So I've had my ball for about a week and a day now - he's a little guy, only about 6 months old and small/underweight. All last week he was pretty great about handling, would curl up and hide at first and then poke out and start to slowly explore my hands. He would draw away from my touch a bit, but nothing extreme. I fed him Thursday, and today I went to take him out because I've got a larger cage I'm setting up for him. He was not letting it happen easily. He hissed at me and coiled back, when I touched him he jerked his whole body away from me and when I scooped him out he's SUPER twitchy and sensitive. He didn't ball up at all, he immediately started trying to make his way out of my hands. He's extremely reactive and will yank his head back if I move too fast or touch too close to his head.

I put him in the deli cup he came to me in for the duration of the cage switch (I have to move the stuff in the cage and the thermostat and stuff) and while I'm giving it 20 or so minutes to monitor the temp of the new UTH he's in there trying his best to get out, hissing when I touch it, etc. I know once he's out and in my hands he's not likely to actually bite (and if he did it wouldn't even hurt, he's tiny) but he is sure putting on quite the show.

I'm hoping he's just having a bad day. Is that a thing with snakes? Maybe that's a dumb question, I want to say yes, but he's still new to me and I miss the calm (if timid) snake I had last week! And I can't decide if I should hold him until he's calmer before putting him away in the new cage (reinforce the "I'm not going to eat you" thing) or put him away and let him calm down until tomorrow (the option I'm leaning towards).