Hissing Sound

I just got my first every Ball Python on friday, long story short I traded a local reptile shop owner my 2 foot Pueblan Milk Snake and he sold me the Ball for $25. :D I held him and watched him for a while at the store and he seemed fine. My question is, when I got him home and when I reached in to take him out of the box i heard a hissing sound, it basically sounded like air escaping from a tire. I wasn't sure if he was just really stressed or what, so I put him in a temporary container (my milk snake's feeding tank, and i did clean it out thoroughly before I put the Ball in there.) I didn't realize that I didn't have anymore substrate so I kept him in the feeding tank and ran to the store. And when I got back i went to get him out of the feeder tank and I heard the hissing again. I gently picked him up and as soon as I did the hissing stopped. I listened carefully to his breathing and I didn't hear any gurgling or rasping, and I didn't see anything in his nostrils. I picked him up today to get a closer look at his nostrils and they were clear and this time he didn't hiss. Could this be an early sign of a respiratory infection? Or was it just a defense mechanism? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

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Sounds to me like he was just hissin' at ya. They're quite capable of it and you're still very new to him...he's probably really scared and looking forward to a chance to settle into his new home and feel secure. ;)

Thanks. That's what I was thinking/hoping. The only reason I picked him up today was to get a closer look at his nose. I read on here somewhere that you should wait a week before handling a new snake. But he had been in his hide since i got him home, but he was out and about looking around his tank just an hour ago so that was cool. Another thing i forgot to mention is that he had just eaten the night before i got him, so he was probably not to happy with me bugging him so soon after he ate. Again, thanks, I appreciate the info and reaffirming what I was thinking.

oh yea............i get hissed at everyday! let him/her settle in, maybe it will stop maybe it won't, the hissing gets louder and longer as they get older! i'm assuming you already check out the ball python care sheets on this site...if not check'em out they might be able to help you with future questions..........if not post up somebody will help you out!


good luck! :D

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Originally Posted by grizz2534

Thanks. That's what I was thinking/hoping. The only reason I picked him up today was to get a closer look at his nose. I read on here somewhere that you should wait a week before handling a new snake. But he had been in his hide since i got him home, but he was out and about looking around his tank just an hour ago so that was cool. Another thing i forgot to mention is that he had just eaten the night before i got him, so he was probably not to happy with me bugging him so soon after he ate. Again, thanks, I appreciate the info and reaffirming what I was thinking.

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Just FYI... the pet store should know this too, you should wait 48 hours after your snake has eaten, before handling, as well as selling to you(IMO). But he should be fine, just leave him alone in his enclosure for a week that means no peeping in his cage, no petting, nothing, just change his water. Then after that one week, try feeding him, but before you feed him, snap a few pics for us!
Hope this helps buddy!

Oh yeah, we're leaving him alone, I was going to change his water, but he was hanging out on a branch I have in there that's near the top of the tank, so I just let him hang out and then I changed it in the morning. I looked in the water and there wasn't any feces or anything in there so i figured it would be better to leave him be then freak him out again. But at least he was out and about last night. We were watching him from across the room, they are really neat, 10x better then the milk snake I had! Thanks again everyone!!

D

Yeah...my BP hissed at my a few times when I first got him, but he hasn't since. It wasn't very threatening though since he was so small :P

My BP doesn't hiss but my JCP does it anytime he's flustered or frusterated. It used to scare me but after a while of not getting bit I just got used to it. I don't ignore it but, in his case, it doesn't mean he's about to freak out.

Funny story: Every now and again I let him roam the bedroom a bit (fully supervised). He kind of tends to climb upwards and he got onto the dresser where my BP's tank is. The dresser is only slightly bigger than the 20g tank and as he was crawling around he tried to cruise the ledge and slipped off of the dresser and fell a few feet to the carpet below. I was watching and I see him suddenly disappear, followed by a thump, followed by a big long "shhhhhhhhhhhhhh". I knew exactly what he was trying to say, he just couldn't finish the word :D Everything turned out OK, he was just fine. But he decided to hang out under the dresser until I put him away :oops:

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Originally Posted by bearhart

"shhhhhhhhhhhhhh". I knew exactly what he was trying to say, he just couldn't finish the word :D Everything turned out OK, he was just fine. But he decided to hang out under the dresser until I put him away :oops:

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That's funny. At least he is OK. My chinchilla did that the other day, he was sitting on my fiance's shoulder and decided it would be a good idea to jump to the floor. We freaked out, but he just started running around and was fine. Fwew! (I know not a chinchilla forum, but I had to tell the story. :D )

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Originally Posted by bearhart

My BP doesn't hiss but my JCP does it anytime he's flustered or frusterated. It used to scare me but after a while of not getting bit I just got used to it. I don't ignore it but, in his case, it doesn't mean he's about to freak out.

Funny story: Every now and again I let him roam the bedroom a bit (fully supervised). He kind of tends to climb upwards and he got onto the dresser where my BP's tank is. The dresser is only slightly bigger than the 20g tank and as he was crawling around he tried to cruise the ledge and slipped off of the dresser and fell a few feet to the carpet below. I was watching and I see him suddenly disappear, followed by a thump, followed by a big long "shhhhhhhhhhhhhh". I knew exactly what he was trying to say, he just couldn't finish the word :D Everything turned out OK, he was just fine. But he decided to hang out under the dresser until I put him away :oops:

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hahaha

They do hiss. The pet store got one heck of a deal out of you, though. Pueblan milk snakes are currently selling higher than normal ball pythons, so that was a most uneven trade in their favor. They most likely paid 20 to 25 for the ball python, so they got an adult Pueblan for free.
Hatchling Pueblans are going for 35 to $40. Of course an adult would be much higher.
They made a substantial profit out of THAT deal. (And in my opinion, seriously took advantage of you).

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

They do hiss. The pet store got one heck of a deal out of you, though. Pueblan milk snakes are currently selling higher than normal ball pythons, so that was a most uneven trade in their favor. They most likely paid 20 to 25 for the ball python, so they got an adult Pueblan for free.
Hatchling Pueblans are going for 35 to $40. Of course an adult would be much higher.
They made a substantial profit out of THAT deal. (And in my opinion, seriously took advantage of you).

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Meh, I doesn't matter to me. I didn't like my milk snake anyways, and I've gotten a ton of free stuff from that store anyways, so it all evens out in the end. But yeah, it's cool, and the fact that I only spent $25 on the BP when they cost $70 + everywhere else in town. So no biggie.

"Air being let out of a tire" is an excellent description. The bigger the snake, the more air and deeper the hiss sound is. Our burm is a great hisser...when he's really upset and hissin' up a storm, he even sticks his tongue out a bit. So cute...oh wait "oh noes, so scary!" :P ;)

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

They do hiss. The pet store got one heck of a deal out of you, though. Pueblan milk snakes are currently selling higher than normal ball pythons, so that was a most uneven trade in their favor. They most likely paid 20 to 25 for the ball python, so they got an adult Pueblan for free.
Hatchling Pueblans are going for 35 to $40. Of course an adult would be much higher.
They made a substantial profit out of THAT deal. (And in my opinion, seriously took advantage of you).

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Pet stores only make trades that are profitable, thats how they make $. Why would they make a trade that wasn't profitable? It's not taking advantage it's business 101.

And another thing I forgot, is the guy who bought him from me said he's 90% sure that he's going to keep it for himself, and hasn't put it out on the floor yet. I go in there a lot and haven't seen the snake yet. I think he said he's gonna try breeding them. He has a male already and mine was a female. So hey if he breeds them and makes a killing, more power to him.

does anyone else think it's ironic that an animal that is deaf hisses when it's mad??

I never thought of it that way, but that's pretty funny.

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Originally Posted by nevohraalnavnoj

does anyone else think it's ironic that an animal that is deaf hisses when it's mad??

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They're deaf, but they can still hear (vibrations). And it's for everyone else's benefit that they hiss, not their own. And it works!

One thing that amazed me was that our BP has no smell (I guess all "clean kept" snakes are scentless to humans?). As a "sensitive smeller," I am glad to have a stink-free pet (other than easy to clean up poops). I guess they don't need a strong scent since they can still find each other come mating time due to their great sense of smell.

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Originally Posted by MelissaFlipski

They're deaf, but they can still hear (vibrations). And it's for everyone else's benefit that they hiss, not their own. And it works!

One thing that amazed me was that our BP has no smell (I guess all "clean kept" snakes are scentless to humans?). As a "sensitive smeller," I am glad to have a stink-free pet (other than easy to clean up poops). I guess they don't need a strong scent since they can still find each other come mating time due to their great sense of smell.

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Yea, its almost like they are made out of plastic.

My theory is that they have this sort of sealed, scentless body to make them better hunters. They rely alot on steath and surprise and that's hard to do if you're skin is pumping out loads of fragrant chemicals. That's why predators like cats are smart enough to approach from down-wind.

I think some snakes smell more than others, depending on what they eat maybe? I seem to recall that garter snakes can be kinda smelly since they eat fish? Still nothing compared to the stink of a large and/or wet dog, or the cat's litter box.