Biting ball

[waldo]

I've had my rescue ball for 1 month now, she is 425 grms and is eating 2 adult mice weekly. I'm having issues with her attitude, she strikes and bites almost every time I get near her. She had calmed down some at first but this last week, she has started back up.
I know a ball can't damage you when they bite but I don't want a snake that is constantly trying to tag me, especially a female who has the potential to be larger. I've given myself till the end of the summer to tame her down, if I'm not successful then I'll have to rehome her.
I could use all the tips you guys have to tame her down. I've watched the video of the breeder working with the nippy babies but she is too big to ball up in my hand. I do cover her head when she gets worked up and it helps for a little while.
Getting her out of the cage doesn't calm her down either, she gets worked up enough that she will even bite herself. I don't know if she was never handled as a hatchling or if her previous owners teaser her or what but I've never experienced a bitey ball and it freaks me out a bit.

[CatandDiallo]

I've given myself till the end of the summer to tame her down, if I'm not successful then I'll have to rehome her.
I could use all the tips you guys have to tame her down.

You're going to rehome a snake for being a snake?

If your child turns out to be a little butt, will you rehome them, too?

[RockNRollProcelain]

Well, seeing as how she's a rescue, there are a multitude of reasons that she could be acting the way she is. As you said, maybe she was never handled. Or perhaps she was mishandled. How is the husbandry for her? If snakes have the wrong husbandry, they can be stressed and tag you. How often are you taking her out to handle her? How long do you handle her when you take her out? Taking her out too much could be stressing her out and making her aggressive. Also, if she nips and you immediately put her back in her tank every single time she does it? She's going to learn that being nippy will get her left alone. Only one of my snakes has ever been slightly nippy, and when he was nippy, I'd continue to hold him for a few minutes. When he was nice and calm again, exploring around my hand and arm, I'd put him back in his tub to clean up my hand. He never got me real good, and he was a tiny little thing when he'd try it.

So things to help you and her not be stressed by interactions? I'd say cut down handling time to just a couple times a week, for no longer than 45 minutes each. Don't immediately put her back if she tags you. You don't want that connection made. Think about the possibility of hook training her. It may help with the association between handling/exploring time versus feeding time, which may help with some tagging. If she's acting stressed, just leave her alone. This tip may seem a little off-the-wall, but playing classical or new-age music seems to have a calming effect on my snakes. I do not know if this is a universal thing, but I can say that my snakes Leo and Mellan are prone to acting anxious when they're handled. When I first got Leo he HATED being handled. He was so stressed my SO and I were a little worried about him. I put on some classical music, and he almost instantly stopped freaking out, curled around my wrist, and didn't move for the next 30-40 minutes. We started using the music to get him used to being handled because he'd never stress out when it was playing. The vibrations from the music must feel nice or something - I wish I knew exactly what it was. So you could always try that. And, as always, make sure your husbandry is spot on. Anything being off could lead to a stressed out snake!

Hopefully she starts to realize that you're not a threat to her. She's probably just feeling very stressed due to past experiences, or because us people are so much bigger than our little snakes. =] With time and patience, she'll relax. I don't think re-homing her would be the best option, however. It would merely add to her stress. Best of luck, and I hope some of this has helped you!

[waldo]

You're going to rehome a snake for being a snake?

If your child turns out to be a little butt, will you rehome them, too?

No reason to be a jerk, it not like I went out and bought her just to toss her aside because she isn't lovable. Either I took her in or she died in a cold house with no heat. I really hadn't planned on keeper her in the first place, I wasn't looking for another snake but I wasn't going to let her die when I have the room and experience to care for her.

@ RockNRollProcelain
Thank you for the advice. Her husbandry is spot on, heat and humidity is good, she has 2 hides, Cyprus mulch substrate, a large water dish and drift wood for clutter. She is in a dimly lit bedroom and thats where I usually handle her so the TV and dogs won't bother her.

I'm only handling her once a week for just a few minutes, I actually think she needs more handling at this point. When I do get her out, I reach in and pick her up from the middle of her body, as soon as she is out of the cage I support her with both hands. Most of the time, she balls up in my hands so I rub her back while she hides her face. If she settles down and stops trying to eat me, I let he slide from hand to hand. If she starts getting feisty, I cover her eyes back up until she calms back down. I continue to handle her even if she does start striking, I won't put her back until she has calmed back down.

I do use rubber gloves to remover her from the cage, the kind you wash dishes with. Once I get her in my hands, I remove the gloves. She hasn't bit bare skin yet and I'll do all I can to keep from getting bit. I react badly to snake bites, even a corn snake bite will swell up and get nasty, no amount of disinfection or medicated cream will prevent infection. Got tagged once on the thumb by a tree boa, my joint swelled up so bad I couldn't bend it for 2 months and it took forever for the swelling to completely go away.

Its feeding day today so I did take her out for about 15 minutes. She was pretty good today, no striking but she definitely wasn't happy. She is extremely jumpy if my hands get anywhere near the front third of her body and will freak if I touch her tail. I try not to make sudden movements around her head but I do touch her tail to try and desensitize her.

[CatandDiallo]

I'm not being a jerk, I'm just being realistic. No need for name-calling.

While what you did was noble, I'm not a fan of people re-homing animals just because they don't behave exactly like they want them to (unless the animal is being destructive/is actually dangerous to humans or other pets).

[RockNRollProcelain]

@ RockNRollProcelain
Thank you for the advice. Her husbandry is spot on, heat and humidity is good, she has 2 hides, Cyprus mulch substrate, a large water dish and drift wood for clutter. She is in a dimly lit bedroom and thats where I usually handle her so the TV and dogs won't bother her.

I'm only handling her once a week for just a few minutes, I actually think she needs more handling at this point. When I do get her out, I reach in and pick her up from the middle of her body, as soon as she is out of the cage I support her with both hands. Most of the time, she balls up in my hands so I rub her back while she hides her face. If she settles down and stops trying to eat me, I let he slide from hand to hand. If she starts getting feisty, I cover her eyes back up until she calms back down. I continue to handle her even if she does start striking, I won't put her back until she has calmed back down.

I do use rubber gloves to remover her from the cage, the kind you wash dishes with. Once I get her in my hands, I remove the gloves. She hasn't bit bare skin yet and I'll do all I can to keep from getting bit. I react badly to snake bites, even a corn snake bite will swell up and get nasty, no amount of disinfection or medicated cream will prevent infection. Got tagged once on the thumb by a tree boa, my joint swelled up so bad I couldn't bend it for 2 months and it took forever for the swelling to completely go away.

Its feeding day today so I did take her out for about 15 minutes. She was pretty good today, no striking but she definitely wasn't happy. She is extremely jumpy if my hands get anywhere near the front third of her body and will freak if I touch her tail. I try not to make sudden movements around her head but I do touch her tail to try and desensitize her.

She sounds like she's just a stressed out BP that's not used to being handled. Bump it up to two or three times a week of handling for no more than 45 minutes each time, and see how she reacts. She may get more used to you handling her, or she may get stressed. You'll just have to gauge by her reactions. =] It sounds like you're doing a pretty good job with her. You just have to have a LOT of patience. Think of it like this: when you get a dog from a shelter, you don't know what the dog has been through. You might end up with a very abused animal as your new member of the family. This dog may be skiddish, nippy, pee itself every time you come near, etc. What "cures" this? Time and patience. Lots of time and lots of patience. And constantly working with them to let them realize you're not a threat. It's very similar with snakes. The snake you rescued may have been severely mistreated, and is going to need lots of effort, time, and patience in order to come to the conclusion that it's okay to be held and handled. I'm sure she'll be fine in time =] Where are you located? There may be some local herp societies that have dealt with rescue animals that react poorly (in case you end up needing extra help/better advice?)

And that sucks about your being sensitive to bites >.< I've only had one small nip that actually broke the skin, and it did nothing to me. But out of the 11 snakes I currently have, only one's ever bitten, and he only broke the skin once. That's kind of crazy though that you can't use any kind of disinfectant or cream to prevent the infection.

[waldo]

OK, will start handling her more often. I'm in North Idaho, no real herp societies around here so I'm kinda on my own. So very thankful for forum like this and the members who take the time to help out.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Actually not being used to be handled has nothing to do with the issue, I don't handle any of my animals unless I do maintenance and none have that type of issue.

Recommending handling has a solution for a BP (not talking about other species) to settle down may actually create more problems.

If the animal is stress leave him alone.

Hatchlings and Juvies are defensive that is part of owning snakes, if you own snakes you will get bit, those are wild animals they are not domesticated and only learn to eventually tolerate us.

In most cases aside from being defensive aggression is linked to stress or food.

I am curious can you describe your setup (enclosure size, temps etc).


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[Phantomtip]

Have you tried to feed her a rat that's the same size as her widest part? She might just be really hungry and the mice might not be filling her up for very long. It's a thought. Also if she's that stressed then you might just want to leave her alone for a week or two. She's a baby so handling her might be scaring her. Also babies are nippy. We are giants to them. As a defense mechanism to keep from being eaten they bite. Heck if a giant tried to manhandle me I would bite too.

[waldo]

She is in a 29 gallon aquarium. Using a small UTH and ceramic heat bulb as our house can still get chilly on cold days. Temp under the warm cave is around 86* F, basking spot is 91* F and cool side is 73* F or so, it fluctuates with the house temp. Cool side has a cave, the water dish is between the two caves and there is a large piece of flat drift wood that kind lays across both hides and shades most of the floor so she doesn't feel exposed to things above.

Not sure what the humidity is but she isn't wrinkly and her cypress is slightly damp, she likes to knock over her water dish at night. I replaced the dish she had with a much heavier crock so she shouldn't be able to spill anymore.

I haven't been able to feed her a rat yet, none of the local pet stores have rats the right size. I may have tracked down a semi local source for frozen rats, waiting back on a email. I did feed her three mice today.

She doesn't seem stressed per say until I try to handle her. She is active and curious in her cage, comes out regular and checks everything out. When I had her out today, she cruised around on the couch nice and slow with no signs of trying to escape or hide until I touched her.

As far as her age goes, any way to get a rough estimate? Even though she is rescue, she was a good body weight when I got her so she was at least feed somewhat regularly. Her owner had recently went to prison and I'm not sure if his wife was feeding her or not. I was thinking she is probably between 6 months and a year. She is the smallest ball I've ever had.

425 grms, not sure of length but at least 2'. Only picture I have of her in my hands, taken about week ago after her first shed with me.