Aggro BP

I am not a hundred percent sure if this belongs under husbandry, but it was my best guess.

So 3 weeks ago I moved my bp Apophis from my room to our spare room becuse my rooms gets much too cold during the winter. Before the move I could hold him for 30min before he showed signs of aggrevation, but now I can hardly open the top of the cage before he gets in a s shape and starts approaching the top of the cage in a aggressive manner. The temps are good, average temp is 84 while the cool side is 80 and the warm side is between 88 and 91. His cage is clean and always has fresh water and has never missed a feeding, actually he has a strong feeding response.

So any idea why hes gone terminator on me?

Thanks for your time and effort in reading my post.

Are you feeding the appropriate size prey? The rodent should be no bigger around than than the widest part of your snake.....or 10 to 15% of your snake's body weight. The only thing I can think of is the prey is too small. Do you have other pets like a hamster or gerbil that could have it's scent on you?

Nope, I dont keep rodents as pets and I'm feeding him large mice, which are just about as thick as he is. Maybe I should feed him twice in one day instead of twice in one week?

No dont feed him twice a day that is way to much for a bp. You will just make him fat and unhealthy. Prob what has happened is he has learned to scare you away and that his antics work . So he does this, he has you trained. Just pick him up, use gloves if needed but a baby bp bite is nothing. He will get the hint that biting gets him nowhere.

he could just be stressed from moving, believe it or not. could be slightly different temps, different ground vibrations, a higher/lower number of traffic going by his enclosure.

give him a bit to settle, then maybe try feeding 2 mice, one right after the other.

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Originally Posted by Kryptonian

No dont feed him twice a day that is way to much for a bp. You will just make him fat and unhealthy. Prob what has happened is he has learned to scare you away and that his antics work . So he does this, he has you trained. Just pick him up, use gloves if needed but a baby bp bite is nothing. He will get the hint that biting gets him nowhere.

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is he a baby ball python? if so disregard my comment about feeding 2 mice in a row.

however if he's over a couple hundred grams, i would for sure be feeding him 2 mice at once, if not more. keep in mind mice aren't the only prey, with rats or hamsters you get much more versatility in size. i have a male BP whose 800 grams, and he eats a blackbear hamster about once every 3 weeks.

Could you describe his normal daily behavior? Does he use his hides during the day and/or during the night?

He usually stays in his hide most of the day and will come out every now and then to, what it seems to me, thermoregulate. During the night around 6 or so he will start prowling the cage, even if i fed him around 5. He will cruise till ten or sometimes 11 then go back into his hide, every now and then I will see him out around 2 or later.

I agree that two at once seems like too much but I was throwing the idea out there .

About him having me trained....its odd becuse if i sit and just watch him he will look at me for like 5 min then start cruising, if I try to open the cage however he will start coiling and get into strike position.

Furthermore with his new location he is on the ground to previousely being on a desk, so maybe the vibrations are too much. I will see if I can get him up onto something today.

I don't have a scale for him, I was saving up and then got laid off . So i use the width trick and these mice are about the same width he is. I know age doesnt mean too much for bps but he is a year and afew months old and roughly 3 feet with the width of a old school 50 cent piece.

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Originally Posted by katia

is he a baby ball python? if so disregard my comment about feeding 2 mice in a row.

however if he's over a couple hundred grams, i would for sure be feeding him 2 mice at once, if not more. keep in mind mice aren't the only prey, with rats or hamsters you get much more versatility in size. i have a male BP whose 800 grams, and he eats a blackbear hamster about once every 3 weeks.

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I feed frozen only and if you can get frozen hamsters I have yet to see them at my petsmart lol

If he is a year old I would definitely start feeding him 2 mice once a week at least. He is probably just starving.

For reference, both of my one year olds eat small rats.

I do 2 large mice a week and have for afew months. next time im in town I'll get small rats, hopefully petsmart will have them in this time lol.

Update-Well I got his terrarium up off the ground onto a large night stand and he seems to be doing better, I was actually able to come into contact today without him trying to strike at me lol. I got him some more large mice ( all the rats where sold out) and will be feeding him every three days or so instead of four to five.

something to remember is that to a snake, particularly a young one, you are a predator. they don't understand you are nice and want to take care of them right off. that being said they mostly want you to go away.

it is good that by changing its setup you are getting "better" behavior from the animal, though. just remember the best way to approach them is with firm, direct movements (I don't mean squeezing them). If you open the lid and it comes right up to the top that doesn't mean its after you, it could be exploring and just want out, it could be hungry and looking for that mouse, or it could just be an outgoing snake.

If you put your open palm in front of the snake does it track your hand with it's head back an cocked, or does it just pull it's head back (both can look like an "s" shape, but mean totally different things). Even if it looks like it's after you, if you can firmly (not showing fear) reach somewhat behind it and pick it up mid body, it will probably get over itself.

also why not just feed it a rat instead of feeding it multiple times?

Warming up, if he was too cold will also make him more alert and therefore perhaps more aggressive. DO NOT STOP HANDLING HIM. Otherwise, he'll just buffalo you every time you try

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Originally Posted by katia

with rats or hamsters you get much more versatility in size. i have a male BP whose 800 grams, and he eats a blackbear hamster about once every 3 weeks.

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you do not want to feed hamsters.

Hamsters are extremely aggressive rodents that can inflict serious damage. I have been bitten several times by hamsters and they draw blood and don't let go. This isn't like a rat nipping you (been there, done that as well). Would you want to risk that with your snake? Ball pythons can imprint on prey. Hamsters are expensive and not commonly found in a lot of areas. If you ever have to rehome your animal you'd be putting this burden on someone else. This is the same reason i'll recommend mice and rats over gerbils 100% of the time for CB snakes.

Rats and mice are suitable prey for ball pythons, they are also much more common and generally more affordable.

OP, how big is your snake, how much does it weigh and how old is it? Possibly a picture of the tank set up will help diagnose the issue as well.

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Originally Posted by cinderbird

you do not want to feed hamsters.

Hamsters are extremely aggressive rodents that can inflict serious damage. I have been bitten several times by hamsters and they draw blood and don't let go. This isn't like a rat nipping you (been there, done that as well). Would you want to risk that with your snake? Ball pythons can imprint on prey. Hamsters are expensive and not commonly found in a lot of areas. If you ever have to rehome your animal you'd be putting this burden on someone else. This is the same reason i'll recommend mice and rats over gerbils 100% of the time for CB snakes.

Rats and mice are suitable prey for ball pythons, they are also much more common and generally more affordable.

OP, how big is your snake, how much does it weigh and how old is it? Possibly a picture of the tank set up will help diagnose the issue as well.

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thanks for the assumption that i'm dumb enough to feed my snake live hamsters. i'm extremely aware of how aggressive they are

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Originally Posted by katia

thanks for the assumption that i'm dumb enough to feed my snake live hamsters. i'm extremely aware of how aggressive they are

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i'm not assuming anything. You stated you feed hamsters and recommended someone else try it, i listed the dangers of feeding that type of prey item since you neglected to add them into your own post or specify that you happen to feed F/T or Pk or something of that sort.

it doesn't matter the type of rodent, f/t is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS better. should that really be stated in every post about feeder rodents?

also, i suppose i could have worded it better. the point of my post was not to recommend the OP try hamsters, but rather to give an example of how long the snake goes between feeders.

i was not trying to say that feeding exclusively hamsters is a good idea

Well first thing first, I am going to feed him rats, once my petsmart is restocked, until then all I got is large mice.

Unfortunetly I was laid off before I could get a proper weight scale, so I am using the width trick " prey as thick as he is in the largest part" .

He does have a large terrarium, bout 45, but that hasn't bothered him before.

He will do lazy strikes, where his head wont even be in locked and loaded mode and he will still strike, which leads me to believe they are defensive.

He will track my hand if I move it back and forth.

His actions the past few days have led me to believe he is simply afraid of me ( which I kind of figured). I will continue to increase our interaction until I feel it is ok to pick him up. Im not afraid of the bite, more of him loseing teeth:(.

O and I forgot to mention earlier that when he comes towards me when I open the cage it is in the same stance and speed he approaches a mouse before strikeing....and its always towards my face lol.