Do you let your BP come near your face?

[AnOceanSpirit]

I'm a new BP owner, and the main quality of BPs that attracted me was their overall docility. I bought mine from a Petsmart in town--it was one of two they had. I handled both and decided I liked mine better. Since I've had her, I've brought her out on numerous occasions to interact. She's never struck at me, seems comfortable with being held, and is incredibly curious. At times she will move up near my face to check that out, and as much faith as I have in her, I still get a little nervous when I feel her tongue flick my nose or ear. I tell myself though that she won't bite unless she has a reason, and has always been fair to me before.

Today I wound up back at Petsmart to get a new bulb and more frozen mice. While there, just for grins I decided to take a look at the two BPs they had for sale. The gentleman told me right off the bat that one was mean--she had bitten numerous people, and not just at feeding time. He said the other one was very nice. He no longer took it out of its cage and handed it to me that she started striking at him. And I don't mean one or two, but she must have gone at him six or seven times within the one minute I was holding her. The employee was completely thrown off. Now I log into the forum to see the "Have you been bitten by a BP" poll, and I have to wonder....do you trust your BPs (or any of your snakes) to go near your face? Will a BP strike for no apparent reason?

[Emily Hubbard]

A ball python will not strike "for no apparent reason," if it strikes, it feels threatened or perceives something as food. Even if you know your ball python's personality and you have never had an unpleasant interaction, you could do something as simple as make a sudden move that surprises it and it could instinctively strike defensively.

I personally do not let my girl near my face. Yes, I trust her and she has never bit me, but she doesn't need to be near my face for any reason. I let her crawl up my arms, but if she gets to close, I just very gently guide her elsewhere. A reptile is not a good thing to have near your face for sanitary reasons as well, they are carriers of salmonella, just a fact, so any part of your body that they touch should be washed immediately afterwards. Just because I have a reptile in my tiny apartment and I change her water in the sink, I do not wash any dishes by hand and I bleach the sink and counters every day, several times a day. Just common sense.

Ball pythons make great pets because they generally are not biters, but any snake can and will bite if it sees a reason to, and its reasoning may make no sense to you. All snakes should be respected, and when any of us get bit, it's our mistake, not the snake's. We are a lot bigger than our ball pythons, so they have every reason to be fearful of us. It is about getting them to trust US, not the other way around.

[Hull357]

a little off topic but just a heads up to you my best friend fed his bp frozen mice from one of the chain pet stores " Petsmart or petco" and wound up dead 2 days later. he had a necropsy done on her and it turned out the mouse that was purchased at the store had been injected with something that killed the bp. i had never herd of this before but when i was reading that i thought i would just throw out my personal experience. best of luck with your new family member

But yes i let them near my face but they rarely go near it they usually make home hanging around my neck.. i give them free roam of my arms shoulders legs when i have them out tho

[drama x]

As for a BP i wouldnt even worry about a random strike, except if its hungry. I collect colubrids tho so my knowledge for BP behavior is limited.

I let my colubrids get even millimeters close to my face, if they strike me thats on me not the snake, but if you dont want a snake bitting your face dont let it near it. But if your not worried its a truely amazing bonding experience.

[John1982]

I've been tagged on the face when I let myself get distracted while cleaning a top tub. Wasn't any different than getting bit elsewhere except for the extreme closeup, though I reckon if he got me on the eyeball I'd feel different.

[kitedemon]

I have encountered overly frightened snakes that will strike with little provocation. generally speaking this is not the norm for royals. I think it hard to make blanket statements like what you are trying, it really is a case per case basis. The snakes I own I trust all of them around my face. I have also been bitten by these same snakes 6 times 4 were clearly my fault (forgotten rodent bag rodent smell and such) and two were fear bites from my timid girl while cleaning the cage once she is out she she is ok, this is the only one I keep close tabs on but mostly that is so I don't stress her too much.

[VEXER19]

I let mine go near my face all the time. She will crawl on my face and rip off my glasses and sometimes she likes to poke me in the eye with her mouth. But I've never been bit by her even though she has struck 3 times. All my fault of course. So its really up to you just know there is always a possibility in getting bit every second of every time your near her. Things happen and snakes can be a litte jumpy especially bite first as questions later babies.

[angllady2]

I trust almost all of my ball pythons to be near my face.

Sure I could get bitten, I could also hit the lottery.

I don't make it a habit to lick my snakes or lick my lips after they gave me a kiss, but I don't worry much about salmonella. I figure I'm more likely to pick it up from contaminated food than my snakes.

The one at the pet store sounds to me like it is severely stressed out and defensive. I've had a few really stressed out balls snap repeatedly, almost always babies. It is NOT mean, no matter what that ding-dong says. It is stressed out, unhappy and probably hungry. You'd get crabby too.

I'd bet willing to bet that given a proper enclosure, tight hide and some time to de-stress, that biter will be sweet as pie.

Gale

[Konbrio]

oh yeah, my little girl is always up in my grill!

[zeion97]

This Is my opinion, I skimmed through the tread though. And here's what I have to say...

Some BP's are nervous and scared. We had two that fall under this category. 1 was a rescue adult female, and the other is a juvenile male about 9 months. The juvenile never struck but always balled up. And over the past 3 months he's really calmed down. Our rescue Is different, she's like the other snake you mentioned, she struck easily 100+ times before I even got out of the pet store. That was about 6 months ago, now she's relatively calm, still a little skittish, and strikes everyone else. BUT ME.

BP'S are in my opinion the most docile snake, even better then Burmese. I trust all four of mine. Even around my neck and face. Have I been bitten, yes of course. The thing though, is you own even 1 snake you must understand, there is ALWAYS a chance it could bite you. That's part of being a snake owner.

To the whole salmonella thing.. you have a better chance getting it from raw chicken. Lol. Am I say French your snake? Of course not! Just be careful while your snake get accustomed to it's new home.

Good luck, so to say