BP Striking A Lot

So here recently, like within the last couple of days, my BP has been striking at stuff a lot. It started Saturday 7/8/17 when I was holding her. She just struck at my thumb all of a sudden, luckily she didn't bite. She just did it again a few minutes ago though, while she was in her tank. Nothing was bothering her, but I noticed while I was laying down that she looked like she was gonna strike at something and she did so when I stood up to check things out. I'm not sure what's going on. When she struck at me the first time, I thought she was hungry still so I fed her again. I had fed her Thursday 7/6 but it was the first time she had eaten in three weeks. She shouldn't still be hungry should she? Or is she just being aggressive? How do I fix the problem?


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I think this is normal behavior that your snake is showing up. Just observed!

Your snake may still be in feed mode. Sometimes feed mode can last a day or two after eating. This is one of the reasons it is suggested not to handle your snake for 24-48 hours after eating. If you fed on Thurs you should avoid handling til Saturday at least. The other being regurgitation. The last thing you want a snake who hadn't eaten in three weeks to do is regurge.

I advise letting your snake alone to digest after feeding. You have 20-30 years with your snake if kept properly so plenty of handling time in your future. The animal's health should be priority number one.

Has it just been in shed or could it just be going into shed maybe ?

She may be hungry. Depending on how old/big they are girls will naturally feed heavy for a period of time then totally go off food. They are preparing to make eggs. My girls that are going to be bred are fed as they want to eat. At this point in the year, my girls have all laid and are beginning to feed heavy. Ones that I think lost too much weight are fed twice a week until they stop looking like empty socks. Girls that are not going to be bred, I feed normally. The snake could also have a vision problem but I think you may have noticed that by now. I don't know how old the animal is or what it is eating but it may be time to bump up a food size.

She hasn't shed yet, and I'm not sure when her last shed was because I got her from PetSmart, which is also why she didn't eat. She was refusing the f/t that they were offering her because she wanted live. She definitely isn't going to lay eggs though because she is only about 2 months old from what I can guess. When I fed her, I gave her live pinkies both times. Since she ate twice though, I was considering feeding her fuzzies beginning at her next meal, which would be this coming Thursday. I'll post a picture of her below to see if that may be of help.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...cae48551bf.jpg


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Originally Posted by LivingDeadGirl

She hasn't shed yet, and I'm not sure when her last shed was because I got her from PetSmart, which is also why she didn't eat. She was refusing the f/t that they were offering her because she wanted live. She definitely isn't going to lay eggs though because she is only about 2 months old from what I can guess. When I fed her, I gave her live pinkies both times. Since she ate twice though, I was considering feeding her fuzzies beginning at her next meal, which would be this coming Thursday. I'll post a picture of her below to see if that may be of help.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...cae48551bf.jpg


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This animal is too thin and it is hungry. Please get it on the right size food as soon as you can. Do as search for "feeding chart". I would feed it every four days until it fills out.

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

This animal is too thin and it is hungry. Please get it on the right size food as soon as you can. Do as search for "feeding chart". I would feed it every four days until it fills out.

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I'm not exactly sure how much she weighs though, as I don't yet have a scale for her. What size would you recommend?


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by LivingDeadGirl

I'm not exactly sure how much she weighs though, as I don't yet have a scale for her. What size would you recommend?


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Guessing by the size of your hand I would feed it a rat pup every four days until the snake's mid-section is noticeably wider than its head after a defecation. I use the size of the prey should be about as wide as the widest part of snakes body rule.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

This animal is too thin and it is hungry. Please get it on the right size food as soon as you can. Do as search for "feeding chart". I would feed it every four days until it fills out.

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Yup!! That snake is hungry! Please get that animal eating appropriate sized prey asap.

I hope this helps...
Once you get a scale (a decent kitchen scale from Wal-Mart is under $20) it'll help more, but for now a smaller adult mouse or rat pup will probably be best.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2aeddf9701.jpg

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Okay guys, so I don't think it's just a food problem. I reached in her tank earlier to change her water and kinda gave her a soft stroke or two and she hissed me big time. I'm starting to think that she is just a real aggressive girl. Any thoughts or tips?


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She is hungry, just think of the Snickers commercials. I know I'm a cranky person when I'm hungry.

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Well her scheduled feeding day is tomorrow, so we'll see how things go the next few days.


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She's going to be hungry till she fills out, it's not going to take one or two feedings. Don't worry about handling.

Yeah, at this point your priority is getting her filled out and otherwise leaving her be other than enclosure maintenance. Don't want handling to put her off eating since she feels stressed and the younger they are, the more likely this is.

Eventually, if you keep at it, you'll have a much plumper and content BP on your hands.

She definitely doesn't get stressed with handling and stuff as far as her eating habits go. Since she started eating, she's been very good about meals. She didn't start being aggressive until after she started eating though. So I'm not sure. I had her in a 20 long until today though. I figured that maybe her enclosure was too open for her liking, and I downsized to a 10 gal until she outgrows that.


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They strike because

They feel vulnerable and see you as a predator

They strike because of stress, based on the previous enclosure size you need to give it a little more time before getting back to normal.

They strike because they don't eat enough, make sure the prey size is adequate.



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I'm aware that it takes time for them to readjust. As for prey, I'm gradually moving up in size because what PetSmart was trying to feed her was pinkies. So today she ate a fuzzy and a hopper.


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As of today, including yesterday's feed, she had eaten 2 hoppers and a fuzzy this week. Next week, I am going to try feeding her an adult mouse.


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https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...80962f3afd.jpg
This was before I fed her today


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Keep up the scheduled feedings. I'm sure it will be in triple digits soon.