Monday night I bought a baby ball python from the local pet store. I bought a basic set up for him that night and added a larger water dish and a hide the following day. The night I got him, as I was taking him out of his box to put him in his tank he struck at me...I wasn’t surprised considering the long car ride plus the time spent in the box while I set up the tank. But the following day as I was adding a bit of substrate he popped out of his hide and struck me. Again I’m not surprised he had barely just gone into his new hide and is still getting used to his new tank.

However my concern is that he has established my scent as something worth striking at. Do I simply wait a full week or two before attempting to hold him and go from there? Or should I put a sock or shirt in the tank to establish my scent as neither prey nor predator. Ultimately I want to nip this in the bud before he decides to always nip at me haha.

Any advice is greatly appreciated, I’m new to snake keeping and looking forward to having this BP around. Just don’t want him to develop any undesirable behavior.

Here is his current tank set up, 10g is small I know but he is a baby and I will be upgrading his tank as soon as I figure out this biting behavior.