My BP doesn't exactly "ball"

So I've noticed after looking at a lot of photos here, that when many people are handling their snakes, or have them outside of their enclosures, they are usually wrapped up in a ball. Whenever I take my snake out for some leisure time around the apartment, he usually goes off wandering somewhere, or if he's on me, will be climbing on me like a jungle gym. He also does the same thing the couple of times I took him outside as well. He doesn't really ever ball up unless he's in his hide since it's nice and small.

I'm just wondering if this is normal behavior for snakes if they're just that comfortable with things around them?

mine sometimes just hangs out completely still and other times he tries to get away from me as fast as possible haha. it sounds normal to me but I hope others chime in soon to give you more advice :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Some are more curious than others, it is not a bad thing if they want to explore

Balling up is generally a sign of fear or stress. The ones I have that ball up are the ones that are more skittish or nervous or just don't seem to like being picked up.

The ones that are perfectly okay being picked up never ball up...they just start poking around checking things out.

Mine are the same way. I try to ball them up for photos, but it just doesn't happen. They're just all over the place.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

:D Oh goody. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to know he's comfortable. I was hoping my intuition was right.

Definitely a normal sign of fear of stress. A few of mine balled up when young but now they come out ready to explore the world while looking for that next meal. I have a year old female spider that doesn't ball up, she just freezes in the position she was in when she was picked up. takes a couple minutes for her to relax and then she is fine.

They all have different personalities. Some ball, some explore, and a couple that Ive met will strike. My girl will usually explore. My boy balls. No 2 BPs are the same. You have a normal BP in his personality.

Mine hardly ever ball up there more curious

Sent from my LG-LS970 using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 200xth

Balling up is generally a sign of fear or stress. The ones I have that ball up are the ones that are more skittish or nervous or just don't seem to like being picked up.

The ones that are perfectly okay being picked up never ball up...they just start poking around checking things out.

---

^^^^^ This exactly ^^^^^

Most of my hatchlings will ball up but as they get older and more and more comfortable with their surroundings, most will stop doing it. However there are some that just never seem to stop doing it and will stay balled up the entire time I'm handling them.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Phantomtip

They all have different personalities. Some ball, some explore, and a couple that Ive met will strike. My girl will usually explore. My boy balls. No 2 BPs are the same. You have a normal BP in his personality.

---

Haha yes, mine seems to be an extremely normal BP. He's a normal morph, who's never had any issues at all with feeding. Switched from F/T mice over to F/T rats without a hitch. Almost immediately from the first day I got him as a 3 week old hatchling he's always explored the place, never really balling up at all. Took me a while to realize that he wasn't really a baller, so to speak.

My normal girl is all over the place all the time. My Spider and Pastel just don't really give a crap about anything.

My butter, on the other hand, has been skittish since we got him. He stays in a ball in his box, and he stays in a ball in your hand.

Except today. He's been having issues shedding, so I did the fun 1h soak mentioned somewhere on this site, and once he realized what was going on, he was ready to go adventuring! I've never seen him so happy and active. I could barely get him back in his tub, after we had gotten all the skin off. So, to each their own, most of the balling will happen until they get more comfortable with you. :D

I've got one that won't stop moving. When she sees us in the room, she starts slithering around her cage. We take it as a sign she wants to "play" so we'll get her out and handle her. She likes to loop herself back and forth through my shirt.

Confident BP's do not seem to ball up much. All but one of mine balled up as soon as picked up(the little Lesser girl would just strike) but, with each handling the balling behaviour lasted shorter and shorter times until now, where it is a pain to get them to stay still long enough to weigh them. I may have to tare a hide along with the container at this rate.
I look at it this way, I wouldn't want a frilled dragon displaying that cool frill all the time because they do this when they feel threatened and this would indicate that the animal was in a near continual state of stress. By the same token I would rather not see mature BP's balled up constantly. If I did then, I'd have to look at changing the set-up to make the animal more comfortable and hopefully more relaxed.