Strike and Miss !!

[tman]

I have a 4month old BP, I've had him for about 6 weeks now. The most friendly docile snake, handled every day for 15- 20 minutes. So this morning he was on his cool side, so I unstraped the lid and reached in to lift up the hide to check for any waste, like I do every morning..... Then it happened, he Struck at my hand, he missed !!. Why would he do this, his temps are good, he eats well ( only live ) I can't get him to eat f/t or fresh kill. Does this Strike mean he's going to get mean ??
Any help would be great;
Thanks

[Brandon.O]

it doesnt mean he is "going to get mean" hahah,is he shedding ? ususally when there eyes start to cloud over they will strike at anything that moves.Did you have mouse scent on you at all ? maybe he smelled food on you ? do you feed him in the tank ? people say that if you feed them in the tank that the snake will associate the opening of the cage lid with food,thats why i feed mine out of the tank and i ave never had a problem.And dont be scared of the bite it doesnt hurt.

[tman]

it doesnt mean he is "going to get mean" hahah,is he shedding ? ususally when there eyes start to cloud over they will strike at anything that moves.Did you have mouse scent on you at all ? maybe he smelled food on you ? do you feed him in the tank ? people say that if you feed them in the tank that the snake will associate the opening of the cage lid with food,thats why i feed mine out of the tank and i ave never had a problem.And dont be scared of the bite it doesnt hurt.

Thanks Brandon; No he doesn't appear to be in shed, but I have been feeding him in his tank, after he struck at me I did pick him up from behind with no problems. I've tryed feeding him out side his tank but he refuses to eat..... I will keep trying.
P.S, I've never been bitten before, little nervous.

[gozetec02]

When ball pythons are little they feel like everything is out to eat them and the strike may be defensive. I had a baby ball python that was the same way. I could be handling him and he does good then i put him back. I might take him out the next day and he would strike at me. Seemed to me he would wake up on the wrong side of the sterilite. Another thing it could be is your hand smelling similar or like a rodent. As a general rule always wash your hands with antibacterial soap before and after handling a snake this even goes for handling between snakes like puting one down a picking up the otherone. But at that age they are also growing very fast and since they are sometimes ambush predators movement and heat sometimes trigger a feeding response. I wouldnt worry about it too much. What you need to do when you handle him is not to hesitate that gives them time to think "food" and then pick them up. Mine would even hiss but he got over it and stopped being a drama queen.

Brandon is also right about associating the opening of the cage with feeding time. Just about all baby ball pythons are a bit nippy and they grow out of it when they learn that they can trust you.

Oh yea. Welcome to the best ball python forum in the world. Getting bit isnt that bad when its a baby because its mouth isnt that big but they will draw blood but its not painfull. It does scare the poop out of you though because they are so fast.

[tman]

Hey thanks gozetec0; Like I said it was the first time it happened so I will try not to worry to much, and I will really work on him getting used to feeding out side his tank.