Fearless BPs?

[rustypolished]

Hi guys! I have a random behavioral question - Every where I've read and everything I've seen suggests that balls are supposed to be timid snakes but my little guy seems to be totally the opposite, to the point where he almost intimidates me - Not that he's aggressive, he's only hissed at me once when I was trying to move him after a long car ride to his new home, and he's never struck at me or anything but...he just seems to refuse to ball up. He actually comes OUT of his hides to watch my hand when I'm changing his water or cleaning his cage - If he's out and about and I touch the side of his tub, he ignores it entirely. Even touching him when he's moving makes him tense and puff up a bit but never, ever ball up.

Is that normal? He's only 3 months old, he eats like a garbage disposal every week with no problem, I don't think any of this is actually /aggression/ but he's my very first BP and I'm not quite sure how to read him yet.

[ballpythonluvr]

This sounds quite normal to me. My male pastel is about the same age as your snake and is very alert all the time. My snake always tracks my movements and eats like a pig. I have been hissed at, struck at and almost bitten by my pastel, lol, so yeah, it is pretty normal.

[loonunit]

That sounds like he's hoping for a mouse, actually.

My het pied used to do that, too, watching me clean his tank. Eventually he decided he didn't like it, and he started "guarding" his tank from cleaning. He would also "hunt" my toes when he was out on the couch. Good old Mr. Nibbles...

I'd wear mittens/gloves if your ball python is intimidating you when cleaning his tank. It's got to get done. And I'd start feeding him in a cardboard box, so that he doesn't associate you sticking your hand in the tank with Lunchtime. I'd also up his mouse quota for a while, see if he'll accept seconds.

Just in general, some of them are more timid than others. Some of them are sweet, some of them are outgoing, some of them are downright grumpy. They all get less timid/grumpy with handling, and I have one hatchling that will actually climb my hand when I offer it to her. But even my really neurotic snakes will skip being timid when they're hungry.

So I'd definitely trying offering a little more food.

If your guy does turn into a "Mr. Nibbles", the good news is, it won't last past the first year. I've had two biters, and they both turned sweet as soon as they hit their juvenile fast and the hormones turned on.