Ball Python is suddenly aggressive

[Laughing Fish]

Greetings!
young adult female ball python. I have never had any problems with her, as she has always let me hold her, and has always ate quite well. However, when I was rearranging some rocks in her enclosure, she bit my finger and wrapped around my hand, trying to constrict it. She is not very large, so no damage was done. I just waited for her to run out of energy, and gently pulled her off. Since this, however, she has refused to hide in her hideaways, and follows me with her eyes if she sees me. I figured that she just needed some time to rest, so I turned out all the lights and let her have some privacy. This morning, however, when I turned her lights back on she immediately came out of her cave and stared at me. I have never fed her in her enclosure, as I have a box that I feed her in. I do not think she needs to eat again yet, as her last meal (medium frozen rat) was approximately 72 hours before this incident. She is clearly extremely stressed. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can calm her down?

Thanks in advanced!

[nightwolfsnow]

Welcome to the forum!
I'm certainly no expert...But have you checked if there were temperature changes? Does it look like she's going into shed soon? I thought wrapping was a prey drive response, not defensiveness like just striking. Very odd. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in .

[distaff]

No expert here.
Sounds like a mistaken feeding response, rather than aggression.
Many swear by hook training. HLH Reptiles has some videos on it.

Was she possibly in shed? Are you sure her eyesight is ok... did she shed her eye caps last time?

Had you just been handling rodents?

[distaff]

Presumably temps and humidity readings are all good, and hides are still the correct size, and correctly placed?

I would probably cover all the glass, and give her as much privacy as possible for a while.

[Laughing Fish]

No, I had not handled rodents recently. And she wasn't shedding. Her shedding went perfectly fine last time, and she successfully shed the caps over her eyes. I just checked the temperature, and it has remained stable. Very odd indeed. It had been a couple weeks since last time I held her, if that helps.

[Laughing Fish]

@distaff

Temperature and humidity are fine. I covered the glass for about 18 hours, and while it calmed her a bit, when I uncovered it her head immediately popped out of her cave, and she started following me with her eyes. Right now she is mostly in her cave, but her head is sticking out and turning towards me when she sees me.

[SamO]

Hopefully an expert will chime in but the behaviour you're describing does sound like she is hungry. She might need to go up on prey size or be feed more often. Feeding can put snakes in extended "feed mode" where they wait for the next prey for two or three days instead of the normal two or three hours.

When she stares at you, does she do it with her body at about a 30 degree angle? Head looking straight at you? It's a classic, "I'm hungry" look.

[Laughing Fish]

Maybe that's it. She ate pretty fairly recently, but perhaps she is going on a growth spurt. I will try feeding her. What is the recommended way to pick her up when she is like this? I don't have a hook. It would probably be wise to invest in one, but I can't get it today.

[frostysBP]

U can use paper towel roll and rub her first to get her out of feed mode..... snakes go through moods.one of my best snakes to a shot at me for the first time a few weeks ago..tho what u described sound like a food response bite.

Sent from my A521L using Tapatalk

[BCS]

As other have stated, it is a feeding response. You have a heat signature and smell, whether it is a rodent smell or not. In the wild, ball pythons wouldn't eat just rodents. The would eat things like small lizards and small baby mammals. Many people think the only reason to be bit due to a feeding response is to hold a rodent... not true.

And as someone else said hook training is a very good idea and too swear by it. Of course I also wouldn't be rummaging around my snake's enclosure with the snake in there either. I am surprised you never noticed the "striking" pose before you got bit. But using a hook before picking up your snake is a good way to tell it that it is not feeding time.

Feeding in a separate enclosure is a false myth BTW. People say that it keeps them from getting aggressive while in their enclosure. I have actually noticed people have more issues when feeding in a separate enclosure. People still do feed in separate enclosures for other purposes like keeping the enclosure free from mouse droppings if they feed live. Just know that you do not have to and is less stressful for your snake if you don't.

As for her coming out when you arrive in the room, I have multiple snakes that do this. I have no clue why they do. Of course it is my face they see first when I am about to offer them a feeding item so maybe that could be the reason? It is nothing to be concerned about. It is not a tell tale sign that she wants to eat you. She knows you are too big to eat...