Striking Question...

Hey guys,

I picked up my female BP yesterday. My boyfriend Mike was with me and he wanted to hold her. I picked her up and was holding her when Mike walked and stood in front of her so that I could move her to him. But as soon as he walked in front of her, she got very defensive and made her S shape and struck at him. At first I thought, oh, no big deal... she's struck at moving objects in front of her still. But then a few seconds later, she did it again! I figured she was a little freaked out so I put her back in her enclosure and she struck two more times in our direction while in the cage. This I was really surprised by.

One important tidbit you should know that may have affected the situation:
- She had just recently finished a stuck shed and still has one retained eyecap. Could that have contributed to her extremely defensive reaction? Because she couldn't see very well?

Do BP's not like it when humans kind of get in front of their face?

I've only been picking her up maybe once a week because I've had for about a month and a half now and she's about 3 months old.. so I was trying to go slow with her handling... should I handle her more? What can I do to make her feel safer?!

Thanks all!!

Oh, also.. I heard her hiss in her enclosure when I put her back in it as well... =/

It's a female. That explains why she is so pissy....

Get a pair of gloves, if you are afraid of the bite hurting, and handle her everyday. Let her know you aren't going to eat her and that she is safe. My girl would hiss and all that stuff, but hasn't hissed at me for a week.

It is not unusual for bp's to freak out when something suddenly appears in front of it, it's a natural reaction.

Human beings are a big ugly looking predatory animal to a bp.... :P

so... it's true that a female BP is a bit more... "defensive" than males? or is that a myth?

It was just a joke...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by brainman1000

It's a female. That explains why she is so pissy....

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Just a joke.
Maybe just stressed or not used to being handled yet.

okay, sorry BPkid, hard to tell if things are a joke on paper, especially for a person like me who is a first time snake owner! i believe everything you guys tell me. hehe. =)

so.. when I first posted something about handling my snake initially.. people told me to handle her less frequently... I think I said that I was handling her every couple of days, for about 20 minutes. A lot of it was just letting her sit in my hands and not trying to pet her or anything like that. so, it's okay for me to handle her everyday? for shorter amounts of time?

thanks again!!

Definately. If your snake is defensive, its actually reccomended!!!

BTW, have any pics??

Quote:

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Originally Posted by brainman1000

It's a female. That explains why she is so pissy....

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I nearly fell off my chair when i read this lol.I suggest you handle her more often like the others stated.Sometimes if something moves to fast they will react in a defensive manor.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by joepythons

I nearly fell off my chair when i read this lol.I suggest you handle her more often like the others stated.Sometimes if something moves to fast they will react in a defensive manor.

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Glad somebody got it!!

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../0/Medusa.jpeg

I hope that posted... ! That is the only picture I have of her right now because my camera is broken right now.. and that was also taken about a month ago, so she has grown a lot since. Sorry for the bad picture quality!

Here it is for ya. All you have to do is type this

[IMG] your url, without any spaces [/IMG]

http://images.yelp.com/photo?id=NO4l...j-N8MCtZYQ&s=l

thanks bpkid!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by brainman1000

Glad somebody got it!!

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I got it, but the wife was looking over thy shoulder.... I had to move on to the next topic! LOL


And nice looking BP too!

Karen, I think the best advice I can give you isn't cut and dried either to handle more or less. It's so unique to each snake, the situation at that moment, the age of the snake, where it is in a shed or eating cycle...there's so many variables. The best I can advise is observe the snake and go with your gut instinct. It's a very young BP, everything right now is instinctively a predator. You or your boyfriend hovering over it will trigger that and the baby is just trying in it's snakey mind to survive. As you gently handle it for short periods and it matures it may begin to recognize you somewhat but that just takes time, patience and establishing recognized routines with the snake.

Watch for what triggers defensive hisses and strikes and learn to avoid those things so the baby BP can relax more. Sometimes just sitting and letting them explore you is best. Even if all they do is sit in a ball on your lap I feel they are learning your scent and that you won't hurt them. Just gentle finger strokes and knowing when enough is enough is often a good handling session with such a little snake.

Try to make the removal and return to it's home very low stress, gentle and quiet so the snake learns that this is not a time to feel defensive. Also, remember this is a snake and it can and will hiss, ball up, act defensive or strike sometimes for no more reason than it feels it needs to. That's just part of the unique experience of sharing your life with snakes.

Put it this way, I have some mature BP's that are total sweeties to handle. Then one day I can reach into an enclosure to simply change water and have a very ticked off snake hiss at me or take a jab at my hand. It's not being "mean", it's just being a snake and that's just fine with me and Mike.