Quote Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents View Post
I doubt he's going to calm down in just a week. If he ate right away for you and keeps biting then he has a great feeding response. What I would do is bump him up to eating every 5 days for awhile if you can. When a ball wants to eat that often, especially when young, give it what it wants. There will probably come a time when he won't eat every week so fatten him up as much as possible now.

Use long tongs to offer the rat so you don't get bit and just feed him and leave alone otherwise. Even the most aggressive feeders will eventually back down from food and will ignore you.

It will take longer than a week but you may be able to break him of the biting this way.

I have a female that was a voracious feeder when I got her. She was over a year old but still ate twice a week. She bit at me every time also. Once I got her through that stage and she no longer wanted food so often she calmed down considerably and stopped trying to bite.

You may have just been unlucky and got one of the few pissy BP's. Either give him time or try to trade him for a more laid back one.
Okay sounds good ,I don't expect him to calm down in a week or so but maybe just not be as nippy as he is right now .I had talked to the breeder that I got him from today and he told me its going to take time he was in a tub setup for 6 months of its life from a hatchling until you bought him he only had human contact for water and feeding other than that he was not handled so that new to him right now and also his enclosure is new so he is still settling in ... also saying "you lucky you have one that is eating for you rather than having one that doesn't bite and doesn't eat for you "...I really don't want to switch my ball for another one for 3 main reasons #1 I really like his color and patterns #2 All the other spider balls I saw at the breeders facility were nippy right out of there tub ... the one I got didn't do that which made me feel comfortable #3 I don't want to go threw this with another ball .... Also I never thought of that it biting was a feeding response even the breeder told me that but I never thought that switching his meals from 7 days to 5 days will make a difference but hey its a try ....Do you think he will get messed up from being fed every 7 days to being fed every 5 days ? Since he was fed on a 7 day schedule since a baby. What do you suggest to do so I don't keep on getting bit ? Should I fed every 5 days now and leave him alone with no handling ? Or should I fed every 5 days but still try handling lets say in a week ? Or should I stay on the 7 day schedule for feeding ?.........I also heard a snake that is young like mine at 6 months are all nippy once the reach an older age they will calm down more even if it hasn't been handled basically saying your snake will be tame if its handled or not once it starts getting older ? I don't know if this is true or not but i thought I would share .... defiantly want to hear more about changing his feeding from 7 to 5 days !!

hope i explained this well and would love to hear more and some more advice
thanks for all the replies so far