nippy ball python

[JOKERMAN]

today i came home and was spot checking my snakes when i got to my new spider ball python who is normaly a super shy was sitting on his hide i kindly moved him to his other hide and was picking up the other when he struck at me and same as i was placing it back down its been since monday i feed him a hopper was it in defence or just because he was hungry any help will be great

[Pythonfriend]

first: punctuations. a few dots help a lot. im quite anarchistic when it comes to style, but somehow i get away with it with punctuations and paragraphs ^^

then: i guess your BP was hungry and somehow expected food. thats a common reason for a BP to tag you.

[Saber402]

Not much to go on without some more information. How much does your spider weigh? A hopper is likely too small for it. Even a young BP can usually take a rat pup with ease.

How often are you feeding?

Are your Viv temps/humidty correct?

[satomi325]

You could've startled him and it was a mistake or he was hungry.

If he is a baby, then it's relatively normal for them to strike. It's a vulnerable age for them since they're so small. They usually outgrow the 'nippy stage'.

[JOKERMAN]

the temp on the hot spot is 90 with the warm side at 85 and roping down to about 75 80 at night with 55 humidity and feed once a week on monday

[ViperSRT3g]

When Feeding
If I am feeding my snake, I don't touch them prior to warming up the food. Once food is warming up, (I feed F/T) the snake gets no contact unless absolutely necessary. This allows them to concentrate on the food that they can begin to smell pretty quickly. After that I feed with a pair of tongs and dangle it in front of his face so he can strike it.

When Handling
If I want to handle my snake, I tap on the top of his hide a few times to let him know that his hide is about to come off slowly. After lifting the hide off of him slow and steady, I give him a few rubs on his side to let him know it's me and that he's about to be picked up. From there he's all excited and will begin to explore the place. (I need some sort of snake pen for him lol)

These actions (or lack thereof) establishes behavior conditioning, allowing a sort of pre-command to let them know what is happening before any action takes place. This reduces their confusion, and results in a more behaved, and less confused snake. This means there will be far less cage aggression as they will know when it's feeding time and when it's petting time.

Some tips that I've posted elsewhere on the forums.