Aggressive Baby

I bought a baby ball python a week ago. She's about two months old now and still extremely defensive. I've tried watching videos and reading articles on handling aggressive hatchlings. Everything I've seen, people keep saying that handle them even if they're aggressive, so that way they know that they aren't going to be harmed. People say they will stop striking after a few times. She does not, and I've tried the exercises with her. She will strike continuously and even bite down if she can. She doesn't seem to tire of it. I offered a mouse the day she should have fed, thinking maybe food was they key to her heart. She had absolutely no interest in the mouse whatsoever, just the strong desire to kill me. She will strike even if someone walks by her enclosure.

She's housed in a 40 gallon breeder tank, coconut fiber substrate, two hides, two climbing logs, heat lamp on one side with heat pad on the other as well as a decent sized lagoon water dish. Cool side temperature between 78-82 while the warm side is between 86-95. I've had another ball python for 3 years so far, kept under the same conditions

This is not a habit I want to promote. My first ball acted polar opposite of this one. She never had a mean strike and she was always calm and curious from the day I got her. She was also a couple of months old when I got her. Does anyone have any advice?

First, you really don't want to be handling during the first week, the snake needs time to settle in. The standard recommendation is to bring the snake home, get it into the enclosure, and not handle it at all until after you have had 3 successful feedings. Right now, that baby is just terrified. Give it time to adjust to it's new home, get a few good meals down, then start working on handling.

95 may be a bit too warm also, you really don't want anything over 90 for a BP.

1. All baby snakes must be defensive to survive in the natural world...this is instinctive. Not all survive, no matter what, but it's NORMAL.

2. You only got her a week ago. When you get a new snake, for BEST results, allow them time to settle in, & remember handling should NOT be the priority.

3. The first priority for a new snake is feeding. When you persist in handling, you will likely have a snake that won't eat, and when too stressed to eat, they are
more likely to get sick...that's not the goal, here, is it?

4. If you want a happy & healthy pet, put their needs FIRST. They're living animals with instincts, fears & feelings. They have NO idea how & why they no longer
recognize their entire world, and to them this means danger...they don't feel safe yet.

5. For best results: leave a new snake alone to settle in for at LEAST a week, preferably 2. THEN, try offering food by preferred methods for species (night, etc).
If they eat, great...leave them alone to digest & try feeding again in a week (if a young snake) Repeat a few times, BEFORE you handle them. Just because you got
away with it before, doesn't mean you should jump right into handling this poor terrified soul...you're causing the problem, AND making it worse.

6. Your "warm side" is too hot: please stop at 90*, not 95*.

7. Your 40 gal. tank is HUGE and making her more afraid. A smaller cage for now would be best, or LOTS more clutter & hides.

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She's about two months old now

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She's housed in a 40 gallon breeder tank

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Cool side temperature between 78-82 while the warm side is between 86-95.

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If you want to address the source of your issue which is stress due to husbandry you must

Downsize to a 10 gallons tank

Get your temps stable and lower nothing over 92 on the hot side and the temps should not fluctuate as much 2 degrees max.

Because you keep an animal in the same condition for 3 years does not mean the next animal will tolerate it or react the same way to it.

40 gallon is way too big for a snake that small. Get a tub or like someone else mentioned a 10 gallon.. that poor snake is scare to death. Fix the husbandry, leave it alone for a period of time and then check back. Hope this helps!

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Originally Posted by Moose84

40 gallon is way too big for a snake that small. Get a tub or like someone else mentioned a 10 gallon.. that poor snake is scare to death. Fix the husbandry, leave it alone for a period of time and then check back. Hope this helps!

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Not many people will know what I’m talking about but u do. Good job man! It’s hard to bite ur tongue sometimes but u got it now! Good to see u post some more too!!

Those temps are all over the place and too hot. 90 should be the absolute max.

Since there's that much variance in the temps I have to ask...are your heat sources regulated by a thermostat???

Also, you're handling too soon. Let the snake settle in until it's eating regularly. I always suggest no handling until the snake has eaten three consecutive meals without refusal.

The animal is stressed and needs time to settle in.

Also, like others have said,a 40 gallon may not be offering enough security and the snake is stressed. You may want to downsize.

Lastly, is the enclosure in a room that gets a lot of traffic?

Hardest thing to do is not play with ur new animal. But it’s going to be there for like25-30 years! U will have time!

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Originally Posted by Danger noodles

Hardest thing to do is not play with ur new animal. But it’s going to be there for like25-30 years! U will have time!

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Truth.

Downsized on the tank, fixed the temperatures and the humidity is perfect. I live in a state where it's always super cold or super hot. We seem to go from one extreme to the next.
I saw her poking her head out a little bit last night, but she'd still rather stay in her hide. But her mood seems to have improved just slightly.

Now when it comes to feeding, the breeder was feeding pre-killed and I'm trying frozen-thawed. I want to remove her from her enclosure to put in a feed tub so she doesn't get the wrong idea down the road. How will I go about this if she is more intent on "killing" me than the mouse?

Thanks for the advice.

First off, ditch the separate feeding tub.
Feeding tubs are old school and proven counter productive over time.

I have been feeding my snakes in their enclosures since I started out in this hobby almost 20 years ago....
I have never once been struck at by any of my snakes inside their enclosures.

Feeding tubs will:
A) increase the chance of the animal refusing food. Moving the animal = stress. Stress = refusal.
B) increase the chance of the snake regurgitating it's meal IF it eats. Moving the animal = stress. Stress = regurge.
C) INCREASE your chances of being bitten. IF the animal eats it will often remain in feed mode for as long as 24 hours or longer. So when you move the snake after it eats, guess who's hand gives off a similar heat signature as a mouse or rat...yup. yours...

There is literally ZERO benefit to a separate feeding tub. Feed inside the enclosure. The animal is much more likely to eat where it feels comfortable.

These are ambush predators who thrive on staying put and eating. They don't like to be exposed and handled before, while or after eating.


Oh, and you haven't answered whether or not your heat sources are REGULATED BY A THERMOSTAT???

First off, I didn't join this forum to be bashed and ridiculed. Like I said, my first ball was a cakewalk compared to this one. She's the most easy-going, well-mannered snake I've been around. Never had any issues with her and I did what several educated articles recommended (http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Care...s/Ball-Python/, http://www.avianandexotic.com/care-s...s/ball-python/, https://www.bhbreptiles.com/pages/ba...hon-care-sheet, https://www.petco.com/content/petco/...ll-python.html) aside from tank size, in which case she had no issues anyway. I also understand that like other animals, each are different. Because this new girl was so different from the first, I wanted to seek advice and guidance. Not attitude.

And to answer your question, no, I don't have a thermostat because I haven't had any luck with them thus far.

Ok moose, now is when we let u loose! Lol

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Originally Posted by TheAlpha

First off, I didn't join this forum to be bashed and ridiculed. Like I said, my first ball was a cakewalk compared to this one. She's the most easy-going, well-mannered snake I've been around. Never had any issues with her and I did what several educated articles recommended (http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Care...s/Ball-Python/, http://www.avianandexotic.com/care-s...s/ball-python/, https://www.bhbreptiles.com/pages/ba...hon-care-sheet, https://www.petco.com/content/petco/...ll-python.html) aside from tank size, in which case she had no issues anyway. I also understand that like other animals, each are different. Because this new girl was so different from the first, I wanted to seek advice and guidance. Not attitude.

And to answer your question, no, I don't have a thermostat because I haven't had any luck with them thus far.

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Just trust me, we are here for ur animals safety, not to make u feel good inside about how well u have been doing. Just adapt and take the advice, because that’s what it is, advice, not criticism.

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Originally Posted by TheAlpha

And to answer your question, no, I don't have a thermostat because I haven't had any luck with them thus far.

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3 of the 4 sources you listed are sites I've checked in the past and found to frequently post outdated practices (i.e. feeding tubs) or outright false information. Not all of it is wrong, but I no longer trust anything they say without significant verification first. I've not seen the BHB one before and didn't click through, so not sure there.

Also, I have no idea how someone would not have luck with a thermostat. I'm truly baffled as to what that means. Can you explain what wasn't working more specifically? Wonder if it was a defective device or something else. (And if defective, surely it could be returned and replaced)

They are a truly vital piece of equipment for keeping reptiles. Even recently on here we have seen the massive ugly infected burns that result from unregulated heat mats. It is far more expensive to treat and is negligent care that it could happen at all when equipment exists to prevent it.

For your reference, I videoed the results of plugging in unregulated heat mats I have spare to show how hot they truly get. This is not unique to my heat mats nor is it staged to look bad.

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?url...9&share_type=t

If you need help getting a thermostat to work, we can certainly help. They're not always easy to figure out and there aren't always the best directions for them. Babies are also more sensitive to high heat and can definitely be contributing to the current temperament you're seeing.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard this advice I’d be, well probably broke still but have some cool snakes!

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Originally Posted by TheAlpha

First off, I didn't join this forum to be bashed and ridiculed. Like I said, my first ball was a cakewalk compared to this one. She's the most easy-going, well-mannered snake I've been around. Never had any issues with her and I did what several educated articles recommended (http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Care...s/Ball-Python/, http://www.avianandexotic.com/care-s...s/ball-python/, https://www.bhbreptiles.com/pages/ba...hon-care-sheet, https://www.petco.com/content/petco/...ll-python.html) aside from tank size, in which case she had no issues anyway. I also understand that like other animals, each are different. Because this new girl was so different from the first, I wanted to seek advice and guidance. Not attitude.

And to answer your question, no, I don't have a thermostat because I haven't had any luck with them thus far.

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Nobody is bashing or ridiculing. You asked questions, we offered advice.

The links you shared are outdated.

We are here to help. We care about these animals and are passionate about sharing our love for the hobby with others.

It's important to understand the difference between surviving and thriving. Just because something works, doesn't mean it can't be improved.

And do your snakes a favor and regulate their heating equipment. Google search snake burns if you need to. Thermostats are the most important piece of equipment you can have.
I can't for the life of me understand how you haven't had luck with them. Set it up, dial it in and basically forget about it. Just check daily to make sure it's functioning properly.
Look at the link provided above. There's simply not a reason to not regulate heat sources.

So, since you're seeking advice and guidance, take the advice and guidance. Nobody gave any attitude. Only help.