Ball Python strike position due to hunger?

[EAllen84]

How long have you had him? He may just be afraid of the "big, scary human trying to kill him".

It is a bit difficult to cause a yearling/juvenile BP to become hefty from over feeding. I believe they have faster metabolisms than older BPs, which is why a 4-5 day feeding schedule is fine. Being that he was underfed in the pet store for an undetermined amount of time, you of course would not want to stress his digestive system by suddenly cramming him with constant large meals. However, he can probably handle prey larger than small mice. It'd be good to get a weight on him to be sure of what size prey he could handle. Have you compared the girth of the small mouse (at about its hips) to the girth of your snake at its widest point? If it is the same size or smaller than your snakes girth you may want to just slightly up the size of prey you offer.

Hopefully I am correct here, someone may correct me if I am wrong.

Thank you for this. I have had him since the end of April and the mice are right at the girth at his widest in size if not a teensy smaller. He has been really pleasant and doesn't strike at me. It's only when I go check on him through the evening, he is still in the same position in his humid hide. It's always after feeding for a day or two, then he goes about his business switching hides and being active at night exploring. I feel extremely fortunate that this cutie pet store snake has been such a good eater and settled into his new home nicely. I've heard such horror stories..