Monster feeding response.

[MissLeMew]

I've got a little pastel girl who's a bit on the aggressive side - more so than the average hatchling - but I'm concerned about her eating response. My babies eat every 4 days, and she's eating the right size and everything. I'm excited to have a wonderful eater, as a few of my snakes tend to be a bit more on the picky side, but she starts striking before I even slide out her tub. She's hitting the sides of the bin pretty hard, and I'm afraid that she'll hurt herself.

I just want to know if there's anything I can do to prevent her from breaking teeth or something against the side of her bin. Any and all suggestions welcome.

[llovelace]

she will be ok, she's still young and will figure things out. You could black out the tub

[Stewart_Reptiles]

It's happen's nothing you can do about that, I have large adult female doing this exact same thing, your hear them bump the side of their enclosures before you even get to open them

[j_h_smith]

I have a female Lesser Platinum that has been this way since I got her. She postures, hisses, and strikes at anything that comes into her tub. I usually take a paper towel roll and tap her a few times and she at least stops striking, she hisses every minute she's held when moved out of her tub to clean it. She's actually a llittle funny. She's a great eater, but may turn out to be a mouse eater. I'm doing mommy mice but cannot get her to touch a small rat. She's on a mouse in less than 3 seconds. So, she may just be a mouse eater.

The other thing she does which I don't care for, is she craps on me EVERY TIME I soak her. She hold her poo until I remove her from the sink. Within 10 seconds, she's crapped all over the place. It's slmost like she's musking me.

She's beautiful and I don't mind an agressive feeder, so she fine for me. However I can understand how a new snake owner would be put off by this action.

Good Luck!
Jim Smith

[ballpythonluvr]

I have a three month old male BP that strikes at everything on feeding day. He is ready even before I open his enclosure. I was feeding him live small adult mice or rat pups. I have been able to sucessfully convert him over to f/t prey. He can be a bit hissy at times too, but he has an awesome feeding response as most babies do. I can handle a little bit of an attitude problem. It's a small price to pay for having such an excellent feeder.

[MissLeMew]

She's beautiful and I don't mind an agressive feeder, so she fine for me. However I can understand how a new snake owner would be put off by this action.

Good Luck!
Jim Smith

Not too put off by it, just worried she'll hurt herself, as ball pythons are kinda... slow. She's fun to dance around - it's almost like a game of tag, except with sharp teeth - though I try not too bug her too much. There was one occasion that she flew right out of her bin right when I opened it cus she was trying to get at me. My friends almost died laughing because I nearly peed my pants at the initial scare.

As long as she's not breaking her face against the plastic of her bin I have no qualms. I just didn't know if she was in danger of hurting herself or not. Thanks for the advice!