2 month old BP still very nippy... is this normal?

Hi all,

I posted a while back when we brought our BP home and received a lot of helpful advice... but the problem is continuing and I wanted to see if this is normal.

We brought our BP home approximately 2 months ago. Her husbandry is very good, she's eating well and she had a full shed about a month ago. For the first few weeks, she was really nippy... bit me several times, my daughter once, etc... We let her settle in and for 2 weeks or so, he seemed tolerant of being held. Now for the past few days, she has gone back to biting, drawing blood each time. I was hoping she would settle down, but it doesn't seem so. I took her out for 10 minutes this evening and she struck at me 5 times. She was bought from a LPS...

Is it normal for a BP this young to be so nippy? She's about 24-26"... give or take. It's hard to get an accurate measurement on her. She's eating adult size mice no problem.

I read all the posts about how people have never been bit over the years by a bp and here it is, I've been bit 20 plus times in less than 2 months :)

Thoughts? Suggestions?

My daughter and I really like her, but the biting is getting old...

Thanks in advance,

Mog

Is it a defensive bite, or a feeding bite? Defensive they bite, and let go, feeding they bite and hold on...

Watch this:

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

Thanks for the link!

She's definitely defensive biting... I had her out last night and on my lap, she was balled up staring at me. I was looking at her and talking to her and each time I talked, she would move her head closer until she felt she was close enough and she struck at my face. From my lap! lol

I'll try what he showed in the video, that may make a difference. I just fed her, so it will be 2 days before I handle her, but will give it a go and see what happens. He stated in the video that once they go into the flight mode, they won't attack any more. That's something I didn't know and I'll try when I take her out if she gets nippy.
That might make a world of difference. I've never "dominated" her while handling her like that.

Mog

Babies are generally nippy. Most grow out of this with handling, some never do. Another thing to think about is stress - they will bite when they are stressed. What is your setup like? Can you give specifics about how your enclosure is set up, the temperatures, etc? Sometimes the answer is a simple husbandry issue - too hot, not enough hides, etc.

I think snakes like people are just different. Our Mojave was like that for about 2 years and finally calmed down. We have two butter sisters and one is sweet and the other is very aggressive and mean. I think they mostly grow out of it. None of my large females or males act like that

Every once in a while my lil guys will get alil nippy but there generally very docile

I have a female that is very defensive and has been from day 1, and she's up to 1600 grams now. She will still bite while in-hand. What has helped:
- We distract her with something like a roll of paper towels to snap at in one hand, while we scoop her up from behind with the other hand.
- We don't mess with her when she's blue. Fortunately she poops in her shed so there's minimal cleaning to do when she's blue.
- Even at 1600 grams she gets a hide in her 41-qt tub to make her feel secure, and she does use it.
- We don't put her away if she is snappy, as we don't want her to learn that biting = go back into the tub. When we first get her out she's usually very tense, but after a few minutes she will relax, stretch out, and move a bit. That's when we put her back.

As BHReptiles pointed out, sometime BP's just don't get over being defensive. You just have to learn to manage them so that you and they don't get hurt.

What's weird is that I've never heard a warning hiss from her. Other BP's will hiss when they don't want to be messed with, she just lashes out and bites immediately if you're not careful.

Thanks for the replies,

I just took a picture of her tank, it's below.

She's in a 20L tank. Two hides, one on either end with a water dish, driftwood with leaves draped over it in the center.
On the warm side, the hide is reading 92, on the cool side, 80. Humidity averages around 55. There is a dual fixture above the tank with a day and night light. Bedding is Aspen with a mix of Spagnum Moss.

Her husbandry should be just about ideal for her... She's eating well; an adult mouse every 5 days and she's shed once since we brought her home. Shed was one full piece.

I'll try what was recommended in the video and see if that helps at all. But still open to suggestions... hoping she's not going to be nippy like this constantly... that would be disappointing as my daughter loves her and loves to hold her.

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...818_224236.jpg

Our's is the same way... I've never heard her hiss either.

She'll let us take her out of the tank without biting... it seems to be more of when we have her out or when we put her back in... She's attacked the light several times when putting her back in. I'm guessing she's seeing her reflection off the black casing. Now I swing the light out to the side when we take her out and in so that doesn't play a factor.

Being it's our first snake, I was considering taking her back to the LPS and seeing if they would exchange her, but if it's something she'll outgrow I have no problem "working with her". But If she's going to be defensive her entire life, that might be a problem. Growing up, i've been around several bp's and was always under the impression that they were very docile... surprise, surprise :)

One thing that I thought was odd... yesterday, when I had her out of her tank and was holding her, she started rubbing her head on my fingers. Not the typical slithering, but actually rubbing. It was almost like a dog rubbing his nose up against you. I thought maybe we missed her going blue and she was trying to start a shed. But then she started rubbing her body on my hand as well. Was she trying to have a bowel movement? She didn't shed, so no idea what she was doing. But I could feed the force she was applying specifically rubbing against my hand.

The setup looks pretty good. I would suggest a slightly cooler hot spot (I usually like mine around 90*) and add some leaves on the other side of the tank. I can't tell from the picture, but are the sides and back blacked out? If not, that may help you a lot. I had a very defensive male that I bought and after blacking out 3 sides of his enclosure while in quarantine, he turned out fine and was no longer nippy. I would give your snake a little more time before deciding to trade it for another animal. Most breeders don't guarantee a trade for a personality issue, so you may have to sell the snake you have and buy another. Some are more customer friendly than others. For your sake, I hope it's just a matter of growing out of the behavior.

Thanks BH. And yes, I have the sides and back blacked out with black construction paper... I did my homework and tried to set up his tank as best I could.

I'll drop the temp on his hot spot down to 90. I'll give her a little more time I guess and try the tips shown in the video to see if that makes a difference. She did have a period of 2 weeks or so where she didn't strike at all, but then it started up again with no change whatsoever to her or the husbandry. I do have some leaves, just haven't put them in yet, will do that tomorrow as she seems to like them.

You're very educated for a new owner and we LOVE seeing people who do their research. It's paying off and you have it set up for your girl perfectly. Hopefully she'll settle down for you.

I know I have a differing opinion than some here about aggressive snakes. Mine are pets, and I would never put up with an aggressive snake, but I can see where some of you who have a mega gene stacked snake really don't care about temperament as long as the snake is adding to the bank account....:O

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BiggBaddWolf

I know I have a differing opinion than some here about aggressive snakes. Mine are pets, and I would never put up with an aggressive snake, but I can see where some of you who have a mega gene stacked snake really don't care about temperament as long as the snake is adding to the bank account....:O

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That's funny. I had an "aggressive" baby normal ball python. He certainly didn't add anything to my bank account. I eventually took the time to tame him out. Still have him. I knew what I was getting into when I got a snake (a non-domesticated animal) as a pet. If I had wanted mr cuddles, I would have stuck with just my cat.

I may be totally off here, but you sound to me like the type of person who buys a high energy dog, like a husky or border collie (because they look good), then neglects to give it enough exercise, then surrender the animal to a shelter because it tore up your baseboards out of frustration/boredom.

-still the proud owner of a now tame normal ball python. And a few other balls, who have never contributed anything to my bank account.

Just to clarify, my post was in no way directed at the op. I wish them the best of luck taming out their feisty baby. And many years of rewarding ball python caretaking.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JPR

That's funny. I had an "aggressive" baby normal ball python. He certainly didn't add anything to my bank account. I eventually took the time to tame him out. Still have him. I knew what I was getting into when I got a snake (a non-domesticated animal) as a pet. If I had wanted mr cuddles, I would have stuck with just my cat.

I may be totally off here, but you sound to me like the type of person who buys a high energy dog, like a husky or border collie (because they look good), then neglects to give it enough exercise, then surrender the animal to a shelter because it tore up your baseboards out of frustration/boredom.

-still the proud owner of a now tame normal ball python. And a few other balls, who have never contributed anything to my bank account.

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Congratulations Mr/Mrs snake whisperer!! Glad you know what kind of person I am

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BiggBaddWolf

I know I have a differing opinion than some here about aggressive snakes. Mine are pets, and I would never put up with an aggressive snake, but I can see where some of you who have a mega gene stacked snake really don't care about temperament as long as the snake is adding to the bank account....:O

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Lazyness is all I see. Just like telling person to give up the BEL because its nippy.

IF it's a PET you should be willing to put in the time... When its just a breeder you can easily pawn it off and get one like it with better attitude (Like you accuse of)

Please feel free to give breeders your "pissy" snakes as they always eat better, and really will calm down with some handling.

I had a very nippy female that would hiss and strike when I first had her. Give it time and keep working with her. Try not to approach her from above while you are working with her. Approaching a snake from above while you have them out crawling around seems to set off their defensive mechanisms. Once they get over it, then you don't have to worry about that. But getting your snake used to your smell and the "process" of you taking it out of its enclosure is all part of it. I have a cage similar to yours. When I would see my BP out and exploring, I'd take the lid off and let her crawl out on her own. That worked pretty good.

Not sure if this will help but Justin at JKR has this video about working with aggressive snakes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7DQ...8FALzuJYyuJKgA

I personally didn't end up using his technique, but if your snake is a little extra aggressive this might be something you can try.

Good luck, keep trying.