Is my bp aggressive, or am I just nervous?

[targciv]

​I'm a new ball python owner, but I've had two corn snakes in the past. With my corn snakes, I never had any aggression issues, so I guess I got nervous when my bp started showing signs of aggression that I haven't experienced before, and I'm not sure how to deal with it.

I've had her for about 3 weeks, she's a juvenile about maybe 20 inches long, and she's eaten successfully for me twice. She's in a 20 gal tank, hot side 95-100 F and cool side 75-80 F, with 40-60% humidity that I mist daily and keep a damp towel over half the enclosure.

The first time I fed her, she ate two pinkies (I know those are too small for her size, but pinkies and fuzzies were all I had at the time, and I wanted to use them up - I figured feeding her at least 2-3 of these smaller mice would make up for a larger single mouse). I left her alone for 48 hours, and she was a little skittish when I tried to handle her after that, so I left her alone for an extra day and after that third day, she was fine. I'll handle her for maybe 10-15 minutes daily, either in my hands or let her crawl around on a blanket while keeping an eye on her.

After that first feeding, I waited 5 days, then upped her to a fuzzy mouse, which was closer to an appropriate size prey item for her, but she still could have consumed something larger. My plan was to feed her two of those, but because she was finicky when trying to feed her two pinkie mice in one sitting, I was going to feed her one fuzzy, wait 48 hours, then feed her another and have that be her feeding for the week.

After the first 48 hours, I went to try to handle her, but she was skittish again, so I figured maybe she just needs 3 days to digest. The next day, it was the same thing, and I was honestly a little nervous to try and pick her up because she looked very tense, her neck was in an S curve and her head and neck were tilted upwards, looking like she might strike, so I hesitated. My hesitation probably made her more weary, so I left her alone. The next day, I was just going to face my fear and pick her up whether she liked it or not, so that's what I did, and I held her for about 30 seconds despite my nerves, but then she opened her mouth slightly and closed it facing toward me, and she seemed tense, so I thought she might strike and I put her back, and she started being skittish again, slithering away very quickly around her tank.

Why is she being so aggressive, or is this all in my head? Are my nerves making it seem worse than it actually is? I've never feared any of my pet snakes before, but the prospect of getting bit (even though I know it's not the worst thing in the world), or making her afraid me by having repeatedly bad interactions with her makes me nervous. My friend who also owns a juvenile bp says don't let the snake dictate the interaction, be calm, confident, and swift when I pick her up, which I had been doing before she started being like this. I also wonder if it's just because she's still hungry, which I'm planning to feed her 2 fuzzies tomorrow and hope that satisfies her and gets rid of that aggression. Those are my last two fuzzies, and I'm planning to up her prey item for the following feeding. Is she just super hungry? Please help!

[OneEyedFox]

Okay, I think your hot side temps are a tad high but nothing to be too concerned. Also, humidity needs to be 50-60%. I was also told 40-60 when I first got Calliope but that resulted in low humidity and she ended up with a dent in her eye that went away after a humidity boost.

On to the “aggression”. I completely understand being nervous but I agree with your friend. Most of the time when I pick Calliope up, he has his head picking out of his hide with the ‘s’ shape neck, I lift the hide, he curls up in a ball, and I pick him up. If they’re tense at first, just wait, they just need to get comfortable and they’ll open up. As for the opening and closing of the mouth, sounds like a yawn or readjusting it’s jaw.



Here’s a feeding chart I use. You don’t have to follow it strictly, but it helped me when I was unsure on feedings. Good luck!


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[Craiga 01453]

First, congrats on your first BP.

Now, let's help you out...

A) your hot side temps are crazy high. I never have any temps over 90 in my enclosures and 91-92 is the common max.

B) your prey items are WAY too small. Your snake is HUNGRY!!! If you bought a dig but didn't have dog food you'd buy some right? Same should apply here.

C) between stress from the high temps and being super hungry I don't blame your snake for being tensed up. Your snake doesn't need more time to digest, it needs proper husbandry and proper meals.

D) your snake is NOT showing signs of aggression. You're misreading stress and hunger for aggression. Aggression would be hissing and striking, which your snake hasn't
done.

So...get your snake some proper food. Don't waste time with fuzzies, they hardly put a dent in your snake's appetite and are not providing proper sustenance.

Also, I highly suggest keeping handling to an absolute bare minimum until your snake has eaten three consecutive (and appropriately sized) meals without refusal.

I recommend reading through the stickies on this forum about husbandry and basic BP care and getting things on track. Once husbandry and feeding is on point then tackle the handling.

[targciv]

Thanks to both of you so far. research I had done online prior to getting my snake said hot side temperatures should be 95-100, but I guess I should reconsider. She does regularly switch hides throughout the day, not spending all her time on the cool side because the hot side is too hot, and will stay on the hot side for a decent amount of time, so that's somewhat of a good sign, right?

I agree, the food items are too small, even feeding 2-3 small items don't seem to be enough for her if she's acting this way. I am planning to go up a size so I only have to feed her one item in a single sitting. Should I go to hoppers? What size mouse do you recommend? (I feed her frozen/thawed fyi)

[redshepherd]

There are a couple terrible caresheets out there. This is a good one to follow: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...s%29-Caresheet

They can eat hopper mice right out of the egg.

How much does your BP weigh?

and what does your setup look like? Do you have appropriately sized hides for her? Ball pythons need hides and cover in their tank in order to feel secure, and the hides need to be ones where they can hide their entire body completely without being seen, ones with only one small entrance. Many require hides small enough for them to squish up inside, to feel secure and comfortable.

Hides like this: http://www.reptilebasics.com/small-hide-box

[Alicia]

Everything craigafrechette and redshepherd said. From your description, she sounds warm and hungry. Both of those are totally fixable.

Honestly, turn the hotside down to 88-89. It's waaay to hot, one of the ways BPs express being too hot is by being antsy. Also, what is your heat source, and how are you controlling it? For that matter, how are you measuring it? That said, the cool side is pretty good. As is humidity.

As has been said, fuzzy mice are too small. Pythons are stretchier than corn snakes. Weight is simplest way to figure out what to feed your new baby, but, basically you're aiming for a meal a little larger than the widest part of the snake's body, that leaves a modest bulge. I'd be willing to bet your BP can happily take weaned/small adult mice or fuzzy rats, if not something a wee bit larger.