Stupid BP Owner

[KingWheatley]

As the title suggests... This post is about a very stupid Ball python owner.

I am referring to myself, of course.

Wheatley, my late June/Early august hatchling I bought from petsmart, is, at this point, quite used to being handled frequently, and has gotten into a normal routine. All things good on that end, I decided I'd introduce a new element into the equation. Getting him used to the surroundings outside his tank. He knows my room well enough, but nothing else. So while I was waiting on my spaghetti to boil, I put him on the floor to explore a little bit, unaware of what is about to happen...

Wheatley is an adorable, well-behaved, calm little Ball python. He is always on constant supervision when he's up and about, and doesn't venture very far from me.

What I didn't take into mind was my roommate's VERY hyper golden retriever puppy... Who I didn't know was actually inside, and not outside as he normally is. This puppy is almost full grown, but he's still tearing up everything he can get his jaws on. As soon as I hear the sound of mad puppy claws dashing against the hardwood floor on the other side of the wall was as soon as I tried to launch forward and grab Wheatley.

In slow-motion detail, this is exactly what happened:

Dog claw sounds > Wheatley immediately rears and coils into a spring > Me going to grab Wheatley > Dog's face is close to Wheatley//Wheatley does a strike and misses because he's not close enough > Dog is dumb and doesn't notice it still coming forward > I panic, still in the process of quickly trying to grab Wheatley and turn that motion into a backhand, trying to get him away from Wheatley, who is being HIGHLY aggressive.

While that stopped the dog for that moment, it did NOT stop Wheatley, who evidently thinks he's a big and tough bad boy, and started to come after the dog with another strike. I picked him up. He was wide-bodied and very tense, so I tried to let him calm down on his own by standing up with him high enough away from the dog.

The dog, by the way, was completely unaffected by me smacking him, and started to jump up on me, scratching at me with his claws. Still convinced that Wheatley was a toy. From my hand Wheatley did another strike, this time he almost launched himself out of my hand.

Little dude meant business and wasn't going to calm down on his own, so I broke his line of sight with my hand and gently forced him to ball himself up. A trick another YouTuber used (HLC Pythons, I think) I thought was kind of cruel, because it takes the fight or flight response and turns fight into flight. Not knowing any other trick for breaking a python's focus from the offending party, I resorted to an action that in my eyes was not only stupid, but really ices the cake of this whole event of terrifying and possibly traumatizing my baby ball python.

After that, he remained in a ball for a few minutes before responding to me. I put him around my neck, thinking the heat and "shelter" of my hair would calm him down. He stretched out and kept his eye on the dog from my shoulder, and the dog listened to my "sit" and "stay" commands while I finished making my pasta. I went straight upstairs and checked Wheatley all over. Looking for any signs of him being hurt. He seemed fine so I sprayed his enclosure down and put him in my lap while i ate, waiting for the tank'a warm spot to warm back up from being sprayed and for the humidity to return to the comfortable level. Wheatley ended up falling asleep on my lap until a I picked him up. He wasn't tense anymore, and seemed to be back to the usual BP behavior, so I figured the event wasn't at all associated with myself or his home.

I had intended upon socializing him to the puppy once the puppy had reached a stage where he wasn't so excitable, but now that seems impossible. It certainly isn't necessary to socialize a ball python, but I thought it would encourage my roommate that snakes aren't evil if the ball python got along with everyone and not just me. As of right now my roommate thinks I'm a freak who can talk to snakes because I was able to tell when Wheatley wasn't ok to touch. (A snake's body language is easy to read... I don't actually talk to snakes.... In that sense, I mean. I do talk to Wheatley, but it's useless babble since snakes are evidently deaf....)

[PitOnTheProwl]

Personally I would not ever think to put any of my animals in harms way.
Trying to "socialize" your snake with another pet isn't the best thing to do when you do not know how either animal is going to react.
Yes there are people that try/do it but your snake will lose a fight that may happen faster than you think you could react.

[KingWheatley]

Personally I would not ever think to put any of my animals in harms way.
Trying to "socialize" your snake with another pet isn't the best thing to do when you do not know how either animal is going to react.
Yes there are people that try/do it but your snake will lose a fight that may happen faster than you think you could react.

Which is why I was meaning to wait for any interaction, if ever, would be when the puppy was in a calmer and more predictable stage of life. Obviously this will not happen at all anymore. I didn't intend on introducing the dog to the snake then, and was a complete lapse of observation on my part, which almost turned into a quickly fatal encounter for Wheatley...

Ive seen snake owners trusting their cats around their snakes, and that is not something I would trust at all. Most cats get into unpredictable moods and seem to have psychotic moments out of no where....

[redshepherd]

If you want your roommate to warm up to snakes, showing him to other people and friends is always the best way. Especially when they hold him in their hands... It works every time! Lol

It's definitely not worth the risk to try contact with other animals. My dogs are very well behaved, but I wouldn't risk them within 4 feet of my snakes. For me, it's because ball pythons or boas randomly turning around to strike DOES happen sometimes, without any prior body language or warning that you'd normally see. It can be very unexpected! And if they manage to tag the other animal on the nose, the other animal freaks out, it just wouldn't end well...

[Fraido]

Mistakes happen. Learn from them.

I had a somewhat similar thing happen with my borneo and my cat, though in this situation my cat was at far greater risk. I was sitting in front of the enclosure with said snake taken most of the way out into my lap, I was messing around in the enclosure, cat came into the room without me noticing, I immediately hear the smacking sound when you feed a bigger snake.. snake latched onto the cat's face, in food mode, tried to coil her and I had to pry large snake jaws of a spazzing cat's face while preventing him from coiling her. Very hectic situation and now I make 100% sure my bedroom door is closed with the cat outside when I take him out for even a second. Even when I am only opening the enclosure for a water change or feeding.

Keep the animals separated.

[Cin]

How quaint.. thanks for sharing the story, and in such a comprehensible way! We've an old 16 year old black cat that's nearing the end of his days, very mellow but kinda.. out of it. The cat is very sweet, though. He'lol raise the pitch of his meow to get what he wants. Even with such a sweet and carefree cat I wouldn't really trust them together.. Mainly cuz the cat is naSTY.

[dkatz4]

yikes, close call for Wheatley! I allow my cats and my snake to be aware of each other, but never within a body length's distance from each other. Incidentally, i have a 2 year old male dwarf boa who would stand no chance against either of my cats, but who i'm sure could put up enough of a fight to cause serious vet bills for both parties. Generally, he seems just curious about them, they are obviously way to big to look like food, and i'm sure the smell is confusing b/c their scent is all over me most of the time. My one cat seems similarly benignly curious, i can imagine extending the trust between them by small increments over time, but my other cat has a prey-drive like you wouldn't believe and he stares and stalks the snake like he's made out of tunafish. I make sure he's behind a closed door before handling sessions.
Not that vilifying the puppy will help relations, but you could use the situation to exemplify to your roommate how snakes are not big and bad, but sensitive and vulnerable. I always point out to my neighbor who is afraid of them that my snake's entire head is about as big as just one of her dog's teeth (slight exaggeration, but in the ball-park). Though she's still scared of him, at least now she acknowledges that the fear is largely irrational; baby-steps.

[PythonBabes]

Why are you trying to introduce your snake to different animals?

Here we go again with the stress...

Everytime I read one of your threads, it seems like something is happening to Wheatley. Something that's not supposed to be happening. Maybe you should leave him alone for a bit.

[Jeanne]

Why are you trying to introduce your snake to different animals?

Here we go again with the stress...

Everytime I read one of your threads, it seems like something is happening to Wheatley. Something that's not supposed to be happening. Maybe you should leave him alone for a bit.

Yes..this.

Sorry, but wow..

Poor Wheatley needs a vacation or something from all this stress he is having to deal with. Its time to re-evaluate and really think hard about some of the things you have posted recently. Wheatley is having to deal w alot of stressors that can be avoided. Luckily, this incident didnt get him killed. Next time, HE may not be so lucky.

Reptiles should never be introduced or "socialized" with furries of any kind.....EVER. Period. It is a VERY IRRESPONSIBLE thing to do or even consider doing. There are too many wild cards to predict and very bad things can happen when people get silly ideas such as this. So...please...for the sake of that snake....stop! Stop it now! You will get that snake killed if you continue this.

You may feel some of us are being harsh w you on this and many posts... When we are being blunt and not sugar coating things or give you info that you personally dont want to take or dont agree with. We tell you the things we tell you to help you out...and your snake. It is merely because we care for YOUR snakes well being and want YOU to be a successful keeper.

I have been knocking around this site since the day it was "born", I have met alot of knowledgeable people here who are ALWAYS willing to answer questions and such. I emplore you to start using their knowledge given so freely and realise, its being done w the best of intentions.

Sent from my LG-V500 using Tapatalk

[KingWheatley]

Yes..this.

Sorry, but wow..

Poor Wheatley needs a vacation or something from all this stress he is having to deal with. Its time to re-evaluate and really think hard about some of the things you have posted recently. Wheatley is having to deal w alot of stressors that can be avoided. Luckily, this incident didnt get him killed. Next time, HE may not be so lucky.

Reptiles should never be introduced or "socialized" with furries of any kind.....EVER. Period. It is a VERY IRRESPONSIBLE thing to do or even consider doing. There are too many wild cards to predict and very bad things can happen when people get silly ideas such as this. So...please...for the sake of that snake....stop! Stop it now! You will get that snake killed if you continue this.

You may feel some of us are being harsh w you on this and many posts... When we are being blunt and not sugar coating things or give you info that you personally dont want to take or dont agree with. We tell you the things we tell you to help you out...and your snake. It is merely because we care for YOUR snakes well being and want YOU to be a successful keeper.

I have been knocking around this site since the day it was "born", I have met alot of knowledgeable people here who are ALWAYS willing to answer questions and such. I emplore you to start using their knowledge given so freely and realise, its being done w the best of intentions.

Sent from my LG-V500 using Tapatalk

I'm not sure what part of "unintended" and "wasn't aware that dog was in room" didn't come across to anyone but FYI I said it was a thought I had, an intention for the future. Nothing more than a possibility which got dashed by this completely accidental event that was avoided by sheer luck.

Wheatley is fine. Thanks for checking up.