Please help! Aggressive baby ball python!

I'm having a hard time with my baby ball python. I got her from a pet store in October and handled her every day for the first month. After that, she became severely dehydrated and spent 3 days with a vet being cared for. Ever since I got her back, she's been aggressive and tries to strike me every time I go near her. I still take her out once in awhile since I want her to get used to me, but I'm becoming afraid to take her out. She even strikes the side of the tank when I walk by. I would love any advice as I'm really upset and want her to be friendly like my 7 year old ball python!

What type of enclosure is he living in and what are the temps ,ambient and hot spot and humidity? How much does he weigh and has he taken a meal recently? Some of the aggression is typical hatchling behavior. We need to focus on some of the environmental conditions first.

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I do not know her weight as I do not have a way to weigh her. She is very small and if I had to guess, I'd say maybe about 100-150g. She eats a frozen fuzzy once every week like clockwork. She has never refused food when "due" to eat but does not show interest in eating more than that as of right now. She is in a 10 gallon tank with incandescent day bulbs that are on for 12 hours during the day, and just ceramic heat on for 12 hours at night. According to the gauges I have, the humidity is at about 65% and the heat is about 80 degrees during the day (closer to 90 in her basking spot) and 70-75 degrees at night. She has a water container that's large enough for her to fit in easily, a completely dark and opaque hide box, a basking rock (not heated. Just right under the lamp) as well as some pieces of smooth drift wood in the enclosure. She is in her own bedroom with a separate thermostat (she shares it with a chair and a desk only), so it is quiet in there and stays at a good temperature for her 24/4. I was thinking about maybe blocking out the sides and back of the tank so that it's not completely clear and reflective. That seems like it may be confusing.

You need to feed her more and meet her husbandry need to a T. Heat should constent 24/7 and stable 75/80 on the cool side and 86/90 on the warm side, temps should not drop at night.

BP are not forgiven and if you do not do both those thing this is exactly what will happen.

At 150 grams your BP should be eating adult mice or rat pups, you are UNDER FEEDING this animal. BP are started out of the egg on hopper mice or rat crawler so as you can see the prey size is inappropriate.

So stop handling that animal, do some research on proper care, addressed what need to be addressed.

Also remember that this is an hatchling and that they are more defensive also obviously there is more here.

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Also sounds like you never gave the little guy the time he needs to get accustomed witch could be adding to the problem along with the brights lights, your temps should be steady 24/7 as best as possible

I would bump up the nighttime temps and you need a hide on the cooler side of the enclosure too. It might take her some time, but it should settle down. My albino was very jumpy and defensive at first, but settled down nicely. Just make sure your husbandry is spot on. Good luck!

As the others have said, there are several different things you can work on... From reading the others' posts, I'll try to lay them out for you :

1. Stop handling the snake every day. While you want to get the snake used to you, it needs some time in it's own home, to not be botherd, to learn the new environment and to know it's not being threatened there. I would say, aside from checking on it, cleaning up any big messes, and giving fresh water, don't put your hands in the tank. Feeding day, present the food and then leave the snake be. Do this for 2 weeks. You'll have a good 20 years to handle the snake and to get to know it. Take a couple weeks to let the snake adjust.
2. Get a digital kitchen scale. They are under $20 and can be found on ebay or at walmart or other stores and online. Find one that weighs in grams. Then you can weigh your snake and know what size prey you need. Do this until you are comfortable with eye-balling the size prey you need.
3. Feed the appropriate size prey. You say you are feeding frozen fuzzies. Are you using rats or mice? Fuzzy rats would be about right, but fuzzy mice are too small. You should be giving the snake small to medium mice or fuzzy rats at a minimum every 5-7 days.
4. Heat - You can use an incandecent bulb to help heat the tank, but you would be better off in my opnion if you invested in a thermostat and some tape or Under Tank Heat mat that would be connected to the thermostat. This can be used to give your snake a hot spot around 90 degrees on the bottom of your tank, where your snake is laying. I just don't think there is a safe way to do that with an incandescent bulb and ceramic heater. The Ceramic heat is good for ambient temps, but a UTH is still a good thing to add.
5. Light - "IF" you are just using the incandescent bulb for adding light, you can get rid of it. As long as the snake can differientiate between night and day, there is no need for extra light.
6. Humidity - With a glass tank, it can be hard to maintain a good humity level. Try covering the screen top as much as possible with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Foil is good because if it touches a heat source, it won't melt or catch on fire.
7. Enclosure - You are correct in maybe covering two-three sides of the tank. You can use decorative stuff like you find in pet stores, or just use some brown or black construction paper.

Following these steps should help calm the snake and give it a better living environment. Once the snake feels safe, and all of its needs are being well met, I'm sure you will start to see a change in the behavior.

Maybe I severely overestimated her weight! Here is a photo of her. I am a small (5'2") female with very little hands, and here she is in my hand. Once I get her out of her tank, she is a sweetheart, but when she's in it, she's always strike-ready.

http://i67.tinypic.com/20t2yp4.jpg

She is thin along her spine. Are you feeding mouse fuzzies or rat fuzzies? Mouse fuzzies are way too small, hatchlings start on hoppers.

That baby should be on small adult mice or rat pups.

She is on rat fuzzies. I wanted to continue feeding her what they were feeding her in the store I bought her from. She is not visibly larger now than when I bought her in October. Were they under-feeding her? I should go bigger?

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Originally Posted by AlabasterDynamo

She is on rat fuzzies. I wanted to continue feeding her what they were feeding her in the store I bought her from. She is not visibly larger now than when I bought her in October. Were they under-feeding her? I should go bigger?

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Yes, they were under feeding her. You said in a later post that you possibly severely underestimated her weight. Could you possibly get a more accurate weight; that would help people on here a lot more.

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Originally Posted by AlabasterDynamo

She is on rat fuzzies. I wanted to continue feeding her what they were feeding her in the store I bought her from. She is not visibly larger now than when I bought her in October. Were they under-feeding her? I should go bigger?

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Rat fuzzies can range from 15g to 25g, that I have seen. So depending on her weight/size, this could still be an appropriate size meal for her, for now.

Is it just me or does anyone else think she might be going into shed? The eyes look a little foggy...

Have a mice day :rofl:

In that picture she was most of the way through a shed. She has a hard time getting rid of the skin on the top of her head and on her right eye. She hates soaking. I have to put her in her water or else she won't go in. Once she's in, she stays. I've never had a python give me issues until this one!

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Originally Posted by AlabasterDynamo

In that picture she was most of the way through a shed. She has a hard time getting rid of the skin on the top of her head and on her right eye. She hates soaking. I have to put her in her water or else she won't go in. Once she's in, she stays. I've never had a python give me issues until this one!

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Ball Pythons aren't big on soaking... While soaking can be used, it should be a last resort. If there is some stuck shed, I think you're better off by just raising the humidity in her enclosure and maybe putting a few wet washcloths in her hide and around in her cage, so she can rub herself on them.


Have you been able to get a scale yet? That will definately aid the folks here in being able to give you better recommendations on her ideal prey weight/size.

She has super-rough sheds. She refuses to soak or go near her water on her own and that was one reason the vet had her in the first place. He had to inject liquid under her skin and force-soak her to shed, and to rehydrate her. She has been aggressive with me since I got her back from him in November. I will definitely try the washcloth idea!

A scale is not in the budget right now. I am currently asking around to see if someone has one I can borrow. I have friends who do a lot of mailing, so I assume one should have a postal scale! I did a decade ago, but no longer have it.

A digital kitchen scale from somewhere like WalMart or Target is about $20.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

A digital kitchen scale from somewhere like WalMart or Target is about $20.

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This.

I don't want to make you mad by saying this, but if a scale isn't in your budget, it was probably not a good idea for you to get a snake, let alone one from a vet that you knew could possibly need extensive care and nothing less than excellent husbandry.

I don't meant to sound harsh, I just know that when I decided I wanted a snake, and started asking questions, it was recommended that I plan on having an "oh $h*t" fund set aside for unexpected vet visits or something like this...

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Originally Posted by AlabasterDynamo

She has super-rough sheds. She refuses to soak or go near her water on her own and that was one reason the vet had her in the first place. He had to inject liquid under her skin and force-soak her to shed, and to rehydrate her. She has been aggressive with me since I got her back from him in November. I will definitely try the washcloth idea!

A scale is not in the budget right now. I am currently asking around to see if someone has one I can borrow. I have friends who do a lot of mailing, so I assume one should have a postal scale! I did a decade ago, but no longer have it.

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BP rarely soak and because they do not soak does not mean they can't shed, BP properly she'd if YOU provide them with proper husbandry which you had not which landed her at the vet.

Also the vet is a quack I would suggest finding another one.

Again provide PROPER husbandry, leave your BP alone, and feed it the right amount, and STOP soaking this animal, soaking is detrimental and lead to poor shed by depliting the snake of essential oils.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by AlabasterDynamo

She has super-rough sheds. She refuses to soak or go near her water on her own and that was one reason the vet had her in the first place. He had to inject liquid under her skin and force-soak her to shed, and to rehydrate her. She has been aggressive with me since I got her back from him in November. I will definitely try the washcloth idea!

A scale is not in the budget right now. I am currently asking around to see if someone has one I can borrow. I have friends who do a lot of mailing, so I assume one should have a postal scale! I did a decade ago, but no longer have it.

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Yikes, no wonder she's upset! I agree you should look for a new vet, that doesn't sound right at all to me.

Gonna restate that soaking is unnecessary and can actually be harmful to the shedding process. Instead, make sure the humidity in your enclosure is at least 60% and bump it up closer to 70% when you notice she's going into shed. You might also want to consider adding a humid hide to the enclosure. Make/buy a new well-enclosed hide (a modified tupperware container can work well here) and fill it with sphagnum moss. Keep the moss damp at all times, but not so wet that you can wring water out of it. You'll have to maintain it probably once every day or two. This will give your girl a nice high-humidity retreat to go to when she needs it.

I never knew that soaking was such a bad thing to do. I have owned several BPs and went to 2 different vets over the years which both told me to soak to help with tough sheds! I have never had to do that before. Just with this one. I only owned her for a couple weeks before I took her to this vet, who force-soaked her and told me to do the same. I figured I could trust the vet, but clearly I cannot. I really appreciate all the helpful suggestions from everyone here. I guess I have just been lucky in the past with my BPs and never "had to" soak them like the vets had suggested. I will work on proper husbandry and also re-plan her enclosure. She has more than she had when I got her, but it seems like I need to up her humidity and give her more hide and basking options with different temps. I just want her happy and healthy. This has been breaking my heart. This is my first BP I got as a baby. All my others have been adult rescues and we bonded easier and trusted eachother faster.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AlabasterDynamo

I never knew that soaking was such a bad thing to do. I have owned several BPs and went to 2 different vets over the years which both told me to soak to help with tough sheds! I have never had to do that before. Just with this one. I only owned her for a couple weeks before I took her to this vet, who force-soaked her and told me to do the same. I figured I could trust the vet, but clearly I cannot. I really appreciate all the helpful suggestions from everyone here. I guess I have just been lucky in the past with my BPs and never "had to" soak them like the vets had suggested. I will work on proper husbandry and also re-plan her enclosure. She has more than she had when I got her, but it seems like I need to up her humidity and give her more hide and basking options with different temps. I just want her happy and healthy. This has been breaking my heart. This is my first BP I got as a baby. All my others have been adult rescues and we bonded easier and trusted eachother faster.

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You're on the right track! Ball pythons are pretty hardy and I'm sure she'll bounce back and settle in nicely once you make some adjustments.

Best advice is to triple-check any information you come across, even if it's from a vet. Take the initiative to do a lot of research and don't always trust the first source you find until you're able to confirm it with other experienced keepers. There's so much outdated and incorrect advice out there and it can be hard to sift through.