Biting Ball Python

Greetings,
I am a new owner to a Ball Python that I purchased off of CL. The gentleman was very selective to whom his snake would reside with so purchased the snake and it's habitat from him. He has owned the snake since it was a baby, 2007, and when me and my fiancee' held the snake it was very docile and no issues what-so-ever. We have now had the snake for two weeks and both of us have had issues with the snake. About two weeks ago my fiancee' went to hold the snake, which she has had three BP's in the past and very familiar with this breed, and when she sat in a chair it struck her leg; luckily a blanket was on her lap. The snake held onto the blanket and curled all around it and all I heard was screams because owning three BP's in the past she has never once been struck at or bitten. I picked the blanket up and placed it into his habitat until he released it, which was about 30 minutes.

A few days ago I stroked his back and decided to hold the snake. He was not aggitated at all and picked him up after ensuring he was calm. I held him in my right hand and he curled around my arm and not in a restrictive manner then he brought his head around my wrist and bit down on the palm of my hand where the thumb is and tried to constrict onto my arm. After about a minute of unwrapping him I was able to get him to release and placed him back into his habitat. I have contacted the previous owner and he is absolutely shocked and dismayed of the snakes actions. He suggested that possibly he might be hungry; he had eaten about one month ago. On a side note, when no one is in the room with the snake he lays out longwise in the habitat and pretty much is still. When someone walks in the room he is very active with going up the side of the glass and his nose to the top of the cage the entire time someone is in there.

I do not believe that the snake was agressive what-so-ever and do not think that I was duped into the purchase. I was on the phone with the previous owner last night for over an hour and he wanted to come over to handle the snake to see what is wrong. He suggested that possilbly the habitat is not setup exactly as it was in his home and suggested to feed him a medium to large rat due to the biting could be that he is hungry. The snake has never hissed before biting or has it lunged in the air striking nor has it curled up to strike. So I'm asking to see what could be causing this situation and what I can do to resolve it. My fiancee' is horrified of the snake b/c of never had this issue before and I am trying to instill confidence again, thanks.

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Originally Posted by texasvet

He suggested that possibly he might be hungry; he had eaten about one month ago.

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Yes it Definitely seems like he is hungry!
Feeding once a month is not enough and not recommended.
Most of us on here feed our adults an appropriate sized rat once ever 7-14 days.

For us personally we offer our males a small rat every week and our females a medium rat every week.

Thank you for the advice. I will go and get him a medium rat today or tomorrow and feed him. The previous owner fed him in his habitat and my fiancee' does not agree with that and always fed hers in a separate container, which she called a restaurant. Is there any harm of continuing to feed him in the habitat or should I move him to something else for feeding.

Also, what kind of timeframe should I allow before I should try and handle him again once he is fed?

Thanks,

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Originally Posted by texasvet

Thank you for the advice. I will go and get him a medium rat today or tomorrow and feed him. The previous owner fed him in his habitat and my fiancee' does not agree with that and always fed hers in a separate container, which she called a restaurant. Is there any harm of continuing to feed him in the habitat or should I move him to something else for feeding.

Also, what kind of timeframe should I allow before I should try and handle him again once he is fed?

Thanks,

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I like to give my snakes 48 hours after they eat before handling them. Moving to a different enclosure seems like an ongoing debate some do it others don't.

In-habitat feeding is very common, and is less stressful for the snake. When moving from container to container, a snake can get very disoriented, and if the air already smells like dinner, forget about it-- chances are you'll get bitten before you even put him down for his meal. You also don't have to move a snake that could potentially still be in feeding mode after eating.

Feeding a snake in or out of it's enclosure is purely preference. You do that with a 20 something foot retic and it can associate meal time with coming out and you're there. There was a post about that I think from Harry Wessels.

Now granted a bp doesn't get that big. I used to feed my yellow anaconda in a separate enclosure purely out of preference because I didn't want her to eat any cypress mulch.

For a rule of thumb here's a good rule to go by:

If a snake bites and constricts, this is going to be a feeding response. It could be hungry or you could have something it's keen to scent wise on your hand. This is why you either wash your hands or use hand sanitizer before handling your snake.

If a snake bites you and pulls away or just bites you. This is a defensive bite. This could be the fact it's nervous or stressed or a number of things.

Good luck and do a lot of reading and research so you can properly care for your snake. I mean this in the nicest way possible, but just because your fiance has had snakes in the past doesn't mean she knows how to properly care for them. Pet stores commonly give out horrible advice.

I wanted to give a huge thanks for the advice I have received on this forum. Last night I went and purchased a f/t small rat and was sceptical since the previous owner had only fed him live rats. I followed the directions from the packager and this website and when the rat was ready I walked in the room with it and the snake stopped it's usual movement in it's habitat and went to a corner. I held the rat with tongs in the middle of the cage and he lunged fast as lightening for the food. He has barely moved since he has eaten it and seemed so happy. Now the trick will be trying to handle in another day or so giving him 48 hours of digestion to see if he bites again.

If he bites again, he's probably still hungry. Not eating for a month will do that. If you can, try to find out how often and number of prey items the previous owner was offering. Your guy may take more for a couple feedings then taper off.

Example: When I bring a new snake home, the first 2-3 feedings are to test how much it wants to eat. So the first feeding I'll offer 1 prey item appropriately sized. Second feeding I'll offer 2 items of the same size. Third feeding I'll offer 2 again. If the snake takes one and leaves the 2nd I know it'll be a 1 prey item snake for the time being and occasionally offer a 2nd when it starts getting bigger. If it takes 2, then on the 4th feeding I offer a 3rd prey item assuming it'll leave the 3rd one alone. The third or fourth feeding is when I really find out what the snake is going to eat on a weekly/bi-weekly basis.

Haha this is basically my story as well. I just posted about it. Sounds like he is hungry, as I got nipped this morning I am now thawing out some mice for mine. Good luck. And post some pics!

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Originally Posted by Pyrate81

If he bites again, he's probably still hungry. Not eating for a month will do that. If you can, try to find out how often and number of prey items the previous owner was offering. Your guy may take more for a couple feedings then taper off.

Example: When I bring a new snake home, the first 2-3 feedings are to test how much it wants to eat. So the first feeding I'll offer 1 prey item appropriately sized. Second feeding I'll offer 2 items of the same size. Third feeding I'll offer 2 again. If the snake takes one and leaves the 2nd I know it'll be a 1 prey item snake for the time being and occasionally offer a 2nd when it starts getting bigger. If it takes 2, then on the 4th feeding I offer a 3rd prey item assuming it'll leave the 3rd one alone. The third or fourth feeding is when I really find out what the snake is going to eat on a weekly/bi-weekly basis.

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Well he has bitten again. On Sunday my son went to handle the snake, petted him gently and picked him up. He said the snake reared around and bit him on his forearm. He never told me that he was bitten so when I came home on Sunday it looks as if he was hungry and fed him another small rat and he took it. I am really start to question a snake that he previous owner said he has never been bitten by and me, my fiancee' and my son have all been bitten by....

He just needs time to adjust and to be fattened up. One or two feedings will help but it wont make up for a month of no feeding especially if this was a normal thing for him from his previous owner. The joy of these snakes is that you don't need to handle them everyday for them to become docile. You just need to get him on a routine and learn his habits.

I would give him a few more feedings <perhaps 1 rat per week for a couple more weeks>make sure your husbandry is correct and temps are good then just watch him. He's putting on weight finally having been fed by you so he will also go into a much needed shed as well. Very grumpy snake time.

I agree, give him a rat a week for a couple of weeks and let him settle in and he should stop doing this. Don't wave things in front of his face - ball pythons do not like that much more than other snakes. Do you wash your hands and forearms before handling? Do you own any rodent pets? Does he have hides in his cage? You mentioned him going into the corner. If he doesn't have sufficient places to hide he will always be on edge and this would be a huge contributor to him striking.

Can we see a picture of the snake and enclosure?

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Originally Posted by MrLang

I agree, give him a rat a week for a couple of weeks and let him settle in and he should stop doing this. Don't wave things in front of his face - ball pythons do not like that much more than other snakes. Do you wash your hands and forearms before handling? Do you own any rodent pets? Does he have hides in his cage? You mentioned him going into the corner. If he doesn't have sufficient places to hide he will always be on edge and this would be a huge contributor to him striking.

Can we see a picture of the snake and enclosure?

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We wash our hands before handling him and I do not wave the rodent in his face. I have a 55 gallon habitat and he was at one corner and I wave the food at the other corner. He has a hide over his heater and it seems maybe I should add one on the cool side where his water is located. I will try and post a picture this evening when I get home from work.

We do not own any rodent pets and the past two feedings have been F/T small rats. Prior to the f/t rats he was fed live from the previous owner once per month.

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Originally Posted by texasvet

We wash our hands before handling him and I do not wave the rodent in his face. I have a 55 gallon habitat and he was at one corner and I wave the food at the other corner. He has a hide over his heater and it seems maybe I should add one on the cool side where his water is located. I will try and post a picture this evening when I get home from work.

We do not own any rodent pets and the past two feedings have been F/T small rats. Prior to the f/t rats he was fed live from the previous owner once per month.

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You definitely should add a hide <identical to the other> on his cool side. That is a very large enclosure for him... Might want to clutter it up. Vines, leaves, rocks etc. that will help him feel more secure as a hiding bp is a happy one. If the back and sides aren't blacked out, you might want to do that as well. I'm not sure if you mentioned... Do you have his heating pad on a thermostat so you can regulate the heat? Those things can get to 130+ degrees which will burn him badly even in a short period of time.

As for his hunger... He's definitely making up for inadequate feeding. Once a month is not enough. How big is he? Weigh that is.... If we knew that, we could give you a better idea of the prey size he needs to be all fat and happy after a feeding. The fact that he went for a f/t prey so quickly after only being fed live tells me a lot. That boy is HUNGRY!!!

Here is the pic of my BP and his habitat. http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/07/31/te8yqave.jpg

Those open logs really aren't good for a BP hide. They are open on both ends which doesn't make them feel secure. They like hides that only have one small opening so they can really "hide" in it. He also definitely needs two hides. One on the hot side and one on the cool side.

As previously stated he's making up on feeding if he was only being fed once a month. I feed mine every 5-7 days. He might also just need some time to settle in. He's in a new place with new people handling him and he's probably pretty stressed out. I would get him some new hides and start feeding him more regularly,Then give him some time to settle in before you handle him a lot.

He's definitely feeling a bit skittish in this habitat and I'm sure it is contributing heavily to defensive behavior. He is also definitely hungry if he's coiling after striking and it's tough to see, but if his spine is raised up where his body is making more of a triangle shape and the previous owner fed once a month, the snake is definitely needing to eat quite a bit to get up to a healthy weight. I think you should proceed like this:

1. Get a background for the tank that covers at least 1 side but preferably the back and sides. You can use something like black poster board or get one of the jungley backgrounds from the pet store.

2. Get him some proper hides that he can feel safe inside by keeping most of his body pressed against the wall. If you want something natural looking, get 2 of these and put them on opposite ends:
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/i...ih4tO_dNaFZ0K4
You want the hide to have only 1 opening and be able to fit the whole snake nice and snug inside of it so it can 'defend' the door with its head.

3. Feed a small to medium F/T rat once a week in the enclosure until the snake is nice and round like a sausage.


Try to handle minimally until you've got those 3 taken care of and he has eaten a few times, then come back to us and tell us if he is still behaving this way. It is very unlike a ball python to behave as you described so we have to assume the previous things will make all the difference.

GL!

Glad to see the snake is in a hew home and with an owner who cares enough to do all the work you're doing to give him proper care! Keep it up OP in no time I'm sure you'll find yourself with a very pleased, well fed, and all around stress free snake:gj:. Take the advice of folks on here. A quick way to black out the enclosure is to tape paper on the OUTSIDE of it. Notebook paper will work for now... and to clutter the viv, you can cut strips of lots of old news paper to give ur boy something to slither under while traversing the length of the cage. Some tips on how to make ur renovations inexpensive :). Of course the strips of news paper would have to be checked frequently for cleanliness. Good luck, I look forward to seeing what changes take place :)

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Originally Posted by texasvet

Here is the pic of my BP and his habitat. http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/07/31/te8yqave.jpg

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That doesn't look like a 55g tank... Maybe a 40 breeder. In that case, it's not nearly as long and therefore a little better for the snake feeling secure.

They don't like open spaces.


0.1.0 Normal Ball Python
0.1.0 Columbian B.C.I. 2013
1.0.0 EBV Red Group Pastel Hypo Jungle B.C.I. 2013

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Originally Posted by texasvet

Here is the pic of my BP and his habitat. http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/07/31/te8yqave.jpg

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Very pretty boy but yes, his tank is in need of some tlc. Being in Fort Worth, you are likely going to have some humidity issues... I would address this while making all sorts of changes now. My suggestions would mirror others but let me add a few things to allow for future humidity probs.

1- Substrate.... eco earth or repti bark both hold in humidity better. I use a combo of both.
2- The water bowl is a pretty decent size, placed partially over the hot side will held evaporate water faster.
3- Use Foil and tape to cover about 75% of the top.

Now..... no thermometer? Definitely need one. The accurite with probe can be purchase at Wal Mart for $12. Gives you 2 temp readings and humidity %.
Do you have a UHT hooked up to a thermostat???? This is critical as an unregulated UTH can reach temps of 130 degrees. Bad burns in no time.

Once all of these are managed, leave him be for a week. Give him a big fat med size rat and let him go to town. Once he's settled and digested I'll bet he's a happier camper.

What a cute snake! Some TLC is what he needs and by you coming here, it seems like you'll give it to him.

Personally, I would pick up a lamp dimmer from Lowe's and use that on the UTH while the thermoSTAT is being shipped. The UTH plugs into it and you control the power going to it so it controls the heat. Trial and error process. If you're strapped for cash, the 30 dollar thermostat from Hydrofarm on Amazon works. Made for plants, but it'll do it. I'd pick up a Accurite thermometer from Walmart. It has a hydrometer, probe for the hotspot, and inner sensor for ambient temperature. Buying or making hides also. As said, something that is mostly closed. I'd do a plastic sheet from Home Depot and cut it to the top size. Make sure it has air flow. Or just plastic bags, again make sure there is air flow.

And of course, use the advice about blacking three sides and feeding. You could probably even use spray paint on the outside to black it out. Just make sure it is dry and has no fumes when the snake is in it. You can remove spray paint from glass with a razor. I'd give him a week before ejecting him to spray paint his tank though.

Your post says that the previous owner said he was born in 07 that makes him 6 years old. That size and old of a snake should be eating medium to large size rats every 10-14 days. Give him some time to get on a routine feeding schedule and familiar with his surroundings. Cage set up..... get 2 identical hides place one on the hot side one on the cool side. Water bowl in the middle between them. Log hides do not work well as secure hides. Petco sells plastic rock looking hides that work well or even better get the black hides from reptile basics on the internet. Keep working with him and he will calm down.