Grumpy Snek? Possible shed?

[cayley]

My temp is at 89, Humidity is around 60. Bear in mind I'm totally new to snakes. Today I took Alebrije out and he was acting very strangely. I fed him two days ago and as soon as he was on my hand today, he took the strike pose... I can totally recognize it already because dude likes his dinner. Anyways, his neck is coiled like a spring and he keeps turning his head around to face me or my hand. I continued to keep his head facing away from me because I felt that perhaps this might be my first tag... but he never did. He just seemed quite ready to. The rest of his body was loosely coiled around my hand with no constriction, but he didn't really explore like he normally likes to.

What I'm wondering is, could he be heading into shed, or should I be more concerned? His colour also seems a bit dull, I know that snakes sometimes get uncomfortable during that time. He didn't have any injuries and believe me, I checked him up and down. I can take a photo if it's necessary but my camera is horrible and I don't want to bug him anymore if I can avoid it.

[Gc99]

My temp is at 89, Humidity is around 60. Bear in mind I'm totally new to snakes. Today I took Alebrije out and he was acting very strangely. I fed him two days ago and as soon as he was on my hand today, he took the strike pose... I can totally recognize it already because dude likes his dinner. Anyways, his neck is coiled like a spring and he keeps turning his head around to face me or my hand. I continued to keep his head facing away from me because I felt that perhaps this might be my first tag... but he never did. He just seemed quite ready to. The rest of his body was loosely coiled around my hand with no constriction, but he didn't really explore like he normally likes to.

What I'm wondering is, could he be heading into shed, or should I be more concerned? His colour also seems a bit dull, I know that snakes sometimes get uncomfortable during that time. He didn't have any injuries and believe me, I checked him up and down. I can take a photo if it's necessary but my camera is horrible and I don't want to bug him anymore if I can avoid it.

Well, you say the color is dull, soa shed is possible. Check his belly for pink coloration, check his body for wrinkles, and check for blue eyes. Any of these or more probably means a shed

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[PythonBabes]

Yup, look for wrinkles. Karma usually has wrinkles on her neck when she's in shed, and she's super pissy too. She'll hiss and strike at me, only time I go in her cage when she's in shed is to put the moss in her hides and spray if I absolutely need to.

[CALM Pythons]

They have days, and weeks just like use. Sometimes all mine want to be left alone for 3/4 days at a time.. Once you recognize it like you did today its better to just let him be and see if he is better to visit in 2 days. Some people call this behavoir "stressed". I just call it grumpy. Lol.

[SKO]

After you fed him, did you notice him being in the ready to strike pose right after you fed him? Or maybe just laying with his head out of the hide? He might just still be hungry and ready for more. I noticed that with my first snake so I started feeding larger mice then shortly after switched to rats

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[Ax01]

i agree with everything everyone said. i just stopped by to say that one day u will be bit and u will laugh and it will be awesome and then u can properly vote in spaceturtle's poll over here: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...en-bit-by-a-BP

[cayley]

LOL AX01 I will wait with bated breath. I'm kinda curious what it is like TBH and I'd like to know before I'm handling a big boy with bigger teeth.

I checked on him today and double checked for injuries quickly and he seems calmer again. :/ At least not in a strike pose. Maybe I scared him somehow when I removed him from his enclosure. I'm just keeping an eye on him and keeping handling to a minimum. Thank you all for the words.

[JodanOrNoDan]

Took me awhile to get tagged by a ball. After awhile you can tell when they are having a bad day. They are also relatively slow. You can dodge them if you know they are coming. My evil one finally got me one day. I figured if she really wanted to bite me that bad I would let her have her way, so she did. A ball python bite is pretty pathetic. Nothing to it. The worst byte I ever got from a reptile was actually from a green iguana. All the way to the bone. My fault too. You shouldn't hand feed an iguana bananas. LOL.

At any rate, they will usually tense up before they have a go at you and when they do it may be multiple strikes, but like I said, they are pretty pathetic.

[zina10]

Never been bitten by a Ball Python, but my most painful bite was definitely the one from a Redtail Boa male. He hit a vein in my hand and the blood pooling under the skin swelled up to golf ball size within a minute!! My hand turned all kinds of colors over the next few days, but that was due to the blood, which also made it painful. The swelling. Felt like a bad bruise.

And I had teeth making their way out of my hand a few days later, LOL. By then it only itched. But yeah, he got me good.

Jungle Carpet bite was also not fun. But nothing like that Redtail.

And the 2 bites from Green Tree Python babies were actually just cute. No pain.

[Ax01]

Never been bitten by a Ball Python...

what? really? ok, don't vote in spaceturtle's poll quite yet. there's still time. in a perfect world, everyone would answer that poll Yes.