Help! My ball wants to eat me! D:

[Dember]

"Such tiny text...try to use larger txt in the future since I had a hard time reading it without zooming in."
Sorry! The normal size was really large on my screen and looked even more like a wall of text than it does now. Is there any way to edit my first post here?

"For her striking in her tank, could she be insecure in the tank that's making her wig out? Is it very open while the tub you had her in was more cave-like and secure?"
Not at all. She has two hides, one on the cool side and one at the hot spot; and a lot of fake greenery which blocks the entire back wall as well as the sides, so it's not as "open" as any average glass tank. She was kept in a glass tank before, so I wouldn't think that's the problem.
On the contrary, the tub is about two feet tall, and she had no hide whatsoever (since she was only in it for me to spot-clean the main enclosure), just a water dish on paper towels. The tub was a translucent color, so she could definitely still see me and the other animals outside of it. She watched upon occasion, but wasn't really interested and mostly just coiled up around her water bowl and relaxed.

"If she's flipping out in the tank why don't you just keep her in a tub if that's where she's acting the best?"
Because even with the heating pad I had under it and a space-heater aimed at one end, there's no way it's warm enough for her to stay on a long-term basis.
A few other reasons are because I don't think it's secure enough to keep her safe from escaping (it's just a snapping lid, not one with latches) and because I worry about my other animals tipping it over or otherwise disrupting it and injuring her or letting her out.

"Also, I don't know what the white markings are: do you have larger up close photos of them?"
A few cell phone photos that I took to show the breeder I mentioned, but nothing of very good quality. I'll try to get some next time I have her out.
They're definitely not lost scales or anything, rather, a few abstracts scales are simply liquid-paper white in color. I can't see how it'd be anything harmful, but I guess it's sort of neat.


"And as for feeding in the enclosure, that's the ONLY way I feed and I have yet to have a snake become cage/tub (I only use tubs) aggressive for it. For swallowing substrate, I use paper towels so I don't have that issue. I personally recommend people to feed in their enclosures over not, and if they use aspen you can put a paper plate down with the feeder atop it (if feeding F/T)."
Sorry, but this is something I simply refuse to do, no matter how many times I hear "Well I have never had any problems when doing this."
It's the same way I feel about feeding live animals; it's something I will not, under any circumstances, consent to nor approve of.
It is no trouble for me to move my snakes when it's time to feed them, and neither of mine have any problems with being relocated -- I am willing to bet that this girl is so obsessed with nailing her next rat, she'd probably eat in the middle of a busy freeway during rush hour if you offered it to her there.

Sorry, but I won't consider feeding her inside her enclosure, least of all when I suspect it is the sole reason she has such a behavioral issue in the first place. I would worry about my other snake becoming like this, coming to recognize any tank as a place they're put when it's time to eat, and viewing any hand or even face or body that gets too close as the potential "meal".

Paper towels don't seem like any 100% positive way to guarantee no substrate would get in her mouth, and I refuse to risk an impaction.
Also, I don't use aspen, I hear it holds moisture very poorly and can occasionally mold. I use cypress bark and fir bark with some sphagnum moss, which I hear is the best option from most owners, breeders and informational websites, aside from paper towels and newspaper which, while not bad, is just ugly and annoying to replace so often.


"It sounds to me like she is stressed. How long have you had her? Reptiles need time to adjust to new surrounds just like any other animal would."
I know this. I've had her about two weeks now. If she was stressed, wouldn't she be far more likely to refuse to eat, rather than try to eat even a large cat sitting a few feet away? (the animals can't be what's bothering her; her previous owners had cats and dogs as well.)

"Feeding in the tank does not cause tank aggression. I have around 30 snakes and I feed them ALL in their cages. Feeding in the cage is less stressful on ball pythons and tends to be easier when you have more reptiles. I have a few that more than likely wouldn't eat for me if I tried to feed them outside of their tubs."
Congrats to you and all, but like I said, I would never, EVER risk that. And, getting her to eat is the exact opposite of the problem I am having.

"I've also been bit before without being hissed at. You won't always get hissed at and they won't always ball up. A tense snake is a stressed and defensive snake. She is hoping that striking at you will get you to leave her alone. With my snakes I see that if their whole body is tense they are more than likely going to strike at me and they are stressed, when feeding they don't tense up like that."
I am aware of this too, I have met poorly-socialized ball pythons who simply had a "go die in a fire" personality to all whom they encountered, and as someone who has spent their entire lives around animals, it really is a much different behavior and body language than what I see her displaying here.
Both of mine go very still and alert at feeding time, draw their heads back, stiffen up from the "shoulders" up, and then lash out at the offered thawed rat and give it their all to try to "kill" it. This is the same posture and the same look I get as when I wave a dead rat in their faces.

"How is your tank setup? Is it open on all 4 sides? Putting black contact paper on three of the four sides could help her relax a little more."
See above response. It may be a glass tank, but I've used enough greenery that it has a bit more of a "vision cage" appeal to it, to prevent them from feeling exposed in it.

"Another thing you can try to do is take a paper towel tub and gently tap her on the head to snap her out of strike mode before you pick her up. I did this with a few of mine when I first got them and now I can just reach in and pick them up. I hope that helps."
I've been misting her (not squirting her) in the face when she manages to get the pillow case off her head while I'm in the process of raising her humidity. This gets her to draw back a bit when I'd otherwise have to drop the lid and put some distance between her mouth and myself if I wanted to avoid a strike. I'll see if a light bop on the noggin with an empty paper roll will help discourage her though, if that's what you meant.

I'm not really worried about getting bitten, my little male accidentally got me on the way in my house, when my neighbor's rambunctious young pitbull tried to jump on my head to see what I was carrying.
He was aiming for the pitty's nose, but I put my hand up to shield my snake and push the dog down, so he got my hand instead -- I didn't even know he'd used teeth until I looked later and saw two tiny holes, both about the girth of a strand of hair.
I've received worse damage from a frightened two-pound kitten, I'd definitely pick a snake bite over most other animal bites if I had the choice..except my antisocial little canary, perhaps, who likes to "attack" me when I clip his nails and mostly ends up just being kind of cute.

My only concern would be if she did indeed treat my hand exactly like she does her food, and tried to latch on and constrict. I can't imagine that would be fun with even a tiny snake, let alone one of about three feet long.
I've seen a video of a young BP (previously fed live, of course) who bit and attempted to constrict his new owner's hand, but that was a pretty lazy attempt, not a strike. I'm not about to test it out to find out, but how likely is she to try this, if she did indeed manage to bite me?


"I agree with the post above, but would also like ask what your temperatures/humidity are, most cage aggression that I have seen stems from improper husbandry or a hungry snake."
80 - 85 F ambient temperature, 90 - 95 F hot spot.
50 - 60% humidity, 60 - 70% when shedding.
I feed both of mine once a week (one small rat for my eight month old/20" long male; three small rats for the 1.5/2 year old 1200g female). My male has only ever missed a meal when he first arrived home and when he was deep in shed.


Thank you all for the quick replies!