Aggression

My roommate and I both have ball pythons. Mine is a standard, 4.5 ft, gender unknown. Hers is a 6ft albino female. Mine I've had for a couple months. We just got the albino, and we've been trying to orient her with her new enclosure. Recently we let her out (which weve done before) to roam as she pleases. I had just been handling her ten minute before, with no problem. Anyway, I was sitting on the couch when she launched up from the floor out of no where, trying to bite me. I was talking to someone at the time and motioning with my hands, which is what likely attratced her. Now, I'm trying to figure out if we need to get rid of her (she's too damn big for us to have if she's a biter) or if this behavior can be explained and possibly altered. So, possibilities I've come up with:

Albino people can have bad eyesight-maybe the snake can't see well and so she was just striking out at what looked like food?

My snake may be male and she's in heat or something?

The other snake's presence is just making her generally aggressive?

She was hired to kill me?

Etc?

For added info, she comes out of her enclosure very quickly when it's opened, which also appears aggressive.
My snake has been slightly aggressive lately when feeding him-coincidence? or maybe the whole snake heat idea?

Am I standing in the way of snake love? Any ideas?

I'd say leave her alone in her enclosure for a week, then attempt to feed her, and then let her be for another week or so. You can then take her out for very short handling sessions (no roaming. And maybe just 10 minutes) a few times a week and see how she reacts. She is probably very stressed out right now. She also could be hungry. Did you get any history (feeding, temperament, etc.) from her previous owner?

I don't think albinos have poorer eyesight . I also highly doubt that the other snake is making her aggressive (they are in seperate enclosures, correct?). I've heard of snakes behaving differently during breeding season, but I've never experienced this first hand. You also might want the other snake sexed. At 4.5 feet, it's probably a female, but that's not a 100%.

The previous owners reported that she was EXTREMELY docile, which seems odd now. She eats large rats. The snakes are in separate enclosures, but we thought they might smell each other (we're new to this).
Also, 6ft is very large for a bp isn't it? Is that normal for albinos? Will she get any bigger?

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Originally Posted by cinur123

My roommate and I both have ball pythons. Mine is a standard, 4.5 ft, gender unknown. Hers is a 6ft albino female. Mine I've had for a couple months.

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I am curious do you have a picture of that 6 ft Albino female?

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Originally Posted by Deborah

I am curious do you have a picture of that 6 ft Albino female?

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Very good question.

6 feet is quite large for a BP. My biggest female is 5.5 ft. And I have seen 2 six-footers. But it is not the average. There is a chance it is a Burmese Python.

yeah...just figured out she's a burmese...now what?? she's gonna eat us!

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Originally Posted by cinur123

yeah...just figured out she's a burmese...now what?? she's gonna eat us!

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No but you are gonna need to ask yourself whether or not you can and want to care for a giant since obviously she is not a ball python.

Do you have the experience to deal with a giant?

Can you provide proper enclosure?

Can you meet it's needs?

If you can and want to keep her you will need to work with her.

So you let her out to run around your home? I don't think that's a great idea, and many reasons will follow that. The main reason is that she could get infested with external parasites, or also even get out of your home and be roaming around somewhere in the streets or become lost in your home.

The scent of the male has nothing to do with aggression. When males want to mate and it's mating season for them, they are the ones to most likely become somewhat aggressive.

If it does happen to be a Burmese, you will have a LOT of work to do. These snakes will need large enclosures, large food items, and without much handling, I heard Burms can get somewhat aggressive. Though, if you handle it often you will have a pretty tame Burm. If you don't want to keep it, try selling or giving it back to the place you got it from and get your money back. Burms can get a good 20 feet long, and it seems like your definitely not ready for a snake to get that size.

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Originally Posted by cinur123

yeah...just figured out she's a burmese...now what?? she's gonna eat us!

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Because of that post, I would say find her a proper home.

i'm gonna see if the natural history museum will take her, i'm gonna figure this out, in the meantime she has a huge enclosure and we're taking care of her. thanks for the help!

You can probably post an ad on here in the classifieds with your location, and state that you are looking to rehome her, and you should have a good chance of getting rid of her.