Ball python keeps biting me?

My snake likes to come out of her tank just about everyday. She seems to really enjoy just being out and getting to explore my bed and stuff. Yesterday while I had her out she had her head resting on my arm when she suddenly bit it. I was really surprised, because she's never ever even struck me before. Even when I had to handle her while she was in blue she was as docile as could be. I was hoping she was just being a bit weird and I figured I'd leave her alone today because maybe she was feeling too stressed. Unfortunately I had to take her out to switch out her heating bulb. While the new one was warming up I let her do her thing on my bed and when she nearly fell off I picked her up and placed her on my chest. She went down my shirt, which is a thing she likes to do a lot, and then bit my stomach. I'm a little worried now. I think her husbandry is alright, and I think I'm feeding her enough. She's still young, so I'm giving her a small mouse or two (just slightly smaller than the width of the widest part of her body) every 5 days or so. I was actually feeling like I might even be overfeeding her.
She's always been a really docile, nice snake, so if anyone has any ideas why she's suddenly started biting me I'd really appreciate hearing them. I'm really worried something is wrong, or that maybe she really is very stressed when I take her out and I'm not noticing. I don't know.

How big is your snake? A small mouse or two is NOT enough for an adult, not even close.

When I got her she was about 2 months old, and I've had her for a little over a month. So she's still very young, I think?

i would think shes just testing the waters on whats food and whats not. shes a very young one and probley isnt use to heing handled like one that is alot older. could be stressed to or her way of giving kisses lol

From what others have said, juvenile balls are jerks. :-)

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My snake likes to come out of her tank just about everyday.

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She is young and that is too much, young BP are defensive, you are a predator and this is why you need to limit handling.

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She seems to really enjoy just being out and getting to explore my bed and stuff.

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She is not YOU are, BP do not enjoy being handled they tolerate it.


Do not enjoy as much make sure your husbandry is OPTIMUM, this also play a big part in the stress level, and feed the appropriate size prey every 5 to 7 days.

That sounds like way to much handling for a 3 month old. I'd give her more alone time and not have her crawl in your clothes.

Honestly, when most ball pythons are comfortable and "happy", they just sit there and don't move much. If she is constantly moving, going down your shirt, slithering across your bed, it means she is stressed and looking for somewhere to hide. Not having fun or enjoying it.

Just avoid handling her as often, maybe only once every 2 or 3 days if you'd like, until she is a bit older. Young snakes are more skittish and afraid- they want to hide.

I had my Woma Python snap at me the other day when I had him on the couch and he is five years old. I think it was because he was away from me for several minutes and went from handling mode into feeding mode. Sort of like when you open the tub and they are in feeding mode and you have to switch them over to handling mode, for large pythons this is called 'hook training'. This really made me think more about my juvenile reticulated Python, when he gets bigger I sure don't want him switching from handling mode to feeding mode outside of his enclosure. I think the best way to keep that from happening is to constantly handle him when he is outside of the enclosure, don't let him roam while not being handled. Probably best to have frequent sessions that are short, say around 10 minutes or so. I even keep gently and slowly stroking the back and side of my snake when he is out to keep him in handling mode. My Woma practically begs to come out, I think he really likes to be handled too.

Thank you all! I think I got some bad advice. Someone told me to handle her as much as possible and for as long as possible to get her over her fear. I do know she's stressed when she's constantly slithering around on my bed, and that's when I usually put her back, but most of the time she just likes to find a place to 'sit' and look around. That means she's relaxed if I'm reading her properly, right?
I also try to pay attention to her breathing and when I see that she's breathing heavily I always put her back. However, I know snakes can still be stressed without showing visible signs.
Honestly the last thing I want to do is stress her out so much, I was just under the impression this would get her to be less afraid faster and would be better for her in the long run, but now I see she definitely needs to be left alone more. I think I'll leave her alone completely for a week and then start trying to handle her for 10 or 15 minutes every 2 or 3 days. Does that sound alright?

Edit: Just a note for anyone new to owning BPs that come across this thread: Never trust anything a Petsmart employee tells you.

Handling as much as you can, every chance you get isn't going to do anything for a ball
python. They're docile by nature, although I have heard of a few nippy fiesty ones, it isn't common. Babies are just going to be more afraid simply because they are babies. They don't know that you won't harm them, for all they know you could be preparing to eat it. Less handling and shorter time periods, until she gets older and calmer.

Also, is she eating consistently, handling too much can cause her to stop eating because it's too much stress.

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Originally Posted by PythonBabes

Handling as much as you can, every chance you get isn't going to do anything for a ball
python. They're docile by nature, although I have heard of a few nippy fiesty ones, it isn't common. Babies are just going to be more afraid simply because they are babies. They don't know that you won't harm them, for all they know you could be preparing to eat it. Less handling and shorter time periods, until she gets older and calmer.

Also, is she eating consistently, handling too much can cause her to stop eating because it's too much stress.

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She's always been an excellent eater. She's never missed a meal. I've been feeding her every 5 days, usually two small mice. I just tend to feed her until she stops being in hunting mode and goes into her hide, but I do worry about possibly overfeeding her? Is that something I need to be concerned about at all?
As I'm sure everyone can tell, I didn't do nearly enough research before I bought her, but I'm trying my best to learn as much as I possibly can now.

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Originally Posted by neptunebaby

She's always been an excellent eater. She's never missed a meal. I've been feeding her every 5 days, usually two small mice. I just tend to feed her until she stops being in hunting mode and goes into her hide, but I do worry about possibly overfeeding her? Is that something I need to be concerned about at all?
As I'm sure everyone can tell, I didn't do nearly enough research before I bought her, but I'm trying my best to learn as much as I possibly can now.

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From what I've learned on here/research you may be UNDERfeeding her. How much does she weigh? At under 1 year old you should be feeding her ~15% of her body weight every 7 days. Also you want to get her on rats as soon as possible as they have more nutritional value, and almost any ball python hatchling can get a rat pup down.


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OK, for what it is worth here is my two cents. Others are not going to agree but I do things based on data. First your animal is hungry. The sooner you get it on appropriately sized rats the better. The second, handling. If the animal is eating and shedding well you are probably doing your job correctly. If you want to handle the animal it is up to you. All ball pythons require the proper humidity and temps to thrive. The guidance given in the care sheet is known to work. That said, some animals require more security than others. Some tolerate handling better than others. This year I took a single clutch that all but one are hold backs. Every baby out of the five had been treated exactly the same until last week. They are in hatchling tubs with paper towels a water bowl and a single hide. Heating is ambient. They have been touched and handled from the time they piped. I was touching their heads before they even came completely out of the egg. They are all handled now for about five minutes a piece twice a day exactly the same way. I take them out, touch them everywhere and put them back. Not one of them has tried to "run" away or strike. Now here is where the differences come in. Three of the five are gluttons. They will eat anything. F/T rat or mouse. I don't even have to wiggle it. Toss it in and its gone. Two of them wanted to be a pain in the butt. Eating only half as much as the other two and then only live. The two that were giving me the issues were roamers. Never settling down. I added a paper towel roll to their tubs and suddenly they are happy and have become different animals. Eating has improved and they are not active 24/7. My point being, even under very controlled conditions each animal is different. Nothing I am doing is anything I have not done before, it is just the first time I have done it in a controlled fashion. If you want to handle your animal then handle it. Just make sure you are doing it productively. If the animal is breathing heavy it is scared. If it is not and just running away it just wants to be somewhere else. Hold the animal until it relaxes then put it back. Handling is not a rule. How it is conducted is based on the individual animal. Some like to run away, but in my experience even that can be improved upon. I have two in my collection that are total demons however even those are improving. We have gone two weeks without them trying to get a piece of me lol. I handle them every day.

People don't and never recommend that you handle ball pythons frequently because they are shy creatures. They're not something like guinea pigs or hammers that you can just grab up and play with, they don't enjoy being handled they're tolerating you. People who can't/don't understand that ball
pythons are not extremely interactive animals really shouldn't own them. JS:colbert:

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Originally Posted by PythonBabes

People don't and never recommend that you handle ball pythons frequently because they are shy creatures. They're not something like guinea pigs or hammers that you can just grab up and play with, they don't enjoy being handled they're tolerating you. People who can't/don't understand that ball
pythons are not extremely interactive animals really shouldn't own them. JS:colbert:

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What exactly are you basing that on? How many animals have you applied this thought process to? How many animals have you raised from egg to adult? I must be doing something terribly wrong with my room full of healthy thriving animals.

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

What exactly are you basing that on? How many animals have you applied this thought process to? How many animals have you raised from egg to adult? I must be doing something terribly wrong with my room full of healthy thriving animals.

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Based on the fact that daily handling stresses them out and you even said yourself, the care sheet has good advice. 2-4 times a week is good for handling if you want to keep stress at a minimum.

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Originally Posted by RiA MaU

Based on the fact that daily handling stresses them out and you even said yourself, the care sheet has good advice. 2-4 times a week is good for handling if you want to keep stress at a minimum.

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This is what the care sheet says

Over Handling -- Frequent intrusions into the enclosure, changes to the enclosure, and/or long frequent handling sessions can cause a shy snake to feel vulnerable and refuse to eat.

Notice that words like frequent, long, can and feel are used. None of these things are absolutes. If what you are saying is true I would have a room full of biting, non-feeding, and sick animals. This is not the case. Out of the just south of 60 animals I have right now one animal is not eating. He is a breeding male that was fasting when I got him. Oddly enough he is the only animal that is not being handled. I have two that like to strike. These two were purchased with attitude problems. They are improving and were actually selected partially because they have attitude problems and I wanted to see if they could be calmed. As a rule the only animals I do not handle for extended periods are heavily gravid females and even these will be touched frequently in their tubs. I have found that the animals that adjust the worst are adult animals that have not been extensively handled. They require a lot more work and patience. I grew up working with animals. My animals must allow me to touch them anywhere at any time. Believe it or not I treat my snakes just like horses. Horses are naturally shy fearful animals just like ball pythons. You begin desensitizing horses from the moment they hit the ground. At any rate, my animals are doing fine and I absolutely do not follow your school of thought for the majority of the animals I know. If you have success with other methods more power to you.

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Originally Posted by MiniMed

From what I've learned on here/research you may be UNDERfeeding her. How much does she weigh? At under 1 year old you should be feeding her ~15% of her body weight every 7 days. Also you want to get her on rats as soon as possible as they have more nutritional value, and almost any ball python hatchling can get a rat pup down.


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I'm planning on getting a scale for her tomorrow but in the meantime I've been trying to keep an eye on her weight and she seems to be gradually gaining, which is why I was concerned about possibly overfeeding, but now I'm just thinking she was being underfed at the store. I'll be switching her to rat pups either way ASAP but right now I've just been going off of size (I'm feeding her mice that are just slightly smaller than the width of the largest part of her body) and how interested she seems to be in eating. Once she goes out of hunting mode and goes back into her hide I figure she's done.

Hi, my BP is about the same age. I haven't had this issue. Mine I handle a few days a week but I keep it short, around only 10 minutes, if that, to reduce the stress on her. There is a lot of conflicting info out there but this is what I find works for my BP.

Good Luck!