my bp is really starting to terrify me

[Jeo123]

Now wait OP, the first time you said bite and constrict, the second time you just said she started to constrict. Did she bite you the 2nd time?

I was just about to ask the same thing. "Constricting" your wrist isn't any threat to you, and it seems more like it's a fear of being held on your snake's part than it is a "I want to eat you" response.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Can you give us a quick idea of your setup

Cage size, temps, humidity, what device you use to measure them (digital or dial), hides (type, size?).

Also an idea on the animal size (weight?)

How often you are feeding her, what prey size, live, FT

How do you feed her?

In my experience with new owners the problem often is linked to husbandry, when it's not than it's more likely linked to feeding.

Finally and do not take this the wrong way if your snake really "terrify" you as mentioned in the title you might need to consider owning a different type of animal, because regardless of how perfect everything is and how well fed your animal is, sometimes accident like a bite do happen.

[Quacking-Terror]

To the OP - I'm a new BP owner myself, and I hope you resolve your problems. As far as overcoming your fear of snakes, that is very possible! My girlfriend was terrified of Gene at first, but after watching him a little more each day, and moving on to first taking him out of his enclosure then putting him back, she slowly is getting over it. The best thing I can say, even though I haven't been bitten yet, is that dogs bite when playing, at least mine does. It hurts sometimes but nothing remotely serious, and cats scratch when you irritate them. If you've experienced both of these, then I feel you've prepared yourself sufficiently . Also, if you have been bitten before, tell yourself that it wasn't serious enough to kill you so it shouldn't scare you!

It might take some time to get over your fear, but I hope you do. I've had my snake less than a week, and he is absolutely amazing. Keep us updated!

[Kysenia]

Measure your surface body temp.....it is usually above 90 degrees and remember that ball pythons like warmth and security, when handling at events if they are out they will always wrap my arm for heat and security. There is a distinct force per square inch difference between an im gonna constrict to eat you hold and I like how warm you are attach....make sense?

[word]

There was definitely a difference. I've had her for about a year now and I've felt all those other tight squeezes before. This was different.

But anyway, my setup is a 20 long her ambient temps range between 72-81 (night and day). Humidity I keep between 45-50% on a regular basis and 60+ during sheds. She's got one habi-hut hide and a big water dish. The other side of the setup has some wood for chilling on/around and for friction when it comes to sheds. She lays on orchid bark substrate @ ~88 degrees and I'm using a zoo med UTH.

She is about 1 year old and about 2ft.
I usually feed her every 10 days a small rat in a separate feeding tub. This last time, I prolonged that to about 20 days.

I think I will feed her again tomorrow because I feel that her aggression is mostly due to hunger. Before this, she was just as gentle as any other BP, even when being handled by strangers.

I appreciate everyone's effort to help me. After reading the other posts, I feel like I just need to make more time for her because I'm sort of taking her for granted right now. I definitely need to handle her more often.

[word]

Real quick, is there a certain way to go about picking her up? She seems to always be on edge as my hand approaches her body.

[loonunit]

Gosh, that sounds unpleasant! I have several bps, and have had them for 2+ years, and nobody's ever bitten AND constricted me. Bitten, sure. Warning strikes and feeding errors, sure thing! But they've all calmed down now--and I've never had one mistake me for food longer than it took to chomp down and get a taste.

I guess I would try feeding her in a cardboard box? And wearing gloves when moving her to that box? And maybe she needs to be fed more often?

What I would NOT do is reward her with food immediately after biting you. I might even go so far as to keep a spray bottle with water nearby, and give her a squirt when she does that. Because seriously, what the heck.

(It's not dangerous, right? She'll never be big enough to threaten you. But it does sound very unpleasant.)

[loonunit]

Real quick, is there a certain way to go about picking her up? She seems to always be on edge as my hand approaches her body.

She's on edge because she thinks food is coming and she needs to get ready to attack/eat it. Somehow she's made the association between your hand and dinner time. I think persistantly handling her without feeding her and feeding her in a separate location from handling is the only way to break that association?

[Jeo123]

I feed in a seperate enclosure and while some may say this is over handeling, I take my bp out once a day usually. Last night I was sitting on my couch with my laptop on a tray and my snake in my lap under the folds over a blanket. She was just hanging out with her head poking out of the blanket. Mine actually let's me pet her on the top of the head or even the nose if I wanted to and doesn't even flinch as long as it's not a sudden movement on my part. I think that's about a docile as they get.

As for how to pick them up, I make a habit of putting my hand/fingers on her back(staying away from her head) for a few seconds before picking her up. No matter what, pulling a hide off of a snake is going to startle them a bit.

[cinderbird]

She is about 1 year old and about 2ft.
I usually feed her every 10 days a small rat in a separate feeding tub. This last time, I prolonged that to about 20 days.

Try feeding her 1x a week and appropriate sized prey item. If shes acting like shes hungry why are you withholding food for longer?

Also, this second time this happened, did she actually bite you?