I think she wants to kill me!!

[ChelseaV]

...Just kidding, but I'm having some serious struggles with my SuperFly girl.

I've had her for about 3 eeeks now and she's eaten like a champ twice during this time period. I've handled her very little because quite frankly, she is the grumpiest ball python I've ever owned! She sits in constant strike position and the moment you open her cage she's already trying to nail me. Over and over and over and over. All my other ball pythons have adjusted very calmly, none have made any attempt to be aggressive, except for her.
Granted, I know it's not "aggression" but more fear that is causing her to strike so I've done my best to let her adjust and leave her alone.
But dang I want to handle her! It's like giving a kid a birthday gift and telling them they can't open it! I'm trying to have patience but I'm not even sure I'm going about this the correct way.

How should I handle this situation? Leave her be some more? Or start handling her more to get her more relaxed/comfortable with it?

[AKA Dave]

I just dealt with this situation with one of mine. It took a bit of time but you can overcome it. For now, you have to understand in her mind she's winning. As long as she keeps striking and you back off, she'll keep it up. It's a behavioral response that you are reinforcing. At some point you're going to have to just go in and get her in order to break the cycle. I ended up shedding a little good voluntarily just to get over being tagged. It'd been 20+ years since it happened so I was quite nervous about it. It's not that bad. Sure it stung a bit, but I got over it. You're going to need to grab a rear coil while distracting her with your opposite hand. What I did was get her up, then let her strike out at my free hand a coupe of times. Then I came up and over her head from behind to force her into a defensive Ball Python position....balled up. When she uncurled, she was much more relaxed. Straight body and flicking. When she coiled back to strike again it was rinse and repeat. I kept her out for a couple of minutes at at time and only put her back when she was relaxed. It's a battle of wills at this point. Put in the time and you should be able to turn her. Then again, some snakes are just like that. Mine still has a go at me, but I can handle her when I need or want to.

Good Luck,
Dave

[AllThatInThemGenes]

I agree with Dave and would only add a few things;

1. the hand you are distracting her with...hold something medium to large in it like roll of paper towels. This will draw more attention and create a better distraction, if it’s just your hand it will still work but somethings having something larger makes the focus harder on it and when you reach in with your other hand you can sneak it right by her because she is fully keyed in on the distraction hand.

2. I'm simply emphasizing a point Dave made; put her back only when she has calmed down so she does not associate you handling her with feelings of fear


Let us know if she gets you really good one of these times

[ChelseaV]

Thanks for the quick replies.
I tried out the using one hand to distract her while I'll pulled her out earlier. I than used my free hand to put over her head to cook her up. She likes to jerk her head quickly underneath herself and than quickly pop it back out to try and strike again.
I had her out for about 10 minutes and eventually put her back Because she had gotten herself all worked up and was breathing heavily.

I will continue to work at it and keep you guys posted!

[highqualityballz]

What i do is use a hook to get them out of the defensive mode and then when they either curl up into a ball or leave the striking position i then pick them up.

[ChelseaV]

Now, What should I do if when I go to place my hand over her head to make her ball up, she instead puffs up and pushes against my hand with her body?

[jimmysmom]

What is the striking position?

[ChelseaV]

Eh, she pulls her head under her body real tight while pushing her body up and towards me. Stiff as a board.

She actually tagged my knee tonight. I had her tub on the floor in between where i was sitting and silly me, forgot how badly she wanted to get me, so as i lifted her out, she nailed me knee. My own fault. She's going to get a hand one of these times. She is so on edge. I couldn't get her to relax at all. Had her out for a while and didn't want to keep stressing her out so i gently placed her back in. I have a feeling this is going to be a long battle.

I shall keep you all posted on my progress.

[treaux]

How old is she and how big? If she's pulling her head under her body, that's usually a hiding thing, not striking. Striking should be neck curled in an S shape and slightly up off the ground. See the videos below.

I think you have to really do the "dominate the snake" thing with her to put her in flight mode, then hold her until she starts to explore a little. She clearly is reading your tone with her, which seems slightly fearful and expecting her to bite and she gets the reaction she wants when she strikes (that you back off). My youngest BP did this a bit with me at first, and I just had to ball him up and manhandle him a little (just keeping both hands moving over him so he is constantly hiding) and he completely switched modes and hasn't gone back since. I still get a little hiss when I pick him up, but never a strike and he quickly becomes curious.

There are some good demo videos, but I liked this one (go to around 2:10 for the "dominating the snake part"):

[ChelseaV]

She's a couple months old. Last time I weighed her last week she's about 290 grams, so she isn't a teeny tiny baby.

I will try handling her again later this afternoon after work.