Okay, so bear with me, as I am brand frickin' new to the whole snake thing. I've done my research, but of course the first time you have any issues, it doesn't matter how much you've read, I guess? So anyways,

Midas is my 2 year old male ball python. I got him from a breeder at a reptile convention in my city a week ago-- and I chose him because he was the most handled, tame guy they had. He's the snake they got out when kids/anyone wanted to hold a snake he was so steadfastly tame and un-head shy.

So I get him home Sunday after holding him for hours at the show-- he was adventurous and sweet and seemed to seek out attention from people. Now, I understand totally that he needs time to settle into his home. I tried to feed him about 3-4 days in and he just struck at the mouse but wouldn't eat. (understandable, it's all new. I was offering as a litmus test of how adjusted he was more than anything.) Now, it's almost been a full week, and I've handled him for the first times today since I brought him home-- when I held him this morning (10 minutes) I slowly touched his back and he like, jerked/lunged backwards and scared the crap out of me. I scooped him up and put him in his cage to stop any stress he was experiencing. This evening I had him out and he was contentedly sitting beside me on my bed for about 20 minutes, then when i reached down to pick him up and put him in his terrarium he started hissing at me! He just seems to be getting crankier and crankier.

His normal eating day was Tuesday, and we completely missed that with the housing transition and his unwillingness to eat. I've noticed he's getting adventurous and rooting around in his cage at night. Could this be a sign it's time to try to feed him again? Also does anyone have any advice/thoughts on him turning into a kindof cranky snake? or does that have to do with him being hungry? He's such a beautiful creature, I just want him to be happy and to be able to occasionally handle him without fear of him flopping backwards out of fear or hissing!

Any advice at all is appreciated here.