My snake tried to bite me

My new ball python tried to bite me after it fell over in its cage. I read that moving is stressful for them, so could that be it? I don't know if it's a boy or girl and it's about 1 1/2 feet long, if that helps with the problem. Also, what should i do if it does bite me? Please help me.:):snake:

Moving to a new home is stressful. Give your snake a week of alone time before messing with him or feeding him.

If you do get bit, you wash it off and put on a bandaid if it bleeds. I have never been bit but I have heard that it doesn't hurt.

You seem to be new at being a python owner. A bit more description is needed regarding yuor encounter. When you say the snake "fell over", what exactly are you talking about? Did it fall off a perch or is he sick or injured?
One thing to remember when handling snakes is smooth, slow approaches when reaching for them. Any sudden movements can be misinterpreted as a predatory move and the snake will react accordingly. If you jumper or moved quick to try and keep the snake from falling, that action itself may have scared it into thinking it was being attacked.
Young snakes also are much more prone to snapping as they are tiny and their defense mechanism tells them that everything that moves is a potential enemy. As your snake matures, it will realize you mean it no harm and most likely will adjust it's aggressiveness accordingly. Patience is the key here though. Don't get frustrated with your snake. Just take your time, get to know it and let it get to know you. I look at it as a period of courtship between the two of you. You each need to learn the other's quirks and behavior in order to feel comfortable around eachother. Once the trust factor has been established, you'll have a friend for life.

Thanks for the advice guys. Well, he was slithering up the side of his tank and tipped must have gotten off balance and fell onto a pile of aspen shavings. I was sitting by his cage at the time, watching him. Maybe this made him think i knocked him over. Now he's sliding around the cage again but a bit after he fell, he was breathing fast and stayed in the same spot. If it makes any difference, he fell by the water bowl and when he just sat there, his tail was in the water. The guy at Petco said i should feed him tomarrow or the next day. But, he also said to move him into a different container for food. Should i be afraid to move him? Also, if it is not safe to handle him right now, would winter gloves help at all? These are very important questions to me and i thank you for helping. Oh, and, I need names.

Sounds like he is just exploring his new home. Just give him some time to chillax. You will know he is comfortable when he spends all his time in his hides.

Wait one week from the day you got him before feeding him. You can go ahead and just feed him in the normal enclosure, there is no need to move him and stress him out further.

Can you post a picture of your setup and tell us about it a bit? Everyone here has great advice on how to make your enclosure the best for your ball python :)

If you actually get bit, it's no big deal. At best you may have some tiny papercut like marks, just wash it with soap and water.

I second what Koarte said above.

Thanks, this will be very helpful. You're right, everyone knows to much stress can be awful. I will put up some pics soon.

Sorry, camera's dead. Pics in the morn.

Well it's not like I personally know "the guy at Petco" but past experience tends to tell me that I wouldn't follow a lot of pet store advice (sorry to our really well informed pet store employees).

Leave the snake be for a week or so then offer it an appropriately sized prey item in his home. You can move snakes to feed them but you don't really need to. Since ball pythons are generally shy snakes that are ambush predators they often hunt best from their hides in the home territory they are used to. Ball pythons are also fairly girthy ground snakes. They don't usually climb very well.

My two fires which are the youngest/smallest bp's I have still dont care for me. All the advice given above is perfect, give him time and all will be good. Persistance is the key, my wife and I have been married 8 years and she will still strike at me when I do something wrong or not hand over my money fast enough, I usually just refill her drink, give her the remote, hand her a hundred and come back a week later...works everytime!!:)

I keep hearing people say that Ball pythons can't feel love or affection and quite honestly I think its a whole bunch of balderdash. they may not feel "love" but they most certainly need to feel like they can trust you. Leave your new buddy completely alone ( its the hardest part of owning your ball python in my opinion) for about at least a week. As for names I always go to baby name sites for my pets!

One other thing to remember when it comes to wearing gloves and so forth. if you start wearing gloves when you handle your pet, it will quickly associate the smell of those gloves with you. Should you get him or her trained to be handled with gloves and then you forget one day to put them on for wahtever reason, the different scent may provoke a defensive response from your pet and you might risk being struck at again. the key is to try to get your pet used to YOUR scent so it knows you and can relax around you. By confusing it with different scents you will have a much harder time gaining your pet's confidence and trust. Just some food for thought. ;)

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Originally Posted by grim reaper in NY

One other thing to remember when it comes to wearing gloves and so forth. if you start wearing gloves when you handle your pet, it will quickly associate the smell of those gloves with you. Should you get him or her trained to be handled with gloves and then you forget one day to put them on for wahtever reason, the different scent may provoke a defensive response from your pet and you might risk being struck at again. the key is to try to get your pet used to YOUR scent so it knows you and can relax around you. By confusing it with different scents you will have a much harder time gaining your pet's confidence and trust. Just some food for thought. ;)

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Really?

I've never had that problem and I start off handling all my new drys and my rear-fanged colubrids with gloves.

Have you personally had this issue?

I had it with my Rainbow when I first got her many years ago. My Herp Vet clued me in when I asked him why she started striking at me when I ditched the gloves after using them for about 6 months when I handled her. I never thought about it until he brought it up. The gloves I wore then were the leather work gloves that had an odor completely different then my natural scent. It's the little things that we don't think about that make the difference in our pets.

lol. everyone here is right, i should just leave him alone for the week. Also, I don't know how to upload pics, I fed him, and I named him Scales. (Choosing of the name had NOTHING to do with my username)

When it comes to being bit by a ball python, the best advice I can give you is to let it happen. Don't jerk your hand away when they get you. It doesn't hurt, it is more of a shock thing. Once you get bit for the first time you'll realize its no big deal! :P

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Originally Posted by Scales

lol. everyone here is right, i should just leave him alone for the week. Also, I don't know how to upload pics, I fed him, and I named him Scales. (Choosing of the name had NOTHING to do with my username)

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You can upload pics to your BP.net gallery by going to the gallery link at the top of the page. Then there will be another bar of links and there is one called "upload". Find the files on your computer using the browse button and press upload. It might take a little while to upload the pictures if they are big.

K thanks

Nice job Scales! Getting them to eat is half the battle. And snakes are much less likely to strike you when they are not hungry.

Ahhh!!! I was misting Scales' cage when- BOOM!!!!! The light in the heater lamp exploded, almost right above him! It sounded like a big pop and then smoke started rising from the lamp. I looked at the shattered glass and a part of it was yellow. I'm guessing it was from being on the top of the cage. I called my mom and she said she would buy a 60watt and something to hold the lamp. The only thing is, Scales looks angry. And I don't mean just a :mad:, he looks like a :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:. He is pulling back like he's about to strike. Oh, and, don't worry, i cleaned the glass out of the cage and neither of us were hurt. Either way, how long until I do anything with him? I am uploading pic now.

Leave him alone for a week or so, maybe two. Eventually, you'll have to brave the S position to pick him up. And always remember a BP that remains in his hide and doesn't come out a lot is usually a very content bp.

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Originally Posted by RoyalGuardian

I keep hearing people say that Ball pythons can't feel love or affection and quite honestly I think its a whole bunch of balderdash. they may not feel "love" but they most certainly need to feel like they can trust you. Leave your new buddy completely alone ( its the hardest part of owning your ball python in my opinion) for about at least a week. As for names I always go to baby name sites for my pets!

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Trust does not equal love or affection. Honestly... how do you not get that? :rolleyes:

Scales:

Wait a week, or ask your mom to buy you an under tank heater and thermostat. Then you dont have to deal with a high electricty + humidity sucking lamp.

Well, he didn't acually eat he just looked at the food. Is there such thing as a 'bad mouse'? Also, I just got my Green belt- Blue Stripe in Tae-kwon-do. 5 more belts until a black belt.

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Originally Posted by Kysenia

My two fires which are the youngest/smallest bp's I have still dont care for me. All the advice given above is perfect, give him time and all will be good. Persistance is the key, my wife and I have been married 8 years and she will still strike at me when I do something wrong or not hand over my money fast enough, I usually just refill her drink, give her the remote, hand her a hundred and come back a week later...works everytime!!:)

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:rofl:

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Originally Posted by RoyalGuardian

I keep hearing people say that Ball pythons can't feel love or affection and quite honestly I think its a whole bunch of balderdash. they may not feel "love" but they most certainly need to feel like they can trust you. Leave your new buddy completely alone ( its the hardest part of owning your ball python in my opinion) for about at least a week. As for names I always go to baby name sites for my pets!

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I think in the end it doesn't really matter what they feel since we humans can't know or judge that other than based on our own human experience and lord knows but we humans sure have messy emotions don't we. I think the snakes probably don't need that at all LOL. As long as we have those emotions though and can use them to care about a creature's wellbeing then I think that creature will have a great life, albeit one secret to us in many ways.

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Originally Posted by grim reaper in NY

One other thing to remember when it comes to wearing gloves and so forth. if you start wearing gloves when you handle your pet, it will quickly associate the smell of those gloves with you. Should you get him or her trained to be handled with gloves and then you forget one day to put them on for wahtever reason, the different scent may provoke a defensive response from your pet and you might risk being struck at again. the key is to try to get your pet used to YOUR scent so it knows you and can relax around you. By confusing it with different scents you will have a much harder time gaining your pet's confidence and trust. Just some food for thought. ;)

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I can't say I've had that experience when using gloves but then I just use a thicker pair of gardening gloves that likely do not have much of a scent to them. Since they spend more time laying in a drawer in the snake room they probably smell more like that room than me. :)

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Originally Posted by Scales

Ahhh!!! I was misting Scales' cage when- BOOM!!!!! The light in the heater lamp exploded, almost right above him! It sounded like a big pop and then smoke started rising from the lamp. I looked at the shattered glass and a part of it was yellow. I'm guessing it was from being on the top of the cage. I called my mom and she said she would buy a 60watt and something to hold the lamp. The only thing is, Scales looks angry. And I don't mean just a :mad:, he looks like a :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:. He is pulling back like he's about to strike. Oh, and, don't worry, i cleaned the glass out of the cage and neither of us were hurt. Either way, how long until I do anything with him? I am uploading pic now.

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Oh nasty! Glad you and the snake weren't hurt. Definitely look at going with an UTH (flexwatt or the like). I'd pull back too if something burst in my face and rained down glass on me. Don't worry and just let Scales be for a few days to calm down.

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Originally Posted by Scales

Well, he didn't acually eat he just looked at the food. Is there such thing as a 'bad mouse'? Also, I just got my Green belt- Blue Stripe in Tae-kwon-do. 5 more belts until a black belt.

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Well that depends. Was it an f/t mouse? Was it properly stored in the freezer, defrosted and warmed up to the right temps? Was it live? Well fed, well hydrated, that sort of thing?

It was about a inch long not including the tail and a bit more than 1 cm. wide. Its stomach looked a bit deflated. We had it stored in the freezer, defrosted it, brought it to room tempeture, and he didn't eat it. I read that they might not eat at first and the guy who helped us get the stuff for the cage said he might not eat for 3 weeks. Also, I'm thinking about getting a auto-mister or whatever they're called

The auto-misters are great, you'll love them. And getting bit by your snake is the greatest thing. I got bit for the first time like 2 weeks ago and it relieves so much fear heh. It feels like someone shot you with an elastic band kind of.

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

Trust does not equal love or affection. Honestly... how do you not get that? :rolleyes:

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if you don't have anything nice to say....

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Originally Posted by Ponthieux

if you don't have anything nice to say....

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Edit:

No no no, this reply is MUCH better.

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Originally Posted by Ponthieux

ignorant is reading all 17 pages and then whining about how terrible it was for you. get over yourself.

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Get over yourself? :rofl:

wow. guess i should have used a ridiculous smiley so that those whose social skills have been replace by "forum skills" can ascertain what is a joke and what is not. take a deep breath and unwad your undergarments, as it will be difficult to climb back up on your high horse with them in their current state. jeez...

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Originally Posted by Ponthieux

wow. guess i should have used a ridiculous smiley so that those whose social skills have been replace by "forum skills" can ascertain what is a joke and what is not. take a deep breath and unwad your undergarments, as it will be difficult to climb back up on your high horse with them in their current state. jeez...

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The words of someone caught red handed? Ayy, might be. ;)