Hey All! I recently (mid-March) took in my first ball python and I thoroughly enjoyed my first month or two with him, but he has become fairly hostile and is becoming more of a stress than a comfort. Some brief background info: I got him on March 23rd at approximately 12 months of age, and he seemed to be very malnourished at the pet store from which I got him. He weighed an even 80.0 grams the day I got him at one year old, and he'd only eaten at 16 of his 40 weekly offerings at the store (they fed him single f/t mouse fuzzies until the last week they had him when he ate two, which was still likely to be shy of 8.0 grams of mouse). Anyway, I started handling him a few days after I got him and he seemed to be totally cool with that; he never seemed shy, and was always seemingly at ease in my hands. I initially got into a 7-day feeding cycle for him since this was what they had been doing at the pet store, but after seeing him eagerly take his meals (live mouse hoppers) time and time again, I figured that it wouldn't hurt to try offering even more often than once a week to maintain a rapid/healthy growth rate. As of the 3rd of May (at which point he had recently tipped the scale into triple-digits), I have adopted a feeding schedule of every five days; he has yet to decline a meal and as of today is weighing in at 260.5 grams.

Now, I have been very pleased to see how rapidly he is gaining mass since it suggests to me that he is healthy and thriving in his new environment. However, as of about 3-4 weeks ago he seems to be always on edge and potentially stressed out. I never have an issue with reaching in and removing him from his terrarium, but once out of his tank he is constantly coiled up in a striking position and violently flinches away from any movement within several feet of him. Here's an image of a scenario that just took me 20 minutes to defuse:


Prior to placing him in his external feeding area (a big cardboard box), I popped him onto the scale to get a pre-meal weight as I always do. However, once I'd taken his weight down, I was unable to comfortably move him into his box because he sat here in striking position and struck at me any time I got my hand close enough to the bowl for twenty minutes. (In the past I have successfully dealt with similar situations by slowly approaching him with a closed fist which he would not mistake for a mouse, but today he struck at my fist each of the three times I got close enough for him to do so.) I finally resolved the situation by covering the bowl with a plate and moving the whole container into the feeding box.

The reason I decided to get a ball python is because I've known a few friends who owned them and I've always been blown away by how relaxed and docile/friendly they are. However, my little guy seems to be getting less and less friendly each day, despite my best efforts to keep him well feed and in optimal living conditions. It's pretty upsetting to me that taking him out to show off to my guests is a definite no-no since I fear that he'd strike at anyone who might reach in to touch him, but at this point I can't even comfortably handle him myself without having this same concern that he'll strike at me and just get stressed out over it. I hate to say it, but unless his behavior improves I think I'll have to eventually get rid of him (I know this isn't something I can expect to happen over the course of a few weeks, so I'm definitely planning to give him at least several months and reassess the situation maybe around January-March).

Pardon my verbosity in the above, but my main question is this: what can I do to get him to mellow out? Are there things that I'm doing wrong that I should change? Are there other details that I may be overlooking regarding his change in attitude? To conclude, I'll include a shot of his housing arrangement which provides the following environment:
- Under-tank heater for a surface temp of ~90-92F (hot side), cool side surface temp ~78-80F.
- Infrared heat lamp (24/7) to maintain air temp around 84F
- UV white lamp (daytime only) to simulate daytime in his otherwise-dark room
- Modified screen-top to maintain humidity at a constant 55% (can be easily increased with a humidifier during shed)
- Similar hides on the hot side and cool side (he switches between the two regularly) with a water bowl in between the two
- Kritter Crumble Coconut Husk bedding and an artificial plastic limb with leaves for added privacy


Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

~Dan