Hello. I have a ball python around 20 months old which i have had for 18 of those months. My general feeding routine is i take the ball out of the habitat, place him in a newspaper lined box and drop the mouse in. He eats and i place him back in his habitat. I have been bitten twice doing this. The first was several months ago and the second time was yesterday. Both times, it has been while taking the snake out of the habitat to move him to the feeding box. The first time was when i reached into the habitat and yesterday, i was carrying the snake to the feeding box and he bit the hand i was not holding him with. (latched on pretty good and did not let go for a bit). Both times the bite bled a little but was not painful.

What I have noticed is that the snake can almost sense it is feeding time before it happens if that makes sense. He will generally come out of his hide and become active as soon as i enter the house with the mouse. I have never had an issue when reaching in the habitat to pick up the snake for handling during non-feeding times. I have also never had an issue when picking the snake up in the feeding box immediately after he has eaten to returning him to the habitat. Yesterday, the mouse (in a small cardboard box) was never closer than 25 to 30 feet to the ball in the habitat when i moved the snake. I did not touch the mouse before handling the snake. Any ideas on what i need to do to make the transfer of the snake to the feeding box easier? Is the snake smelling the mouse from across the room? Any advice / insight is appreciated.