a hungry baby. And if he goes for two hoppers, you can try substituting the second hopper for f/t the next time, and switch him over to f/t that way.

If he's already on f/t, I'd see if he goes for two hoppers, and then start moving him to small mice and on up.

My "hatchlings" (150-250 g) are on large and jumbo mice right now.