I think she just hates me :(

My pinstripe is just not taking to me. Temps are right, humidity is at 55%, hides, water, food... But every time I go to handle her, even just in her enclosure, she gets super defensive. She doesn't ball up, she rears back all S shaped ready to go. Well, tonight I handled her just to try and get her used to me. When I put her back, she struck at the side *hard*, like this wasn't a warning. Should I just concede to the fact she hates me?

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How long have you had her?

Little over a month. At first she was just shy and after quietly holding her for a few she would uncurl and explore. But the past two weeks she's just been a jerk and moody. She's an '11 so she's young but still....

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Does she act normal otherwise?

Sounds like my little pinstripe girl. She will strike at the glass and even bounce herself around her cage trying to get me. As long as the cage is right I just consider it to be a baby thing some do and some don't. My pastel did the same thing for a while but once she got bigger she mostly settled down.

I have a het albino girl that I've had since Sept who was like that. We called her meanie butt. ;) She was around 200 grams when I got her and is now about 500 grams and starting to calm down a lot. I would mostly just handle her for cleaning.

I have a cinny het albino girl who's the new meanie butt of the collection. She's right at 200 grams and just as strikey as can be.

I imagine it's just a spunky baby thing and that she'll grow out of it. Don't lose hope. :)


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When I first got my Lesser he was great would ball right up then relax and explore, well about a month ago he started hissing and essing up at me, I figured out he was hungry !! since moving to the 4 day schedule he's been great LOL

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Originally Posted by cmack91

Does she act normal otherwise?

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She hides all the time so, yes I suppose lol. She drinks fine when I catch her doing it, she eats great, sheds great. She just freaks the hell out for handling, and just lately.

And she's still tiny, only just over 120g last she let me weigh her. Not skinny, just small I promise lol.

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We have one like that. A little pastel het hypo female. She is just a peach, (not). I saw a video on world of ball pythons about aggressive hatchlings, it seemed to help. But she is still really moody, and you just really have to be on your toes if you have her out. There is no snuggling and watching tv with her. From what I have read some say they will mellow out, but it could just be her personality. She is kept in a rack, exact same way as all others, so who knows. Maybe someone peed in her rat cheerios. It sounds like your girl is still young, hopefully she will start to settle down.

I totally feel your frustration :frustrate

My most recent addition, a Pastel Lesser male, has been with me for about 6 weeks. In that time he's eaten like a champ after settling in, had a beautiful shed, and gained from 185 grams to 224 grams empty. He's got the most smokin' paint job of any BP I've ever owned and does all the normal BP things...until I have to handle him, at which point he turns into Linda Freaking' Blair from the Exorcist :puke2:

For the first 4 weeks I only handled him for husbandry purposes, but starting a couple weeks ago I began getting him out of the tub for short 10 minute sessions hoping he would start to either calm down, or at least start to tolerate being handled. So far, not much luck.

I can get him out of the tub with no issues, but as soon as I sit down on my bed or the floor with him in my hands, he starts to track me, heat pits forward, with a very tight S bend in his neck and that upward head tilt that lets you know he's about to pull the trigger. And, he doesn't track my hands (which are holding him) or my arms...this kid is tracking the heat from my face.

Last Sunday night my GF was over and was sitting in a chair across from me, about 10 feet away while I had him out. He was watching her pretty closely so I asked her to stand up. As soon as she moved, he struck, when he struck, she jumped, when she jumped, he struck again. As amusing as I thought it was, she was somewhat less than impressed :rolleyes:

I really hope this dude starts to settle down soon....

Hehehe Slim... That sounds hilarious.

My Hypo Butter has a monster of an attitude. It's WAY worse close to feeding day so I just leave him alone at that time. During the rest of the week he's handle-able but gives me four or five good warning strikes before I grab him. He settles down and explores in about 30 seconds but he definitely lets me know when the handling session is over.

Your pin is probably suffering from bratty baby syndrome too, but if she turns out to be just temperamental, she'll learn to trust you and you'll learn to roll with it. Then you'll feel really cool when you're the only one capable of holding 'the grumpy one' (;

I have a het pied female who could rival any temperamental blood python with the attitude she has. Other babies have tamed down just fine, she is still a wicked monster and shes over a year old.

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Originally Posted by moonlightgdess

And she's still tiny, only just over 120g last she let me weigh her. Not skinny, just small I promise lol.

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120g for a 2011? :confused: I'm going to take a shot in the dark here and assume her aggression is food related because that is incredibly small for a 2011. Not trying to cause any problems, just being honest. Have you tried feeding her more often or larger meals? All of our balls are very well fed, only get handled for maintenance and I can only think of one instance where one struck at either my wife or myself in the past couple years, which was a breeding male who hadn't eaten in a couple months.

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Originally Posted by AK907

120g for a 2011? :confused: I'm going to take a shot in the dark here and assume her aggression is food related because that is incredibly small for a 2011. Not trying to cause any problems, just being honest. Have you tried feeding her more often or larger meals? All of our balls are very well fed, only get handled for maintenance and I can only think of one instance where one struck at either my wife or myself in the past couple years, which was a breeding male who hadn't eaten in a couple months.

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120g is small for a early- or mid-2011 bp, but not a late one. If she was hatched in November or December she's going to be a lot smaller.

Sounds like my black pastel male. He bites me every chance he gets :rolleyes:

I'm just going to sit on the perception that Pins, BEL complex - Mojo, Black Pastel and Cinnies are the Balls with an extra shot of attitude. :p

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Originally Posted by Inarikins

120g is small for a early- or mid-2011 bp, but not a late one. If she was hatched in November or December she's going to be a lot smaller.

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True a late 2011 will be smaller, but I have a couple December 2011 hatchlings and they are all between 300-400g and get fed appropriately sized rats every 5 days. Hard to believe it is the 3rd week of April already and they are 5 months old. I still believe that 120g is very small for a late 2011. Seeing as the OP has only had them a short time I have to assume that the breeder was maintenance feeding it.

She eats like a champ, easily taking meals her size (young adult mice). I weighed them too just to make sure, they're 15% give or take a few grams. At first she was super nervous of her food too, so I sized down, but then she got ballsy and eats well.

And yeah slim, she will turn to my face occasionally at which point its time to go back.

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Originally Posted by moonlightgdess

She eats like a champ, easily taking meals her size (young adult mice). I weighed them too just to make sure, they're 15% give or take a few grams. At first she was super nervous of her food too, so I sized down, but then she got ballsy and eats well.

And yeah slim, she will turn to my face occasionally at which point its time to go back.

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Well just keep that up and she will snap out of it and start growing like mad. Ours usually hit a major growth spurt around 150g or so, so look out! :D

Sounds like the same crap my girl does. The tracking, s position, she will strike at someone that walks past. This is the snake I received my first bite from. Little butt head.

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Its probably just because shes young then. Niether of my two babies do this, but one of them is extremely shy. theyre both late '11s and one is about 130g and the other is 100-115 probably, fed every 7 days. Everything sounds normal to me. Hopefully she'll chill out with time.

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Originally Posted by DrDooLittle

Little butt head

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Speaking of which, I'll be getting my Little Butt Head out of the tub tonight...

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Originally Posted by Slim

Speaking of which, I'll be getting my Little Butt Head out of the tub tonight...

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Good luck :D.

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Originally Posted by DrDooLittle

Good luck :D.

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Oh he was in raaaaaaaare form tonight!!!

Yeah, he pretty much ran my GF out of the apartment and never got closer than 15 feet to her. I swear I thought he was gonna' jump out of my hands a few times.

This kid is little 230 gram ball of hate :rofl:

Haha, sorry to hear. Mine is about 350 ( guessing, haven't stuck her in the scale bowl in awhile.... Not to keen on fishing her out of a compact tupperware when she is looking at me like that). I guess everyone can't be a sweet heart... :D

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Originally Posted by DrDooLittle

Haha, sorry to hear. Mine is about 350 ( guessing, haven't stuck her in the scale bowl in awhile.... Not to keen on fishing her out of a compact tupperware when she is looking at me like that). I guess everyone can't be a sweet heart... :D

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Spray the bowl down with PAM and she'll slide right out when you need her to.

http://madamedeals.com/wp-content/up...am-270x300.jpg

Problem solved. :banana: