Believe it or not, even people who have owned ball's for years get skittish about being struck at.

The majority will even tell you, it's not the bite itself, it's the "jump" factor.

Your best bet is to move slowly and calmly around your snake, to avoid sudden movements that might startle you both. Do your best to ignore the "S" shape, BP's do that a lot, and it rarely means a bite. You can usually tell if it's thinking about biting, not only will it "S" curve the head and neck, it will tense up to the point of nearly vibrating before a strike. However, this is usually only a feeding response bite.

I warning strike happens so fast you can't even see it, and usually your bitten before you even register the strike. At my last snake fair earlier this month, a lovely little pastel I was handling got me, I didn't even know it until 15 minutes later when I wondered where the little blood droplets came from.


Try not to stress about it, what you imagine is much worse than when it really happens.

Gale