A little concerned

Hi everyone, I just recently got a baby ball python, about a month ago. I got her from a breeder in my area, captive bred. I did a LOT of research on them first so I'd be prepared, and I'm very happy with her, but I do have one concern. She is terribly aggressive. She bites, a lot, and lately she has been hissing at me, most of my friends, and well as my boyfriend are scared to get near her because she will snap at them, even though I keep reassuring them she's too small to actually hurt anyone.

I take her out once a day (for the most part) I handle her for just a little bit and then allow her to roam (closely monitored of course) but she's still being so aggressive.

I was hoping you guys knew of some ways to get her comfortable with people a little quicker. I expect that she will get over this, and other than the biting she is perfect, absolutely beautiful and a healthy eater. :snake:

It sounds to me like she may be stressed. And remember, everyone is a predator, and she's throwing you all sorts of signals that she's not comfortable.

Can you tell us a little bit about her enclosure? Like how big is it? How you measure your temps? What are you using for heat? How snug are her hides? Is she in a high traffic area?

Well, she's about 3 months old, so I imagine she is pretty scared. I have her in a 10 gallon tank (I was told anything larger would stress her out for now) I currently got 4 different types of thermometers in there, and one humidity gauge. I've got a under-tank heater underneath the tank but not attached to the tank. She's on aspen bedding, and has 2 medium sized hides, there is about an inch and a half of clearance between her balled up and the entrance to the hide. She's in my bedroom right now so generally she's undisturbed for most of the day.

So are your temps in the good range, 90's on the warm side 80's on the cooler?

Ya, I check atleast twice a day and a few hours ago the warm side was at 91, the cool side at 82, and the humidity was at about 60

Well i have heard that some snakes are more aggresive than others, does she calm down much once she is out?

Well, she is kind of moody. Sometimes she wont try and bite me at all, but she wont explore so long as I'm holding her either. But if I put her next to me on the bed while I'm studying she will watch me for a while and eventually explore even sometimes climbing over me. And other times she will hiss at me from the start and just stare at me the whole time like she's thinking about attacking me or something.

Wow unless she is still feeling stress for some reason i am at a loss, just as a rule mine never stay out more than like 15 to 20 min a day or they get restless, never strike but want to escape. Them exploring as we call it can be a good or a bad thing, some exploring is more like trying to escape than you may be aware of. I dont know if you have tried this yet but try leaving her alone for a solid 7 days. This means no handling no nothing. Start this right after she has eaten since you should not handle then anyways.

After the seven days begin to handle her but limit it to say 5 to 10 min once a day and dont put her down to explore just hold her and let her get comfortable with you and your touch. This is something you should do not your friends or other people since she needs to get comfortable with one person before she is exposed to lots of people. It should not take to long for her to accept you and handling a lil more, you can then begin to extend the amount of time she is handeled, and who is doing it. Just keep an eye on her and if she starts acting real flighty, its a good sign she has had enough for the day, dont push it just let her head back to her home.

Doing this same thing i have calmed down year old female who was a striker, this is also the same thing i practice with all new snakes i get. Just one last note for the first week or two i stay in the same room as the enclosures, that way the smell and the temperature are the same. This is all i have maybe someone else has any ideas?

I did leave her alone when I first got her, but she did have a long car ride home and thats when she first started the biting. I will try leaving her alone for a week again, maybe now that she's more settled into her new home it will go smoother. Thanks for your advice, I'll definetly give it a try, and it does make sense that her "exploring" may really be her escaping, since she really did escape from her enclosure once before. (I learned my lesson to always double check to make sure my boyfriend REALLY locked the lid completely from now on)

Hopefully she relaxes, because right now its not a big deal if she bites at me, but a year from now it will be a much bigger problem.

sounds like shes got a little Burmy in her :)

Yeah hope it works for you, but i do no what it is like. I am working on my new yellowbelly right now, i guess that plane ride from the east coast to the west set him off. He got me three times just getting him out of the shipping box into his new home!

Should u wear gloves in this "getting used to u" phase? I just got a carpet last week and I am in the same boat! Maybe we can get through this together, lol

I noticed you mentioned you are handling her daily. You might want to cut back on that to three times a week for short periods of time. Don't set her down in open spaces to roam quite yet. Open spaces are triggers for small snakes. Their instincts tell them they are prey as much as they are predators when they are small, so wide open areas freak them out. So does overhandling on a species that is very shy and very nocturnal. Do you do most of your handling at night?

I would suggest you add in crumpled newspaper. It's not pretty to look at but I've seen it be very effective in helping a stressed snake of any size, settle in and calm down.

Tub without newspaper....
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...MuirnesTub.jpg

Tub top view.....
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...ickTopView.jpg

Tub side view....
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...ckSideView.jpg

This will help the little one feel safer and less defensive. Slowly over weeks/months you can remove the newspaper bit by bit once you see a lessening of stress reactions with her.

Develop very simple handling routines. Same days of the week, same time of day, same length of time, same area of the house, same hand movements by you....over and over and over again. Simple basic things that do not trigger her. If she acts up, don't react...avoid the bite but don't show any reaction. Don't allow anyone but yourself to handle her for now.

I'd just remove her in as gentle a manner as possible (gentle but firm, don't let her make you nervous or jumpy), stroke her lower back first if she will allow that, if not simply remove her, sit on your bed and let her sit on your lap. Don't remove her to another room, don't allow anyone else in the room....just quiet time you and her at first. Don't fuss with her or touch her head. If she stays balled up or hisses, no big deal. After 15 minutes gently put her back in her home.

That is a successful handling session. Do it again, then again, then again (not every day though and not for 48 hours after she eats). It's all about patience and baby steps. You want to try and condition this snake that these simple routines do not mean danger, do not need to trigger defensive behaviour. It could take awhile but most come around. I know the big female we thought would never be calm now is handled by our kids. It can work, it just requires understanding of what a snake is, a LOT of patience and sticking to an absolute and simple routine with them.

The biggest thing is to know that this isn't aggressive behaviour, it's all about a simple animal reacting to perceived danger. It's all about her instinct to survive and that's actually a good thing if you think about it. It's up to you as the thinking, caring owner you are to adjust things, to slowly move this snake into another place of being, another way of reacting to a set of circumstances. Never think she's being mean or nasty, she's just reacting.

When we have done rescues I'd rather see a snake hissing and reacting, even badly than one balled up waiting to die. At least the hissing, striking one is engaged in life. You'll be fine and so will she, just be patient.

Got a couple more questions/thoughts for you to consider that might help in figuring out what's going on:
What size prey are you feeding and how often do you feed?
Have you checked her over really carefully for possible injuries/parasites?
I agree with Sparky and franky: Handling should be limited to the keeper during the first weeks. Your baby has otherwise no chance to learn where it is safe and will identify everyone (including you) as a possible threat.

I had the same problem when I first got my bp. The thing that I did was leave him alone for a week right after I feed him. Then took him out 1 a week for 10 minutes for 3 weeks. He started to lighten up a bit, and now I am able to take him out 3 times a week for 15 minutes. He likes to be on me and not on the ground. He is about to shed and now going to leave him alone till he sheds all the way. Has your BP shed yet?

Thanks for the help everyone, it really helps alot just to have the encouragement that this wont last forever, since my friends and family seem to think she's just mean. The routine thing might actually be the problem now that you brought it up. I've been pretty selfish with her I guess, I just take her out whenever I feel like I have the time and I would like to see her. I will establish a routine now, and hopefully we will begin to make progress from there.

Right now she has been eating mice hoppers once a week, but I fed her 2 at once 2 weeks ago (my feeder store has been only been getting such tiny little hoppers) and she gobbled them up, and last week she ate a very small adult without a problem, so I'm considering moving up to adults, but I'm afraid she's terribly young for that still. What do you guys think? http://www.4freeimagehost.com/show.p...3681c03658.jpg

http://www.4freeimagehost.com/resize...3681c03658.jpg

Thats her