Taming?

How often should I handle my snippy little ball of attitude to take her out?


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Take her out where? When I first got my BP I left her alone for a couple days, then handled her daily. Now I take her out maybe 2 or 3 times a week. Never been struck at, even when I first got her.

I've owned BP for 3 weeks. I let him feed twice and get used to his new home. Today was the 3rd time handling and he was fine. Trust needs to be established. I'm a first time snake owner they are Def different from the lizards I've had. Let trust to be formed and you'll be okay. First time I handled him he was nervous so gave him his time to adjust. There are more experienced snake owners here to give great advice I learned a lot from them.

If you have a young BP what you are dealing with is defensive behavior (he sees you as a predator), feed it right and do not handle too often, contrary to what people think handling more in the case of a BP will not help this type of behavior, what does help is to make sure the animal is stress free. Once it will put some weight on it will naturally calm down.

Remember they learn to tolerate being handled they will never enjoy it.

Two weeks is usually a good amount of time to leave them alone before any handling. Even when mine are very young, I usually 'handle' daily to every other day with a break the day after feeding for reasons of checking on them to make sure everything is okay (I'm just super paranoid about catching any potential medical issues early). But those handling sessions especially for babies are like... maybe a minute long. So not enough to seriously stress them or anything. For a young one, marathon handling sessions are just going to stress them out.

They mellow out once they get some size on them though.

Just to take her out of he enclosure to clean or scoop her business without being struck at! I let her acclimate for two weeks and and on another two weeks hands off because she has yet to eat since the 10th of june


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Originally Posted by Ashton87

Just to take her out of he enclosure to clean or scoop her business without being struck at! I let her acclimate for two weeks and and on another two weeks hands off because she has yet to eat since the 10th of june


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Yeah, no handling till she's eating well for you.

After that, to avoid getting tagged, go in from behind her and kind of stroke her back for a bit before picking her up. That way she's less surprised and kind of knows what's about to happen. A lot less likely to turn around and try to nip you then.

I will definitely keep my hands off until she eats for sure!!


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When I reach in to pick mine up, I always talk to him and touch him lightly before I pick him up. Over time he's learned this is me, not food or predator. Funny, but he seems to like being held. He especially likes to stick his head in my hand for me to hold it.

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Agree with giving the snake a few gentle strokes before picking up.
Something else if you're really nervous is to put one hand about a foot in front of the snake, so it can see but not reach to strike. Then while it's distracted, go in from behind with the other hand and pick it up.

And keep the handling sessions short.

This is my rule of thumb. The first year = NO HANDLING. none.

After the first year you can start handling for short periods of time once a week between feedings. Then slowly work up to handling more often, still for short periods... then slowly handle longer and longer.

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Originally Posted by Rickys_Reptiles

This is my rule of thumb. The first year = NO HANDLING. none.

After the first year you can start handling for short periods of time once a week between feedings. Then slowly work up to handling more often, still for short periods... then slowly handle longer and longer.

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The first year? That's pretty extreme! What's your reasoning?

Baby Ball Pythons are the worst eaters. Any drop of stress and they stop eating. For an animal that lives to be 2 or more decades old...1 year is a small price to pay IMHO for a healthy and well rounded animal.

I'm probably a little more straightforward with my snakes. I usually don't handle new arrivals until they've eaten 2-3 times. After that I just reach in quickly and confidently and swoop them up from underneath. The worst case scenario is you might get bit. You can also wear a glove or use a snake hook if you like. Usually they just thrash about for a few minutes and calm right down once they realize the defensive behavior doesn't scare you or make you leave them alone. I start with short gentle 3-5 minute handling sessions and increase the frequency and handling time as our trust grows.