Expectations of a New Ball Python Owner

Well it's been a little over a month since my little boy arrived. I've gone through the 3 feeding acclimation process and tried to follow every piece of advice given on this wonderful site so what now? What's next?....... Viewing had been a little little tough because my enclosure is in the basement so it's not in a place that I pass by unless I purposely go down there and he's NEVER out during the day. I usually can catch a glimpse of him if I venture down into the basement about 9-10 at night but I never turn on his light as not to disturb him. I've been trying to hold him 2-3 times a week (5-10 min at a time) but I'm wondering if it's too much to hold him more and/or more then 1 time a day. Currently he's feeding on Thur nights but I'm thinking about switching it to Weds which will give me more time to hold him on Sat and Sun (due to the 48 hour no holding after feeding period). Curious on others interactions w/ their BP?

I don't know if this helps but, what I did with Geno when I first got him was probably wrong.. lol. I held him twice the day I got him and I didn't really do that 1 week thing. It just seemed like he was already settled in! But nah, I defiantly should've given him time. So if you did that then good job :sweeet: I feed on Thursdays, and hold him on Sundays and Tuesdays. Just because he was stressed I've gone to that schedule. I think what your doing is good. I've had Geno for a little over 3 months now and he's already had his first shed with me. But if he seems fine with being out, I can go ahead and get him out :) Just don't push it.;)

hold him as long as you like whenever you like! just watch his body language so you know when he's had enough.

with my guys i always have them out when i watch tv. i set them on my blankets and they go through all the nooks and crannies until they've had enough. Yellow can be out for almost an hour, Spaghetti is closer to 20-30 minutes, and i'm still learning with Coffee Bean.

Ohh coffee bean...the killer danger noodle!

i take boople out at least once a week before feeding. My work schedule has been all over the place so this past month has been hard finding time to take her out.

My routine is feeding Saturday and Sunday. Ok feeding a snake over a period of 2 days is not recommended but that is the routine that my snake has adopted for the past few years and I accommodate him so please don't follow that advice because as a rule of thumb it's bad advice!

Then I let him rest for 2 days so he can digest and just have a break.

I then handle him out an about for about half an hour or so for 1-2 days depending on my schedule and how he is behaving (in hide or out roaming).

I generally try and avoid handling the day before feeding as he is pretty regular and will poop on Friday.

That's my routine and it doesn't impact my snake much at all.

Expect to get bit at some point and then u can vote yes in this poll: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...en-bit-by-a-BP

:)

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Originally Posted by Ax01

Expect to get bit at some point and then u can vote yes in this poll: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...en-bit-by-a-BP

:)

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Not funny....I'm gonna try and avoid this one as much as I can :colbert:

Ball python bites are like getting gummed by a very angry baby.

Just had my little man out for some exploratory time. First time that I allowed him to explore the floor. He was getting a little anxious sitting on the scale while I cleaned his cage so I put him on the floor. He explored for a good 15 minutes and then I sensed he might be getting a little nervous (raised up in a s curve looking at me) so I made my way behind him and scooped him back in the cage.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ecbf3da25e.jpg
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he's a very handsome fella!

Seems he spotted some incoming traffic from that car! Must have been a real treat catching him periscoping! Such a cute boy! And getting big! How long do you think he is?

We take ours out everyday. Smaug is used to being handled. So he doesn't care. He will usually go around the neck and chill for as long as I have him out which is anywhere between a few mins to a few hours. Sometimes he fights going back in his enclosure. It takes both of us to get him back in at times. The new guy we got, Hades. He isn't used to being handled yet, so we hold him for smaller periods of time until he gets used to it. He is doing a lot better than when we first got him. We have had him for a month. Smaug we have had for 6 months. He is an older snake tho. His owner couldn't handle him anymore and asked if we would take him. She told us that when she had him he would bite her a lot and not come out very much. Since we have had him neither one of us have even been close to being bitten and he comes out every night (besides shed times). He is a very good boy. I would say to slowly increase the hold times and they usually don't come out during the day. Smaug doesn't come out until around 8pm or so. Hades comes out during the day sometimes, but not too often. He is a little weird lol. Good luck!

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Originally Posted by MissterDog

Seems he spotted some incoming traffic from that car! Must have been a real treat catching him periscoping! Such a cute boy! And getting big! How long do you think he is?

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Haha.....I had to look twice to get the car reference. This is the 1st time catching him periscoping and I was quite amazed. He's about 230ish grams and I'm gonna guess about 15-18 inches. I didn't want to break out the yard stick as to scare him.

You can handle as much as YOU and the SNAKE are comfortable with. Start to watch your snake's body language and mannerisms. Watch the breathing and the tongue flicks. A content BP should be breathing slowly, tongue flicking slowly and movements should be fairly slow and calculated. Once you see increased breathing, quicker more frequent tongue flicks and quick jerky erratic movements it's time to put the snake back into the enclosure.

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Originally Posted by Ax01

Expect to get bit at some point and then u can vote yes in this poll: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...en-bit-by-a-BP

:)

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It's like a right of passage. ;)
Hang around a barber shop long enough you're bound to get a haircut. Keep snakes and you're going to get tagged eventually.
Honestly, paper cuts are worse. The worst part is trying not to panic and injure the animal by pulling away and taking teeth with you.

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Originally Posted by craigafrechette

It's like a right of passage. ;)
Hang around a barber shop long enough you're bound to get a haircut. Keep snakes and you're going to get tagged eventually.
Honestly, paper cuts are worse. The worst part is trying not to panic and injure the animal by pulling away and taking teeth with you.

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Well for me and I'm sure many others it's the fear of the unknown. Is it safe to say that the likelihood of a bite goes down as the snake matures and becomes familiar with you? And when do most bites happen? Meaning getting the snake out of the cage? While holding them?

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Originally Posted by ckuhn003

Well for me and I'm sure many others it's the fear of the unknown. Is it safe to say that the likelihood of a bite goes down as the snake matures and becomes familiar with you? And when do most bites happen? Meaning getting the snake out of the cage? While holding them?

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Well, IMO the more you handle them the more at risk you will be for getting tagged. Remember also most bites occur during feeding times and or uncovering them from their hides too quickly. Some people refer to ball pythons as "pet rocks" but I feel this is a misnomer bc their nature and behavior is secretive and that needs to be respected. It's very unnatural for them to be in the "headlights" and jostled around continuously. Enjoy him as he grows and keep him healthy.

I am coming up to my third feed tonight. I have held her twice the last week for 5 minutes a time. She is very docile and calm. In fact when I put her back in the tub she wants to come back out and right into my hands. I have yet to let anyone else in the house hold handle her yet. My son loves to handle snakes and will likely get some time in Friday, 2 days after the third feed.

I would say as long as your snake doesn't look to stressed and is comfortable hold away. :)

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Originally Posted by ckuhn003

Well for me and I'm sure many others it's the fear of the unknown. Is it safe to say that the likelihood of a bite goes down as the snake matures and becomes familiar with you? And when do most bites happen? Meaning getting the snake out of the cage? While holding them?

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I completely understand what you're saying about fear of the unknown. Certainly respectable.

I think Albert Clark answered well.
In my experience and that from which I've read and researched the majority of bites are feed related or spooking the animal. I personally have not been tagged during feedings or due to my hands smelling like mice/rats. I'm very cautious about washing my hands well after handling prey as well as careful with feedings. I make sure to use proper tongs because sometimes they miss, and rather than miss and get my hand, they miss and get air or the tongs.

The times I've been tagged I consider my fault with the exception of one jerk of a Kingsnake I handled at the reptile shop when shopping for my King. But anyway, the times I've been tagged I spooked the animal and their natural reaction is to protect themselves. I'm typically very careful with handling, but have been a little too comfortable with the snake while handling and wasn't paying enough attention and perhaps taking the animals for granted. I wasn't as cautious as I could have been and spooked the snakes and got tagged.

My advice is just respect the animal, wash your hands before each handling session and use caution when feeding. When entering the enclosure make sure to alert the snake before uncovering when the snake is in a hide. Just a gentle tap or two on the hide will let them know you're there and then lift the hide slowly.
When handling, use slow, cautious movements and try not to make any quick movements near the snakes head.

It honestly barely hurts, but unless you've experienced it, it's tough to not be scared. Look at some snake bytes videos on YouTube. I don't agree with their practices of trying to get tagged because it stresses the animal and can cause injuries to the animals. But, when they do get tagged the injuries to the people are very minor and barely even bleed most of the time.

I've had Mazikeen for 2.5 months but, thus far, she's never tagged me. She tried once, and that was mostly my fault. Only had her for two weeks and she was in shed. I was still in that nervous mother-hen stage trying to figure out of she was okay, if everything was alright. Checked in on her and she s'ed up immediately, tried to put the hide back over her and she struck at it. She was fine, but I was a nervous wreck lol.

Only other time she's struck at anything outside of feeding was when I was holding her, checking under her decorations for anything I needed to clean up. I guess I got the fake plant a little bit too close to her face because she snapped at it. Again, my fault, and she was perfectly fine and complacent afterwards. Hasn't happened since, and she gets plenty of warning before I pop open any of her hides. I have to move decorations out of the way to even get to them, so if there's rustling around she knows to expect Intruding Overbearing Mather :P.

We move slow and careful around one another, and sometimes at night she's the one to crawl out and into my hand (probably trying to escape and my hand makes a nice perch, but y'know. Still cute as heck.) I'm honestly more worried about accidentally hurting her than about her tagging me.

I think that people forget that these are animals and a bite is always possible no matter how long you have had the snake or how it's always acted. Doesn't matter. You always have to be aware and treat them with respect and give them their space. Especially with larger snakes like retics and burms. It blows me away when people post pics of little kids all alone with these giant snakes. They could snatch and wrap a child in seconds and serious damage could be done before the person taking the pic can intervene. Def not saying large snakes shouldn't be around children but some people don't seem to recognize the risk involved. Be responsible and protect our hobby.

Definitely appreciate all the informative replies and I'm happy to say that I've been following most if not all of these steps up to this point. My little guy is a shy eater (waits until I leave the room) so I think I reduced that one significantly. I always let him know when I'm coming in the enclosure by gently tapping on his hide before I remove it and he never looks too tense when it's removed or when I go to pick him up (after some gentle stroking).

I think my biggest fear is when I'm holding him and he starts to wander and all of his sudden his head is right at my finger (or even my head). I tense up a little because I don't know if he's gonna strike or if he's just exploring. Probably the later but I'm still a little anxious. Scared that if he does strike, I may drop off him.

Nothing says responsible ownership like yelling into your snake's cage saying "HURRY UP AND FINISH SHEDDING SO I CAN TAKE YOU OUT AND LOVE YOU". Just some sage advice from a very bad ball python owner.

For the record, I went back and read what I posted above. It wasn't directed at the OP or anyone else in this thread. Was just irritated at some of the crazy stuff posted on popular social media lately. If I came across as an :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r:, I didn't intend to.

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Originally Posted by cletus

For the record, I went back and read what I posted above. It wasn't directed at the OP or anyone else in this thread. Was just irritated at some of the crazy stuff posted on popular social media lately. If I came across as an :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r:, I didn't intend to.

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I'm in 100% agreement with you so you definitely didn't offend me. This site has been an excellent tool for learning because of people like you. Appreciate it!