Newly Aggressive Spider Ball..

[Shifty11]

Hey Everyone,

Myself & My girlfriend a new owners to the entire reptile deal, we have a Female Ball Python, that was born the 1st week of August 2012, and we purchased her from the breeder Late July 2013. We track how often she eats and poops, an sheds and when we change her bedding. Anyways, roughly around Oct/Nov she bit my girlfriend when about to feed her and has started to become aggressive when feeding before, after and during which hasn't happened before all that. We fed her every week until early oct when we started feeding her every 5 days, Normally feed her Rats, although if we can't get her any live rats that suit her size we get her a decent size mouse to hold her off until we can.
We take her out and handle her ALL the time, at least twice a day. Tank is normally 70-80 on the cool side, and 80-90 on her warm side (with a heat mat in her warm side hide and a hide on her cool side. She hasn't been aggressive until recently which has really startled my girlfriend (she doesn't like going near "lilith" when feeding, so i feed her.) She gets aggressive and gets ready to strike when we feed her (out of container) but when she strikes towards us she doesn't latch on for long just a nip.

Can anyone give me some ideas on how to calm her down? Should we feed her more? 3-4 days instead of 5-7 days? No signs of RI or mites, always been healthy (except for a cut on her face from a while back that has healed) so no idea..


Shifty

[NYHC4LIFE8899]

Well how are you feeding her the prey, by hands or tongs? Do u wash your hands before and after u handle the rodent and you out your hand in the enclosure? If you have the smell of rodent on your hand the snake will strike thinking your the prey. From my understanding and minimal experience,balls never strike out of aggression,but they do out of stress or fear...Could also be your husbandry. I am new to snakes,have my first two for 4 months now,but never got any signs of aggression from eating,being it web before or after I fed them or they ate. Your snake sounds highly stressed.

albo there is no reason to stress her out and feed her out of her enclosure. I feed mine inside there homes,where they live,where they are comfortable . That whole feed outside the tank thing is a myth from my experience,and from friends that told me and here on the site.i never ever get any cage aggression from my guys either.

i keep all my temps proper and monitored and humidity where it needs to be. My snakes are forever hiding and never ever aggressive,always very sweet and mellow.

[Spencer88]

Have you tried feeding her in her cage?

[Physician&Snakes]

If you are feeding her in a separate enclosure, then you are unintentionally conditioning her to associate leaving the cage with feeding time. The simple fix is just to feed within the enclosure. Many would agree that you are also handling her a bit too much, I would recommend no more frequent than handling every other day...I prefer about 2-3 times a week on my specimens, I will admit though I have a chondro that seems to thoroughly enjoy being out and about, but for most specimens it is at least a bit stressful and should be done in moderation. What is your husbandry like? Temps? Cage furniture? Etc... ?

[Naom9Anne]

I agree with the above, when she is removed from the cage she could be thinking it's food time. I feed mine in their enclosures but I'm not sure if you have a particular reason for feeding this way?

You say you handle her at least twice a day? I would cut this down to once a day for around 10-30 minutes. These are animals who tolerate being handled, they do not enjoy it as such. I would recommend lessening this to once a day unless digesting or shedding where it's advised not to handle.

A large 10 degree gradient per end of the enclosure isn't great for us to judge that you have the right husbandry; can you narrow this down for us?

Also anything else you can think that you may have changed in regards to her? Anything in the enclosure etc?

Also, you say "heat mat on warm side, hide on cold" you do have a hide at both ends don't you?

[Crazymonkee]

If you are feeding her in a separate enclosure, then you are unintentionally conditioning her to associate leaving the cage with feeding time. The simple fix is just to feed within the enclosure. Many would agree that you are also handling her a bit too much, I would recommend no more frequent than handling every other day...I prefer about 2-3 times a week on my specimens, I will admit though I have a chondro that seems to thoroughly enjoy being out and about, but for most specimens it is at least a bit stressful and should be done in moderation. What is your husbandry like? Temps? Cage furniture? Etc... ?

What he said ^^^^
Keep handling to 2-3 times a week, feed in the enclosure and you'll more than likely see a change for the better. Do you know her weight?

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[Shifty11]

Don't know her weight, although it only started recently her being aggressive.. Never before.


She feeds inside a different contain to avoid her getting any substrate in her mouth. Will try feeding in inclosure next time if suggested.

I do have a hide on both sides, i think i may have mentioned that in my OP. Might not though.

She has never minded being handled, always handled often and well long before any aggressive signs began and always handled before we got her..Although Will cut back on it.

Always clean my hands before and after handling her or a rodent.

Always hand feed her live, Normally African Soft Furs but she will eat anything, not picky.

Only thing that has changed is we changed her hides around and moved different houses. But everything is the same.

Inside the enclosure she has her 2 hides, water dish, a nice branch lay out to move about under and on and a fake fern that she has always love to curl around.

Often on the cool side its 75-80 and Hot side is 85-90. Hides on both sides and heat mat under the hide on the hot side.


First time owning a reptile, so far this is the only issue we had with her.



Shifty

[NYHC4LIFE8899]

Yeah a 10 degree drop makes sense between warm and hot sides..that pretty much how my tank is..but as long as your cool side stays in the 70's atleast mid 70's he should be fine

[Naom9Anne]

She might be stressed by the change in hides and the house move possibly? A hide change could be a big deal and that is all I can really think of as to why the sudden change.

The only other option I could think of is injury which could bring on aggression but that doesn't seem to fit here - in all honesty I'm baffled! Everything I'm saying is speculation at this point.

[Shifty11]

She still has her original hide in the terrarium on the cool side and only injury is the cut she has on her head, which baffled everyone who saw it, but its all healed up now so no idea why it would still be affecting her..

When we take her out to be handled we normally just let her roam about on our bed or couch, she is normally really good being handled, doesn't seem bothered by it, just slowly slithers around like she would in her hide.

Had people maybe suggest that could just be the season change bothering her.

Shifty