What a bite!

[Punkymom]

Nice!!

Ditto!

[Mike41793]

Why not just run the snakes head under cold water to get her to loosen up and let go? Or use an alcohol swab from a first aid kit to get her to let go? Gravid females are pissy enough sometimes, idk why theyd let you hold one. I hope she reabsorbs the eggs and they dont get jack ship from her. If you dont know what to properly do in certain situations then dont put yourself in the position to experience said situations.

Any ladies here who have had kids? How would you all have liked to be picked up and handled then dunked in a pond while you were pregnant?

[Eclectix]

Tried the alcohol approach first; she didn't seem to care at all about it. I never handle snakes after handling rodents without thoroughly scrubbing my hands, so I would be surprised if I smelled like food. Also, I was not aware that she was gravid when I was handling her. They mentioned that fact afterwards- although to be honest my experience with ball pythons is limited enough that I would not have known that they tend to get more irritable when they are gravid (though it does make perfect sense). I just knew that she was a large, beautiful female BP and I wanted a better look at her.

[heathers*bps]

Hahaha so funny!!

On a serious note, I don't mess with my gravid girls, as I don't want to stress them out and something happening to them or the eggs.

And I don't want to get tagged

[coolballsdave]

Tried the alcohol approach first; she didn't seem to care at all about it. I never handle snakes after handling rodents without thoroughly scrubbing my hands, so I would be surprised if I smelled like food. Also, I was not aware that she was gravid when I was handling her. They mentioned that fact afterwards- although to be honest my experience with ball pythons is limited enough that I would not have known that they tend to get more irritable when they are gravid (though it does make perfect sense). I just knew that she was a large, beautiful female BP and I wanted a better look at her.

I feel for you! What seemed to be a harmless educational opportunity backfired. It happens!

[Mike41793]

Tried the alcohol approach first; she didn't seem to care at all about it. I never handle snakes after handling rodents without thoroughly scrubbing my hands, so I would be surprised if I smelled like food. Also, I was not aware that she was gravid when I was handling her. They mentioned that fact afterwards- although to be honest my experience with ball pythons is limited enough that I would not have known that they tend to get more irritable when they are gravid (though it does make perfect sense). I just knew that she was a large, beautiful female BP and I wanted a better look at her.

I see. Definetly not your fault then, i apologize for being sorta nasty. It was the dumb employees at the stores fault lol...

[Eclectix]

I see. Definetly not your fault then, i apologize for being sorta nasty. It was the dumb employees at the stores fault lol...

No apology needed. I'm actually a bit surprised that they didn't mention that she was gravid to me right from the start, because the guys at this store are usually pretty on top of things and have not steered me wrong in the past. I guess everyone makes mistakes.

My main concern was that the snake not be injured; people wanted to pry its jaws open and that didn't seem like a good idea to me. In my experience with being clamped down on by other animals (hermit crabs, parakeets and such) it is usually best to just be calm, try to get the animal to relax and they'll let go in due time. But after waiting for quite a while, it seemed to me that she had sort of gotten her teeth stuck, so every time she tried to let go, she would feel them twist a bit and feel that her teeth were stuck which would freak her out more and she'd bite down even harder.

[Sam Rickim]

Ouch!

That was actually a lot better than I was expecting, I was imagining that she got a pretty good sized chunk out of you. Fortunately, it's not too bad and probably won't scar if you don't pick at it. I hope your kid wasn't too scared.

Any ladies here who have had kids? How would you all have liked to be picked up and handled then dunked in a pond while you were pregnant?

Also, I was not aware that she was gravid when I was handling her. They mentioned that fact afterwards- although to be honest my experience with ball pythons is limited enough that I would not have known that they tend to get more irritable when they are gravid (though it does make perfect sense). I just knew that she was a large, beautiful female BP and I wanted a better look at her.

They definitely should have told you that. I'm new to the whole ball python thing and I know not to even touch them after they've eaten or shedding unless I have to - if mine was pregnant I'd only touch her if it was an emergency, never mind let someone else, a stranger even, hold her! I don't blame you for wanting to get a better look, though. Learning experience for everyone.

I do hope she reabsorbs the eggs, though, if they didn't learn their lesson - that way they'll definitely learn not to let people hold their pregnant snakes, or at least warn them.

In my experience with being clamped down on by other animals (hermit crabs, parakeets and such) it is usually best to just be calm, try to get the animal to relax and they'll let go in due time. But after waiting for quite a while, it seemed to me that she had sort of gotten her teeth stuck, so every time she tried to let go, she would feel them twist a bit and feel that her teeth were stuck which would freak her out more and she'd bite down even harder.

The problem is that ball python's teeth curve backward (kind of like fishhooks). It helps them swallow and hold on to their prey item, because they can't use their tongues like we can. It's a lot harder for them to remove themselves from something like that. Ever got stuck really badly on a fishhook, or tried to get one out of a fish or turtle? Either way, skin's going to be torn - hence why I thought it was going to look much, much worse. You were fortunate she came off so fast.