my ball keeps biteing me

[superdave76]

he is generally on a log in the cooler side of the cage.hes always eaten in the cage and never had a problem.im thinking ive just not been feeding him big enough prey,ive been reading a little more on here about the size of prey and the animal......ive been starving him probably...im gonna up the feed size friday for sure.if that doesnt work then ill look into feeding him only in another enclosure.my female who is the same size and age and is in a identical enclosure has not gotten aggressive yet but ill up the size of her diet as well.thanks to all for the help........and my babies, BO and Bell thank you too

[Stewart_Reptiles]

he is generally on a log in the cooler side of the cage.hes always eaten in the cage and never had a problem.im thinking ive just not been feeding him big enough prey,ive been reading a little more on here about the size of prey and the animal......ive been starving him probably...im gonna up the feed size friday for sure.if that doesnt work then ill look into feeding him only in another enclosure.my female who is the same size and age and is in a identical enclosure has not gotten aggressive yet but ill up the size of her diet as well.thanks to all for the help........and my babies, BO and Bell thank you too

Whether or not your female is in the same type of enclosure does not really matter. Stress can vary from one individual to another, and while one might be thriving the other might not, and this is why it is very important for you to know your animals.

The feeding might not be the only problem I would suggest you to double check everything cover the basics temps, humidity etc

Also I would recommend you to provide 2 tight (all side touching your BP's body) and identical hides (so your BP does not chose security over thermo-regulation).

Also log hides while great fro lizards make very poor hides for BP, not offering enough security.

[victim026]

i dont have any scales....hes about 2 feet long ,maybe less,and maybe 1 1,2 inches thick at his thickest point,hes still retty small as he can ball up in the palm of my hand.......im feeding him one fuzzy a week,he will lay around for about 3 days after feeding,could him being hungry cause the problem.i have no problem feeding him whatever or doing whatever it takes to make him happy and less aggressive.one note....he doesnt strike if i use a glove its only against a bare finger.

Your only feeding him a fuzzy a week? My ball is approx the same size as yours and he downs adult mice like crazy....

[superdave76]

yeha i was only feeding him a fuzzie,I now know better,Petsmart and the local petstore both told me thats what to feed him........but everyone with a snake tells me otherwise......i visited with a freind today and he fed his adult mice at that age........Im guilty,i should of checked into this sooner,i just took the pet store at their word.......he should be happy after a few good hungryman size meals hopefully,thanks to all.

[Argentra]

Don't listen to pet store employees. 90% of them know NOTHING about snake care and will give you info they read off the outdated care sheet, heard from someone, or that applies to lizards. Now, I'm not saying they're all idiots...so don't go off on me all you Petsmart and Petco people...I used to work there to. I'm just saying that your chances of getting someone who really knows their stuff on snakes is really really slim.

But I would agree that you should double check all your stuff just to rule out other problems, as well as up that prey size ASAP. My girl is the same size and age as yours and eats large adult or small jumbo mice once a week.

[NightLad]

Don't listen to pet store employees. 90% of them know NOTHING about snake care and will give you info they read off the outdated care sheet, heard from someone, or that applies to lizards.

True story that just happened a couple days ago:
I went to a pet store (PetSmart or PetsPlus, something like that) in search of a thermostat... so the child working behind the counter handed me off to their "reptile expert" who supposedly owns reptiles himself. Out comes an older man, maybe 50s, so I actually had a glimmer of hope. I ask him about proportional thermostats for a UTH that will regulate a preset temperature. He then explains (in a slow, demeaning tone) that heating pads are pre-regulated. So I again explain what I'm looking for. The guy looks me in the eye and says, "Nooooo, I don't believe they even make such a thing."

I just thanked him for his time and left. Why bother?

As it turns out, I had to drive an hour out of the city to a Reptile Zoo to pick one up.

[Brimstone111888]

I find it kind of amazing or funny how people come on here and ask for help for their problem. Then the vast majority of them have 2 snakes in one cage.

[Argentra]

Yeah... that's typical. The problem is that most pet stores have no desire or no care to fix the situations or enlighten their employees. I've heard that bull about pads being pre-regulated for proper temps, as well as a whole ton of other stuff you wouldn't believe. People have 2 or more snakes in one cage because they "saw the ones at the store like that, so it has to be ok". Then, they get defensive and angry when experienced people try to correct them...especially since it involves spending more money getting a separate setup. It's infuriating how that happens...animals getting the bum deal because of misinformation and ignorance.

[superdave76]

you guys have helped me so much,ive learned tons just by reading posts on here.wehn i first bought my second snake about a month after the first,i put them both in a 55 gal tank because as you said thats what i had seen in the pet store.I instaltly noticed that my first snake stoped eating and didnt move much at all.I quickly put them in seperate conatiners.......the question i posted here was the result of the same misconception.when i bought my snakes they told me to give them one pinky about every ten days and dont over feed them.I followed that for awhile and then after about 3 months went up to a fuzzy.since i asked this question ive uped the size of my pray to a adult mouse and fed them one last friday and one today.......already they have been doing so much better.......my male is back to his old self and is as pleasent to be around as can be,he lets me hold him and pick him up wiht no fear or jumpiness.i swear i can see that he has grown a little in the past week.maybe im wrong but he looks bigger,thicker.now im preparing them a seperate feeding container for each one....im going to get heaters and such for the feeding conatiners this friday so i can leave them in there for a little while after feeding and not worry about the temps.my next question is this........the adult mice im feeding them now are about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 the girth of the snake,and maybe 4 inches long or so.....the snakes handle them well......do i need to go even bigger.thanks guys for all your help