agressive ball python

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.

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 .

---

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.

Quote:

---

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.

---

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.