Taming Eve down?

[angllady2]

Well, baby ball pythons do eat a lot for their size, that's how they grow. And ball pythons are chubby snakes anyway. I would not do any more often than 4 days, but maybe try offering her a third pinky and see if she'll take it. If she does good, if not that's ok too.

Many young ball pythons are very nervous and flighty and will "s" up at anything and everything. It is their only means of defense. It can take patience on your part to gradually win over a young ball. Most of them do grow out of that phase before long. I've rarely seen one act that way once they hit a few months old and get some size to them. But there are exceptions. Some will simply never outgrow their nervousness. It isn't really meanness, it is almost always due to fear, occasionally to hunger, and very rarely to aggression.

If I were in your position, and truthfully I am with my own hatchling, I'd work on one thing at a time. Start with hunger, since that is the easiest and most obvious. If she gets a few extra meals in her and still acts this way, check into her surroundings. Is it tight enough, warm enough, quiet enough to suit her ? Once hunger and stress are ruled out, it's time to accept it as typical young snake syndrome. Be patient with her, but be persistent as well. Be gentle with her, do handle her, even if she doesn't care to be handled, but do it gently and move slowly around her. Keep handling to brief sessions at first. As time goes by, she will almost certainly come around. I've had a few rescues that came to me with various reasons for attempting to remove my fingers and face, and all of them eventually turned into the docile darlings they are supposed to be once we worked though whatever was causing the behavior for each one.

I wish you all the best.

Gale