Aggressive Behavior

[Rikoku]

Cersei is a 7 month old female Ball Python, about 23 inches long. She's only ever bitten one person, when we first brought her home from the Breeder. She is an exceptionally active snake, curious and has never balled up on us. We handle her at least every other day,consistently. We fed her from the moment we got her only frozen-thawed mice about once every five days give or take. Recently, after moving, we fed her a live mouse-the first since she was with the Breeder (about 5 months). Around the same time, we got her a new hide. The hide is a bit bigger than the one she was in before. A few days after switching the hides, while wetting her substrate to maintain humidity, she struck at my wife. This was about 5 days ago. We figured she pissed off the snake with the water. But then today, after handling her for less than a minute, I set her in her feeding box for a moment and she struck at me. She bit me, but immediately released and went back into Strike Position. I'm wondering if there is any correlation between this newly aggressive behavior and either the new hide, or her first live mouse. We feed her one large mouse every 5 days or so consistently, so I don't think she's hungry. Can someone please give me some insight?
Thanks!
Sergio and Ronni

[JAK Pythons]

I know I'm not an expert but I have 31 snakes and have seen their feeding responses. I know that a feeding box I'd not the best idea. If they are stressed out and you move them to a box they know is related to their feeding time they will hit anything warm. Especially since they got a live mouse. The core body temp is warmer then frozen thawed for one. Plus a live mouse brings out their preditorial response.

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[Rikoku]

I've read and heard many debates on the pros/cons of a feeding box, we are new snake owners Cersei is our first and we are trying to feel out what works for her. So I appreciate your input regarding that. However, the first time she struck she was inside her habitat. She struck from the inside of her hide out the hole. So in that case, do you think maybe it's the hide that is affecting her behavior or maybe it's stressing her? Or do you still think it is the feeding box concept? Thank you so much for your quick response!!

[Stewart_Reptiles]

First there is a difference between defensive behavior and aggressive behaviour, BP are not know for aggression but they will get defensive.

Usually this behavior is link to stress which can be due to frequent handling, husbandry issues (lack of security), feeding issues .

Live feeding does not create this behavior neither does feeding in the enclosure.

Stop handling your BP, make sure you feed the right amount of food, double check your husbandry (temps, hides, enclosure size etc).

Even if the animal has been in the same setup for months it does not mean it is the right setup for your animal and stress can build up over time.

So not with all that in mind time for YOU to see what triggers this.

[Hannahshissyfix]

My suggestions would be to lose the seperate feed box and stop handling so often. Chances are it just saw a big hand coming towards its while she was misting and thought she was going to take it from the security of its hide. I also wouldn't switch back and forth from frozen to live unless you want to possibly stick with the added issues of having it only want live.