BP online purchasing

[maudie]

Recently I purchased a juvenile male Champagne ball python but he turned out to be VERY aggressive in nature. Do any of you know if when purchasing ball pythons online and having them shipped to you, do they usually turn out to be aggressive? Thanks in advance...

[Daigga]

I've had three shipped to me and none have been aggressive. Did you leave him to settle in for a good amount of time? Most people leave them be for at least a week or until after they've eaten their first meal for you (whichever comes second). Stress can make young ball pythons nippy, so leaving them be for a bit usually helps them calm down.

[Eric Alan]

Younger BPs tend to be more defensive in their demeanor simply because they think everything's trying to eat them because they're small. Simply shipping an animal won't change its overall personality. The stress of shipping could influence their actions a bit in the short term, but I haven't found it to be related in a more significant way than that.

[SadieJ]

I'm glad you asked this, I will be having mine shipped to me within th nxt few wks & was wondering how that affects them their 1st few days. I'm definitely planning on taking mine out of the box, weighing him & immediately putting him into his home for at least 5/6 days to settle in. Then I'll offer him something to eat I'm planning on getting my sister to record his arrival & put it on YouTube

[maudie]

It's definitely a really exciting experience. I hope it all goes well for you!

[maudie]

I've had him for about a week now and have only held him a couple times. One of which was to help him get some skin off his face, (that was on the first day!) I guess they had shipped him to me during his shed. Which probably didn't help his temper at all. I'm planning on shipping him back tomorrow, because of how aggressive he is. He will even strike the glass when I walk by. (pretty hard, too) And I don't want him hurting himself. He's only my second ball python and I'm really not ready to deal with one that aggressive Unfortunate, really. He's such a beautiful snake.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

BP can be defensive for various reasons those are mainly due to stress (over handling, husbandry issues, shed etc)

They can be stressed following shipping but if your husbandry is spot it should not last more than a day or two.

As mentioned younger individuals will be defensive but will grow out of it as they grow.

So bottom line make sure your husbandry is optimal, do not handle your animal until it eats with consistency, offer appropriately sized meals and remember that those are wild animals and that expectations should be different than those you would have with a dog.

[MS2]

I have shipped a few feisty baby ball pythons to different customers. I was always curious to how their first interactions with the babies would go. They would email me when they arrived and the story was always the same. "He/she is so nice...."

I was thinking shipping them may have calmed them down.

[mechnut450]

He could be hungry too if just shed I found most my snakes want food after they shed and is striking out at the glass due to the heat sig your putting off thinking your food. I would not ship back right away I give him a couple weeks to calm down and at least eat I bet he will inhale the first prey he given.

[Drake Moonslayer]

My limited experience with my BPs the ones that started off more aggresive have been some of my best eaters never missing meals and have calmed down towards me as they got older, but still very aggresive eaters. I have also let a couple of them bite me and it seems as though after they realize that im not food they tend to mellow out afterwards.