Ball Python thinks I'm food now ;-;

[munchkin]

Hello! I'm a first time reptile owner to a lil ball python named Mocha. I got him from pet smart a little over a month ago. Everything has been going pretty well, feeding well and a successful full shed last week. I feed him in tank on Thursdays because I'm worried that moving him back and forth too much would make him regurgitate. I fed him yesterday and ever since he's just been following my movements around the room which is weird because he usually sleeps a lot after feeding. He also tried to strike when I was standing next to his tank and I feel bad for him :( Any suggestions?

[Bogertophis]

Don't take it personal. It's not. For the most part, our snakes don't identify things (accurately) using their vision. They see our motion thru the glass (without our scent or touch) & with limited sensory input, they assume that our motion nearby is either (A) incoming prey- "Dinner!" or (B) A big scary predator posing a threat to them.

You do not want your snake striking the glass (they can actually hurt themselves- even break their jaw) so either try to give them more to go on (ie. blow across your hand in their direction, to get your scent into their tank thru the screen where they are) OR start "tap training" them, OR, block their view so they aren't overstimulated by your nearby motion, OR limit walking so close to his tank when he's "in feed mode".

You can tell when they're just a little "too interested". Snakes can stay in "feed mode" for anywhere from a few hours after feeding, to a day or longer after they eat.

And yes, you're correct in assuming this would be a risky time (for you) to be handling your snake- we always recommend feeding your snake where they live, and use other methods (as I've suggested) to communicate with your snake about whether it's feeding time, or handling time.

They do catch on when we learn to send clear signals to them. They rely on their sense of scent & touch to further define what they see. Visual cues can either pique their interest (food?) or cause fear (predator?)-they just cannot narrow it down until you give them more to go on, & it's not fun to get a feeding bite if they misunderstand. But nearly all bites are preventable- we just need to pay attention & read our snake's body language, and then send them clear signals if they're "on the wrong page" at first.

One more thing, since you're new to keeping a pet snake- let's make sure you're feeding the right size, since under-feeding will also result in a snake that's still hungry.

[Armiyana]

Feeding in tank is actually recommended for ball pythons contrary to what they will teach employees to tell you at petsmart. Trust me, I know.

It sounds like one of two things is going on. Maybe even both!
1) your baby is being defensive.
It happens. They feel alert and ready to defend. If there's not enough snug hiding spaces, they may cruise around and feel stressed, which makes them prone to strike at anything. Ball pythons tend to prefer small snug places to hang out so big open areas or large hides can make this worse. A quick and easy fix is to put some colored paper or cardboard over the open glass areas. You can also wad up a peice of newspaper and put it under the hide to make the spaces smaller for the moment and remove it as the snake grows into the hide

2) your baby is hungry.
What size meals are you giving your baby? You may have been told to feed the wrong size meals. Or your baby is just growing and hungry. A general rule of thumb is to look at the largest point of your baby's body and feed a prey item that is slightly larger than that. Alternatively, there is also a size guide that a lot of people use as well. (edit- removed the image because Boger beat me to it! I was still typing mine out when they posted.) Even if you aren't planning on breeding, some babies just tend to be hungry around day 5.



I'm sure there will be a bunch of other people in to reply. You baby is still new and probably scared. Not really wanting to take a bite out of you.
A detailed description of your setup and the temperature ranges can help us pinpoint exactly what is going on though~

Also, congrats on your new noodle!

[Stofey]

Are you placing the food in with your hand or are you using feeding tongs? He might be associating you with the food since he may not be accustomed to your hands also handling him yet.

Personally, I do use a feeding tank and always have. It's just a small kritter keeper that I bought and has a paper towel lining the bottom. I do this because I use coconut fiber as a substrate and there are a lot of substrates that are bad if your ball python eats them. I've heard horror stories of ball pythons getting wood chips stuck in their mouth. (Ouch!). My ball python has never regurgitated his food and he's a plump healthy boy! He also has only turned up his nose at food once. (I found out if I don't wiggle his food, he doesn't want it. He eats frozen and won't touch it if it isn't wiggled. The time he wouldn't eat was after I first got him and didn't wiggle his food.)

I also like that he knows that the kritter keeper means eating. It means he knows that the tank opening or me being near it does not necessarily mean food so he never gets ready to eat when I open his tank.

It seems like your ball python is still very new. He could just be very scared. Like Armiyana said, hides are super important. If he doesn't have somewhere to hide, he might just be being super defensive out of fear. It could also be that he's hungry so make sure that he's eating the right size/amount for his weight!

Personally, to me this sounds like defensive striking as normally they don't, as far as I know, rely on sight to hunt, they rely on smell. So he's not smelling food when he's striking. To me it sounds like he might be a bit scared. Maybe if you post a picture of your enclosure, we can see if there's something that might be making him so defensive?

Hope this helps!

[Bogertophis]

...

Personally, I do use a feeding tank and always have. It's just a small kritter keeper that I bought and has a paper towel lining the bottom. I do this because I use coconut fiber as a substrate and there are a lot of substrates that are bad if your ball python eats them. I've heard horror stories of ball pythons getting wood chips stuck in their mouth. (Ouch!). My ball python has never regurgitated his food and he's a plump healthy boy! He also has only turned up his nose at food once. (I found out if I don't wiggle his food, he doesn't want it. He eats frozen and won't touch it if it isn't wiggled. The time he wouldn't eat was after I first got him and didn't wiggle his food.)

I also like that he knows that the kritter keeper means eating. It means he knows that the tank opening or me being near it does not necessarily mean food so he never gets ready to eat when I open his tank.

...

We do NOT recommend moving a snake to another container to feed them. I'm glad your snake is still eating this way, but for many shy snakes, the handling needed to take them out & put them elsewhere is enough to cause them to refuse all food, making this advice very unhelpful.

That "other enclosure" is not likely to have the proper warmth, privacy & security that the snake's original home does either. Please think carefully about that, because snakes may not eat right away- they get chilled, & so does their food (BPs look for life-like warmth, which fades quickly when feeding f/t)- and they become afraid in less-than-familiar territory, because they rely on their instincts to survive, & in the wild, many things prey on ball pythons, especially when they're pre-occupied with eating. That's why BPs are "ambush predators" that feed most confidently at night, in their own familiar space (often peeking out of their hide, & not when out in the open, moving around their home).

Another problem is that while waiting for a slow-eater to finish, owners get pre-occupied elsewhere, & when they remember to return & check on their snake, they find it has popped the top off & has escaped. Snakes are MUCH better at "hide & seek" than we are, & they're likely to get injured when loose in our houses. Again, feeding in a side cage is a BAD idea.

Substrate is easy to deal with (to prevent our snakes from getting a mouth-full): put a "plate" of some kind down first, before offering their meal. It can be a piece of cardboard, or a plastic box top or even a real plate, but just don't use anything like paper towels or cloth, because their teeth can catch on it, or the dampness of the rodent can make it stick to the rodent & it gets swallowed along with the meal. THEN your snake will likely need surgery to survive, because they cannot digest such things, & the blockage can be fatal.

There are plenty of ways to signal our snakes that we're not incoming prey when handling or cleaning is needed.- BPs are also not very inclined to bite in the first place- so moving them to eat elsewhere is never the best practice.

For many snakes, you're also more likely to get BIT while moving them to feed in another container, either beforehand (when they're hungry) or afterwards (since many snakes stay pumped up & ready to grab anything "warm & wiggling" like your hands- "Ooops!"- for hours or even longer than a day+ after they eat.)

So please consider feeding your snake where they live...ONLY.

[Stofey]

So please consider feeding your snake where they live...ONLY.

I'll take that into consideration but I'm going to also keep past experience as well. I've had two snakes neither of which have bit me and both have fed fine in a feeding tank. My parents have had two snakes that they do the same without problem. The temperature in the room never goes below 75 as our room is also our offices and we like it a bit warm and, personally, I never leave my snake alone with food PERIOD. I think dropping food in and walking away isn't a very good practice, whether you're feeding in your tank or not. Especially if you're feeding live. Besides, who doesn't love watching their snake eat?

This is just my personal experience and it's fine for other people to disagree but my previous snake and current snake happily eat, have never bitten me while feeding, and have never turned down a meal. (Except that one time I didn't wiggle his food) and have never had a bad shed so to me, they seem happy and healthy. This is just my experience with it. I'd rather them eat in a kritter keeper than have them accidentally swallow the substrate. Even if you put their food on cardboard, which doesn't necessarily work for me since I have to make his food 'dance', they can easily strike and end up sliding it off the cardboard and into the substrate anyway.

I could change his substrate, however, this one holds humidity well which is a struggle in the desert which is where I live and I haven't found a good alternative that holds humidity quite as well as this.

Like I said, these are my personal experiences and if some people disagree that's fine. I'll definitely take what you've said into consideration, however, my snake seems to be healthy and happy so I'm not too worried.

[Armiyana]

I've never had an issue with substrates or feeding in the enclosure. You just have to learn your snake's personality.

I have 4 that live up to the ambush predator that they were descended from. They will not eat unless they are peeking from their safe place. Moving to feed them would have been a failure from the start if I even tried, but I don't. They just have comfy snug hides.
Everyone else eats reliably from the habitat and never tries to strike (except for my very defensive girl). Bedding varies from paper to coco fiber to cypress or coconut mulch. All mulch is a smaller chunks not large chunks of bark.

A lot of people tend to mistake defensive bites for food bites. A defensive bite is typically a bit wild and a good tap. An actual food bite is where they will actually grab and wrap you. Even when mine are in "food mode", they're fairly easy to pick up and move if I had to, because I know how each snake personally reacts to different stimulus.
Sure, they'll sometimes come out with a wild swing when they smell rats being warmed up, but again.... It's knowing personality. My defensive girl will be right up front waiting for food so I need to open her tub slow. Too fast and she's like a cartoon snake in a can.

They're able to be comfy before and immediately after feeding. No worries about getting distracted and leaving them locked in a tub in a cold room because one of the warm blooded housemates had an issue. Lol

[Armiyana]

I should tag on that my bite description is fairly specific to ball pythons. Beeps tend to just tag because they are a shyer species. Sure they try and act tough, but they will usually just ball or run when they realize they can't get away with it.

Other species can be a bit more aggressive when on the defense and can wrap.

[munchkin]

Thank you so much for your reply! I think that the problem was the mice I bought from petsmart when I got him were too small for "small mice" so I plan on buying him mediums from a more reliable place like LayneLabs maybe.