Ball Python Keeps Biting and Holding

[GoldenRoyal]

Hello everyone.

My female spider bp is about a year old and has bitten me the past couple of times I’ve tried to take her out. Two weeks ago she bit me when I took her out to handle her, and she bit me again yesterday while I was preparing to move her 30 minutes away to my parent’s house where I’m staying now.

She’s bitten me about 7 times now (since I adopted her in August) and each time it’s been a bite-and-hold, which I’m assuming is a feeding response. She’s never struck at me in a defensive way (except one time when I spooked her and she head butted me). I’m not sure why she believes my hands are food, because I always wash my hands thoroughly before handling her. I’ve even made sure to avoid handling her on days when I’ve touched raw chicken. I think she may still have problems correctly identifying what’s food, since she’s tried to eat a Sherpa lined hoodie when she was about 3 months old, and she tried to eat a towel that I was cleaning blood up with (after she bit me two weeks ago).

I’m concerned it may be due to her spider genes. She flops upside-down sometimes and wobbles during feeding, and when she bit me the 4th time it seemed like she had trouble letting go (she wiggled her mouth around like she was trying to get loose but was still snagged so I helped her). I noticed she doesn’t really ball up either, and I’ve only seen her do it once.

I’m also not sure if there’s a good way to get them to let go after a bite. Two times when I was in a hurry, because I needed to be somewhere soon, I submerged her in lukewarm water until she released her grasp. The other times I just waited, but she would take around 20-45 minutes to let go. Hopefully I can stop her from biting me in the first place so this won’t be a problem.

I’m still kinda nervous around her which I’m sure does not help, but I’ve always had a mild fear of snakes. One of the reasons I decided to get her was to help me overcome it since I’m trying to become a biologist and might need to work with them one day. Her biting me has not been helping assuage these fears (possibly reinforcing them) and it doesn’t help that when she does bite me she acts normal - she’ll nose around and smell a bit, then suddenly open her mouth and close it on my hand without striking, and wrap around it. It’s a surprise as to when it will occur, because it has happened when I first take her out, after she’s been out for a while, and right as I’m putting her back into her tub.

Also I feed her once a week usually on Friday, and try to only handle her Sunday-Thursday to give her time to relax and digest.

I hope this wasn’t too much information to read through.
Any help would be appreciated as I’m sure I must be doing something wrong.

TL;DR: Snake keeps biting me like she’s trying to eat my hand, and it’s becoming more frequent. Unsure what’s wrong and what to do.


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[C.Marie]

Prey size? Is she due for a shed soon? Enclosure? Temps? I am not trying to be rude but for the great people here to help the most efficiently as possible this info will go a long way. Sorry your snake is having this response. Best wishes always

[Bogertophis]

Wow, that is SO unusual...and such ROTTEN luck for you. I've known countless snakes for decades & never had one as clueless as yours seems to be.
It may indeed be an defect from inbreeding, assuming she isn't starving? It may be that her sense of smell is poor, for whatever reason, as she appears
to be basing her decision to "feed" on your hand by just your body warmth & perhaps motion. (warm & wiggling = prey to her) Are you SURE you're
feeding her enough???? As a snake grows, you need to size UP her prey...what are you feeding her? (pix of her AND her typical prey might help?)

You're a beginner with snakes and you'd be so much happier (feel comfortable) with a snake that matches your experience. It's not for me to say, but it
would make total sense for you to swap snakes with someone who has a reliable (boring?) "pet" and the experience and desire to work with yours. Or
just re-home yours & start over...(and NOT with a king snake either, LOL! They can be pretty stupid about hands sometimes too...)

In fact, if you live anywhere near me (I won't ship), I could fix you up with a perfect pet snake (just not a BP).

One other thing comes to my mind though: have you had her stool checked for parasites? If she has them, that could make her hungry all the time, since
she's sharing her food. But short of that, you somehow picked a totally wrong snake.

As far as making a snake let go, a bit of alcohol is often recommended...though I've never personally used it. You could try rubbing it on your hands, so
they smell of it when you try to handle her. I'm impressed that you've had her this long, under the circumstances.

[Skyrivers]

Wow, that is SO unusual...and such ROTTEN luck for you. I've known countless snakes for decades & never had one as clueless as yours seems to be.
It may indeed be an defect from inbreeding, assuming she isn't starving? It may be that her sense of smell is poor, for whatever reason, as she appears
to be basing her decision to "feed" on your hand by just your body warmth & perhaps motion. (warm & wiggling = prey to her) Are you SURE you're
feeding her enough???? As a snake grows, you need to size UP her prey...what are you feeding her? (pix of her AND her typical prey might help?)

You're a beginner with snakes and you'd be so much happier (feel comfortable) with a snake that matches your experience. It's not for me to say, but it
would make total sense for you to swap snakes with someone who has a reliable (boring?) "pet" and the experience and desire to work with yours. Or
just re-home yours & start over...(and NOT with a king snake either, LOL! They can be pretty stupid about hands sometimes too...)

In fact, if you live anywhere near me (I won't ship), I could fix you up with a perfect pet snake (just not a BP).

One other thing comes to my mind though: have you had her stool checked for parasites? If she has them, that could make her hungry all the time, since
she's sharing her food. But short of that, you somehow picked a totally wrong snake.

As far as making a snake let go, a bit of alcohol is often recommended...though I've never personally used it. You could try rubbing it on your hands, so
they smell of it when you try to handle her. I'm impressed that you've had her this long, under the circumstances.

I wonder if sense of smell and eye site both are diminished or non existence?

[Aerries]

I know the feeling, I’m still iffy when I feed him cause this happens last year. Lol


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[Skyrivers]

I know the feeling, I’m still iffy when I feed him cause this happens last year. Lol


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"I'm going to eat you now!" LOL What a mean little bugger.

[Bogertophis]

I wonder if sense of smell and eye site both are diminished or non existence?

That's possible too...but most snakes (including BPs) don't rely on vision for anything other than the motion that signifies "prey" to them. That's why a hungry
snake will chase our motion thru the glass/plexi of a cage, but back off when they finally get our scent & realize their mistake. They go by scent & touch mostly.

But of course when snakes are bred in captivity for fancy morphs, all sorts of strange genetic things can happen (including "lethal genes"). No way to be sure, we
can only try to suggest reasons online...so you can rule out issues like insufficient food or parasites. And to be honest, some snakes ARE smarter than others.....

[Aerries]

"I'm going to eat you now!" LOL What a mean little bugger.

Omg just check out my post for it, it’s one of my old threads lol it was hysterical to see my husbands response. 🤣 I wish I had it on video. But sorry I don’t wanna hijack a thread lol


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[Skyrivers]

Omg just check out my post for it, it’s one of my old threads lol it was hysterical to see my husbands response. �� I wish I had it on video. But sorry I don’t wanna hijack a thread lol


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Link it please

[bcr229]

After you wash your hands use lemon scent hand sanitizer on them before picking her up. Between the sharp smell and the cooling effect from the alcohol in it, she may leave your hands alone.

Otherwise keep a small container of white vinegar in your snake room. When you get a food bite, a drop of it rubbed on your snake's nose will break the food response; it even works on my retics. Sometimes just the smell of it is enough if you rub some on a finger on your other hand and get it close enough to your snake's nose so that it gets a good whiff of it.