She bit me

Well Last night it had been 48 hours after I had fed my new Ball python. So I went to take her out of the tub. As soon as my hand went in she went into an S shape and watched me closely. I slowly removed her hide.

I then touched her on her body and she tensed but kept in the S shape. I should of just picked her up but instead I took my hand away and in doing so it went in front of her face and she struck me. Broke the skin and a little blood came out.

After striking me she put her head in an S but layed it on the bottom of the tub. She did not curl over the top of it. So I touched her body and picked her up from underneath. She was stiff in my hands for about 20 seconds but then started to roam all over my hands back and forth. I held her for 10 minutes and put her back.

I assumed she struck me because of me moving my hand to close to her face in a quick manner.

So tonight I wanted to go and pick her up. This time I could not get my hand near her hide without her almost shaking as soon as it was close. I am pretty sure she was about to strike. Problem is my kids were in the room and I did not want them to be freaked out seeing the snake bite daddy. So I left her alone.

I am not experienced so I cannot tell if she is about to shed. I have looked at pictures on the net but her eyes are not blue but I do think her skin may be dull in appearance.

I do not know if it is because she was underfed. She is supposed to be near a year old. Her girth is such that the person I got her from suggested rat pups would be appropriate. The last meal I gave her consisted of two "large" mice that were definitly smaller than her girth. Those were fed three days ago. They were F/T, her first ones ever as she had only ever eaten live before then. She hammered them.

She is housed in a 28 qrt sterilite tub. Cool side drops to 76.7 at night and 81 during most of the day. Warm is pegged to 93 and stays there. Humidity is currently at 62.


No urates, liquid urine, or defacation since I got her 10+ days ago.

She only started using her hide about 4 days ago. Used to at night she would roam around the tub. Now she only puts about 4 inch of her head and neck outside the door of the hide. I have not seen her voluntarily come all the way out since she was fed.

Somewhere this post was going to be a question but it now looks like some kind of blog.

I have ordered some snake handling gloves as I am worried that if she strikes me and I pull back she will hurt her teeth. Her bite certainly did not hurt. It felt like sand paper being mildly raked accross my pinky. But pulling my hand away is kind of a visceral reaction to a wild animal with awesome speed striking you.

So what would you do in my situation. I am hoping she mellows out as my kids are big animal lovers and while they are too young to handle the snake, I would like them to be able to pet her when I am handling her. If this can be safely done.

Typical behaviour. After It eats it'll chill in the hot hide digesting for a while. Don't forget, they're cold blooded. Without heat, digestion doesn't happen.

About the biting, if you can remove the tub or w/e she is in from the rack do so. If it's in an aquarium remove the hide from the back so she can't tag you. Once you get the hide up gve her a sec to understand that it's not feeding time and shell start to roam or ball up. Wash your hands before you handle your snake. Then grab her from the back.

If she starts tensing up in your hands a lite tap on the nose will tell her "no". But then again, it can make them head shy too... If she's tense, get ready for a bite. If sha roaming you're generally ok. The gloves would be good to get her use to people.

Hope this helps, Jeremy.

I like the thorough post.

Only time I've been lunged at was when underfed. I have a 1-yo eating small rats but probably ready for a medium. Sounds like yours might be a bit hungry.

I wouldn't recommend approaching or touching her face when handling, though since it's only been a couple weeks you might wanna leave her be for a bit yet if she's still aggressive.

The turtle-like hiding is completely normal. She's using the hide as a home which means she's feeling secure.

If she's young and/or not used to handling, you should expect this. Snakes aren't people pets, but they can become tolerant. Make sure your hands don't smell like rodents or anything. The gloves seem like a good idea if you think you might hurt her like that. Don't back off if she gets defensive. She needs to learn it does no good. And the kids should know that snakes do bite, imo. No reason to get complacent.

Let the snake tag you a couple of times. It will get used to you and you will get used to getting tagged. It will scare you more than it will hurt. Most of the times, it will be a quick strike and that will be all.

Might as well get used to it, it's going to happen throughout your time as a snake owner.

Be careful with the gloves, sometime you can't feel too well and you may injure the snake, particularly if it's a young snake.

Good Luck!
Jim Smith

You said that it is a new snake. How long did you let it settle into it's new home before interacting with it? I have found that it can take 1 to 2 weeks sometimes. Especially if it had a very stressful shipping experience. It may just be under fed too. But I have had more strikes when a snake feels unsettled than any other time. Think about it, you just get moved into a new house, new sounds at night, your unsure of what to expect from the neighborhood, and then someone comes to your door unexpectedly. aren't you a bit more defensive than you would be at your old house where you were used to your surroundings? The fact that it is turtleing in it's hide is normal, but could also mean that it's just not quite sure of it's new home yet.

Wish you the best of luck.

I would definately bump her food up a size or two. Have you ever weighed her? She should be getting 10-15% of her body weight.

As for the striking; I have a little hatchling about a month old. She hasn't been handled much, as I'm waiting for one more shed, but she wants to eat everything that comes into her tub. What I do is take the lid of her tub and touch it too her nose, this pulls her out of feeding mode. I can then move her around and do some cleaning. Don't bop her, but just a slight touch with something other than your hand, will let her know it's not food time.

You can also move your hand behind her, and come right up over her head. She won't strike at something that close and if you come from behind, she won't even see it.

I wouldn't worry too much about her teeth, they grow back. :) Good Luck!

I love these threads!

Becuase now I can relate

Anyway, as said before probably the best way to pick up aggresive snakes is to cover thier head with something then pick them up with a lot of support

Personally, what I did was (but, keep in mind I have a blood who is EXTREMELY agrresive. although she is small) I went into the tank. Took her hide off

then I went away for a minute or 2

Came back and gently rubbed her back in a slow motion. then I picked her up from the middle and let her head go free, then I put my right hand under her tail. that way all her body was supported besides her head.

Now also keep in mind that before she was getting agressive at EVERYTHING. even if you opened the lid to the tank she would curl up into an S shape

Another good thing to do, dunno if its been mention is to wash your hands before you try to hold him/her

It was probably a combination of being very hungry and scared. You are a big scary monster to this tiny snake!

Give her some time to relax. Wait til she has a few meals in her before handling her again. Hopefully by then she will have a full belly and be a little more calm for you.

I suggest buying a snake hook. Get her out, or at least start to pick her up, with the hook. Once she realizes that you are handling her, she will most likely calm down. Then transfer her to your hands. I hook train all of my snakes, and never get bit. Good luck.

The only ball python in my collection that has struck at me is my Pinstripe male. He is young and still has a bit of an attitude. Once he is in my hands he is like putty though. I never go at my snakes head first to get them out. Getting bit is just a part of having reptiles as pets. If it weren't then everyone would have them.
I could tell you stories about my GTP striking at me but that would take hours.

im happy to here other people tell their story of bites because i feel like its a right of passage now. before i had ever ben bit i was so afraid but once my youngest pastel got me 4different times in one night ive never ben bit again an if i was to be bitten i wouldnt be terrified anymore just relax an dont pull your hand away if you do check for teeth in your hand hope i helped sum

In my opinion it sounds like she was just hungry, a year old ball python will need more than 2 large mice, my yearling old could eat 3 large mice and barely show a belly bump. She was still hungry probably and mistook the quick motion of your hand for prey. The smell of blood from your finger probably got her excited and that was why she was stiff when you handled her afterwards. Feed them a rodent that is as wide or maybe just slightly wider than the widest part of the snakes body, this is a good meal size, just feed the one. Mice are usually too small for ball pythons at that age, so rats would be a better choice, not only that, rats are supposed to have less body fat, and can be a leaner healthier meal for the snake than mice, atleast this is what I have been told on more than one occasion. At night I would also reccomend maybe keeping the ambient temp atleast 80 F, some people dont mind it getting cooler than that, but I dont like it to get that cool, and my pythons have seemed to do well at that night time temperature.

Yeah, night drops are unnecessary. Some have reported positive results during breeding, but that's it.

It's just...It's a snake. They bite. Is it really surprising?

Heck, it's an animal. They bite. Ever play with a puppy or kitten?

You go through it and teach them it does no good. This was probably from fear. And yes, remove the hide, approach from behind, pet them a bit, then pick up.

Age and size don't really correlate well.

Thanks all to who posted their comments. I just got in a small space heater for my spare room where I keep her. I should be able to keep a more consistant ambient without night drops to 76 degrees. I will shoot for 80.

I am going to be trying to feed her a F/T rat this weekend. Not sure what size. I dont have scales to weigh her on so it is hard for me to estimate based on weight of the prey versus percent of snakes weight.

I may run by the petsmart where I bought her frozen "Large" mice and open the boxes and see what the small rat looks like in girth.

Her first time taking f/t anything was last weekend. Now I am going to be introducing her to f/t rats. Not sure how that will go...hopefully well. She didnt play when it came to eating those two mice so hopefully she will not give me any trouble with the rats.

Sounds good man, just find a rodent that is about the same girth or slightly larger than your snakes widest part. Dont worry about the weight, girth is a great way to determine appropriate feeder size. Youll learn eventually how to tell when your snake is hungry or not, with snakes it is all body language.

By the way I work with a ridiculous number of snakes on a regular basis, and have never been bitten by anything bigger than a 6 inch baby king snake, those little stinkers are always hungry and ready to eat your fingers!

Ball pythons are notoriously laid back, most will not try to bite unless they think your hand is food, make sure you dont smell like rodent, so wash yer hands after handling prey items, (this includes dogs and cats, their scent may be mistaken for food). Ball pythons do not see very well, they primarily rely on smell and their ability to see body heat, so if they smell food and they see a warm hand moving around they may just think its a rat and try to eat it. Just keep this in mind, most snakes I deal with usually relax as soon as they realize its a person and not food or a predator. So just touch them behind their head farther back along their body to let them know its you, also dont hesitate when you deal with them, once you pick them up they usually calm right down.

Update:

I left her alone and fed her a "small rat". The rat pups looked to me to be slightly smaller than her largest girth point. The rat looked about equal if slightly more but not where you could tell by eye balling it.

This was her second F/T feeding and the first time trying rats. I did my routine, she struck and missed the first time and then setup and struck a second time. She tagged and bagged the rat. Took her 30 minutes or so to swallow it all.

I left her alone for two days. In the meantime I had ordered gloves but decided to pick up a cheap petstore snake hook. When two days had past I used the hook to remove her hide. She was defensive. I started to use the hook to try and pick her up and she struck the hook. I gently touched the back of her head and she went into a semi submissive posture with her head lower than her body. I then used the hook to lift her a little bit. I picked her up the rest of the way with my hands. She was fine after in my hands. She was a ball for about 20 secs then started exploring everywhere.

I held her for about 10 minutes and put her back. The next night she was roaming her tub. I opened it up and she watched me but did not get into any kind of def posture. I touched her in her middle part and she tensed.I picked her up with my hands. She didnt go into a ball but was definitly stiff for about 10 seconds. Then she relaxed and I held her for 15 minutes with no issues.

Next night she was exploring the tub. I again opened the tub and she repeated the same calm as the night before. I touched her with my fingers before I picked her up and she didnt tense as much as she had the night before. I picked her up with my hands and she explored me for 15 minutes until I put her back.

Tonight I opened the tub as I saw she was out of her hide. I touched her and picked her up. She remained calm the whole time and I held her for 15 minutes. I have been letting my kids pet her gently away from her neck and head.

So I think it was a combo of needing more time to settle in, with the biggest factor being she needed more fulfilling food than she had been getting at the petstore and on my first weeks meal.

Her eyes were a little dented as well when I bought her. I have her humidity at 70 and I am waiting on her first shed.

Thanks to all who responded. I feel lucky that I was able to get her to convert to F/T mice her first week here, and then a F/T rat the next week. She is a monster when it comes to her tagging of prey and eating it. Hope she keeps it up.

Just wanted to update as there are alot of newbs like myself and wanted to let them know how things were going with our new family friend.

Congrats on getting her to calm down. I just got my first ball on Sunday which hes 3 y.o. Today was my first day holding him and he was a little tense and shakey at first but he didnt strike at me at all. I havnt experienced a snake bite yet so i was nervous everytime his head went toward my hands or arms. The previous owner said he was very docile and he showed it by not tagging me. It felt pretty cool having him wrapped around my arm and hand.

my son and i have a year old ball python, the only time he has ever struck was after feeding...we take him out of cage and feed him in another container. i wanted that to be the first and last bite so i got a snake hook to get him out of feeding container...works great my son holds container while i get him out....my snake knows feeding times over when he feels movement in the feeding container ;-) other than that he is very shy and lovable.....

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Originally Posted by scottyjoe920

my son and i have a year old ball python, the only time he has ever struck was after feeding...we take him out of cage and feed him in another container. i wanted that to be the first and last bite so i got a snake hook to get him out of feeding container...works great my son holds container while i get him out....my snake knows feeding times over when he feels movement in the feeding container ;-) other than that he is very shy and lovable.....

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Ive never had an issue with my snake biting when feeding in his container. I just let him eat and leave him alone for 24 hours and he is perfectly fine. I wouldnt dare stick my hand in there just after he ate though. Hes all shakey and you can tell hes ready to strike at the drop of the hat.