Expectations of a New Ball Python Owner

[MissterDog]

Seems he spotted some incoming traffic from that car! Must have been a real treat catching him periscoping! Such a cute boy! And getting big! How long do you think he is?

[Smaugsmom]

We take ours out everyday. Smaug is used to being handled. So he doesn't care. He will usually go around the neck and chill for as long as I have him out which is anywhere between a few mins to a few hours. Sometimes he fights going back in his enclosure. It takes both of us to get him back in at times. The new guy we got, Hades. He isn't used to being handled yet, so we hold him for smaller periods of time until he gets used to it. He is doing a lot better than when we first got him. We have had him for a month. Smaug we have had for 6 months. He is an older snake tho. His owner couldn't handle him anymore and asked if we would take him. She told us that when she had him he would bite her a lot and not come out very much. Since we have had him neither one of us have even been close to being bitten and he comes out every night (besides shed times). He is a very good boy. I would say to slowly increase the hold times and they usually don't come out during the day. Smaug doesn't come out until around 8pm or so. Hades comes out during the day sometimes, but not too often. He is a little weird lol. Good luck!

[ckuhn003]

Seems he spotted some incoming traffic from that car! Must have been a real treat catching him periscoping! Such a cute boy! And getting big! How long do you think he is?

Haha.....I had to look twice to get the car reference. This is the 1st time catching him periscoping and I was quite amazed. He's about 230ish grams and I'm gonna guess about 15-18 inches. I didn't want to break out the yard stick as to scare him.

[Craiga 01453]

You can handle as much as YOU and the SNAKE are comfortable with. Start to watch your snake's body language and mannerisms. Watch the breathing and the tongue flicks. A content BP should be breathing slowly, tongue flicking slowly and movements should be fairly slow and calculated. Once you see increased breathing, quicker more frequent tongue flicks and quick jerky erratic movements it's time to put the snake back into the enclosure.

[Craiga 01453]

Expect to get bit at some point and then u can vote yes in this poll: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...en-bit-by-a-BP

It's like a right of passage.
Hang around a barber shop long enough you're bound to get a haircut. Keep snakes and you're going to get tagged eventually.
Honestly, paper cuts are worse. The worst part is trying not to panic and injure the animal by pulling away and taking teeth with you.

[ckuhn003]

It's like a right of passage.
Hang around a barber shop long enough you're bound to get a haircut. Keep snakes and you're going to get tagged eventually.
Honestly, paper cuts are worse. The worst part is trying not to panic and injure the animal by pulling away and taking teeth with you.

Well for me and I'm sure many others it's the fear of the unknown. Is it safe to say that the likelihood of a bite goes down as the snake matures and becomes familiar with you? And when do most bites happen? Meaning getting the snake out of the cage? While holding them?

[Albert Clark]

Well for me and I'm sure many others it's the fear of the unknown. Is it safe to say that the likelihood of a bite goes down as the snake matures and becomes familiar with you? And when do most bites happen? Meaning getting the snake out of the cage? While holding them?

Well, IMO the more you handle them the more at risk you will be for getting tagged. Remember also most bites occur during feeding times and or uncovering them from their hides too quickly. Some people refer to ball pythons as "pet rocks" but I feel this is a misnomer bc their nature and behavior is secretive and that needs to be respected. It's very unnatural for them to be in the "headlights" and jostled around continuously. Enjoy him as he grows and keep him healthy.

[Newbie39]

I am coming up to my third feed tonight. I have held her twice the last week for 5 minutes a time. She is very docile and calm. In fact when I put her back in the tub she wants to come back out and right into my hands. I have yet to let anyone else in the house hold handle her yet. My son loves to handle snakes and will likely get some time in Friday, 2 days after the third feed.

I would say as long as your snake doesn't look to stressed and is comfortable hold away.

[Craiga 01453]

Well for me and I'm sure many others it's the fear of the unknown. Is it safe to say that the likelihood of a bite goes down as the snake matures and becomes familiar with you? And when do most bites happen? Meaning getting the snake out of the cage? While holding them?

I completely understand what you're saying about fear of the unknown. Certainly respectable.

I think Albert Clark answered well.
In my experience and that from which I've read and researched the majority of bites are feed related or spooking the animal. I personally have not been tagged during feedings or due to my hands smelling like mice/rats. I'm very cautious about washing my hands well after handling prey as well as careful with feedings. I make sure to use proper tongs because sometimes they miss, and rather than miss and get my hand, they miss and get air or the tongs.

The times I've been tagged I consider my fault with the exception of one jerk of a Kingsnake I handled at the reptile shop when shopping for my King. But anyway, the times I've been tagged I spooked the animal and their natural reaction is to protect themselves. I'm typically very careful with handling, but have been a little too comfortable with the snake while handling and wasn't paying enough attention and perhaps taking the animals for granted. I wasn't as cautious as I could have been and spooked the snakes and got tagged.

My advice is just respect the animal, wash your hands before each handling session and use caution when feeding. When entering the enclosure make sure to alert the snake before uncovering when the snake is in a hide. Just a gentle tap or two on the hide will let them know you're there and then lift the hide slowly.
When handling, use slow, cautious movements and try not to make any quick movements near the snakes head.

It honestly barely hurts, but unless you've experienced it, it's tough to not be scared. Look at some snake bytes videos on YouTube. I don't agree with their practices of trying to get tagged because it stresses the animal and can cause injuries to the animals. But, when they do get tagged the injuries to the people are very minor and barely even bleed most of the time.

[Starscream]

I've had Mazikeen for 2.5 months but, thus far, she's never tagged me. She tried once, and that was mostly my fault. Only had her for two weeks and she was in shed. I was still in that nervous mother-hen stage trying to figure out of she was okay, if everything was alright. Checked in on her and she s'ed up immediately, tried to put the hide back over her and she struck at it. She was fine, but I was a nervous wreck lol.

Only other time she's struck at anything outside of feeding was when I was holding her, checking under her decorations for anything I needed to clean up. I guess I got the fake plant a little bit too close to her face because she snapped at it. Again, my fault, and she was perfectly fine and complacent afterwards. Hasn't happened since, and she gets plenty of warning before I pop open any of her hides. I have to move decorations out of the way to even get to them, so if there's rustling around she knows to expect Intruding Overbearing Mather .

We move slow and careful around one another, and sometimes at night she's the one to crawl out and into my hand (probably trying to escape and my hand makes a nice perch, but y'know. Still cute as heck.) I'm honestly more worried about accidentally hurting her than about her tagging me.