Mean Butter

I got a butter female not to long ago and she is seriously the meanest ball I've come across. Everything is on point...her temps/humidity. She's got 2 hides in her enclosure on each side. She's got the same as all my others have and is healthy and mite free but she is just so mean. She hisses A LOT and she strikes at everything! She's pretty much been like that since I got her and I just don't get it. Maybe she's just got a bad attitude ? She has yet to tag me but I def see it happening if she continues being the way she's being. Any suggestions? She ate last week but I tried feeding her this morning before it was light out and all she did was strike at the rat but nothing else.

How old is she? Juviniles can be more nippy than adults. I had 2 problem cinni's when they were juvi's that have grown into a couple of the nicest snakes I own.

She's young...still under 250 grams. Grr she's frustrating and I hope she grows out of it

What is your setup like? What are temps and humidity and how are you reading them?

She's kept on a rack in a 28 qt tub with paper towels on the bottom. hides on both sides. water. temps..cool side is usually between 80-85 and the hot side usually sits around 90, sometimes 1 or 2 degrees more. Humidity is between 60-70%. I have a Herp ND to keep the temps level and I check daily with a temp gun. I also have a humidity gauge inside and outside the tubs.

Just wanna say that the I say the humidity is between 60 and 70% but it's usually closer to 60%

Dude I have a Mojave just like that. Came to realize that she just likes her privacy. She hates to be seen when she's feeding. I use to give her news paper and two hides and a water bowl. 4 weeks in a row she would just be pissed off at her food. Attack at it every time, but never grab and eat it. If it got close to her she hiss and be pissed at life. But then I changed her habitat. Well actually my boyfriend came up with the idea. We now use aspen for flooring instead of newspaper. And we take crumbed up newspaper to give her privacy.

http://img.tapatalk.com/c6e4e842-e18a-1814.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/c6e4e842-e19e-e75b.jpg

Kinda like that. Ever since we did that. She hasn't refused a meal. And she's growing. And actually let me picked her up without hissing. (although she's still a bit uptight). I suggest giving her some privacy and seeing if that works.

Wow ok I'll try that. Anything to make her feel better. I mean I wanna be able to hold her and not get tagged by her but more importantly I want her to be happy and comfortable.

Lol, I would be passed to if someone made me live in a tub :P

Women.... Can't make them all happy hehe

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Originally Posted by PlatinumVee

Wow ok I'll try that. Anything to make her feel better. I mean I wanna be able to hold her and not get tagged by her but more importantly I want her to be happy and comfortable.

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Keep us updated! I'd like to know if she gets less snappy. ;). Oh and just in case. We decided to use aspen because she seems to enjoy hiding underneath it. So I don't know of that helps. But she's been eating. And coming out and exploring more often then she use to. Slowly and surely I think she's warming up to me, my pain in the but Mojave! Lol

I hope changing her habitat works for you! I guess I really lucked out, I just got my first BP and I was expecting something like this in behavior, as he's only 3 months old, but he's super chill! Haven't been hissed at, let alone struck at, and I've yet to see him ball up.

I really hope things improve for you soon :)

Hopefully she just needs some settle in time, and that's not her personality. I would not handle her until she is is an established eater for you. She may be insecure, more hides, or covering 3 of the 4 sides of the tub may help.

Your setup and temps sound spot on. I would also suggest to let her be other than giving water, feeding and cleaning. Maybe she just needs more time to adjust. Sometimes they tend to be more pissy than most, but hopefully this isn't the cause. Good luck and let us know how things go :)

everytime your snake get snippy or hissing or takes an agressive stance pick her up (don't worry about getting tagged it's not really that bad anyways ) and pack her into a ball in your hands. keep kind of packing her gently around with your hands firmly class on the top and the bottom.do this for a couple of minutes totally chills them out. after you've done this you will find you can handle your snake without any worries . doing this takes them out of fight mode and puts them into hide mode. keep doing this every time you go to put your hand in there and it acts aggressively. do this a couple of times and I guarantee you'll see a difference. there's a video on this on youtube .

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Originally Posted by luvmyballs

everytime your snake get snippy or hissing or takes an agressive stance pick her up (don't worry about getting tagged it's not really that bad anyways ) and pack her into a ball in your hands. keep kind of packing her gently around with your hands firmly class on the top and the bottom.do this for a couple of minutes totally chills them out. after you've done this you will find you can handle your snake without any worries . doing this takes them out of fight mode and puts them into hide mode. keep doing this every time you go to put your hand in there and it acts aggressively. do this a couple of times and I guarantee you'll see a difference. there's a video on this on youtube .

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Skip the begining about those insane deserts lol:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7DQs...e_gdata_player

I have a mojave girl who was exactly like your butter.
She's currently 200g. I got her last December and got tagged 3 times on the first day. She hissed like crazy for weeks, but the more i handled her, the more she calmed down.
Now she's one of my calmest balls.

I think your butter just needs time to adjust. And with more consistent handling, she'll get used to you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by luvmyballs

everytime your snake get snippy or hissing or takes an agressive stance pick her up (don't worry about getting tagged it's not really that bad anyways ) and pack her into a ball in your hands. keep kind of packing her gently around with your hands firmly class on the top and the bottom.do this for a couple of minutes totally chills them out. after you've done this you will find you can handle your snake without any worries . doing this takes them out of fight mode and puts them into hide mode. keep doing this every time you go to put your hand in there and it acts aggressively. do this a couple of times and I guarantee you'll see a difference. there's a video on this on youtube .

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EXACTLY what I do with the mean het g-stripe that I have...she is getting better about it after about 2 months of forcing her into defensive mode.

She's testing you.. Like I told my wife your best to handle a baby then to let him know your going to be pushed around. By the third day they were best friends.

Give her some time and take the advice given here, before long she will be a kitten.

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Originally Posted by PlatinumVee

She's kept on a rack in a 28 qt tub with paper towels on the bottom. hides on both sides. water. temps..cool side is usually between 80-85 and the hot side usually sits around 90, sometimes 1 or 2 degrees more. Humidity is between 60-70%. I have a Herp ND to keep the temps level and I check daily with a temp gun. I also have a humidity gauge inside and outside the tubs.

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Sounds about right. You want cool side to be closer to 77-80, and your hot side is good. Might want to add some more ground cover if there is open area (the crumpled newspaper technique seems to work I think). I keep my 275 gram lesser in a 12 quart tub still.

Also, I show this video too often, but its a great video for learning how to deal with nippy hatchlings. I used what he shows in the video to tame down my lesser. After she started eating 3 times in a row, I started taking her out for 5 minutes every morning and increased the time longer and longer. She used to strike at me all the time and tense up the second I touched her, but now shes puppy dog tame:) Cant say the same for my orange ghost yet though unfortunately.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7DQssbM0uk

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Originally Posted by mattchibi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7DQssbM0uk

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Those Deserts were something else! Never seen so many angry little worms all at once, haha.