First snake, and she's a beauty!

[redshepherd]

Hi everyone. I've recently purchased a beautiful female ball python. It's been almost two weeks now, and I'm getting concerned. For the first week, I did not feed her (per the instruction of the breeder) leaving her under for a total of 2 weeks. She was fed Saturday (Fuzzy rat pup) and has been in hiding since. I understand she shouldn't be handled for 48-72 hours after, but the constant hiding 4 days later has got me worried. Obviously, I've got no "normal" to compare it to.

Yesterday (72 hours after feeding) I spot cleaned and changed her water. During this process, she struck. I'd been handling her daily since I brought her home and had gone without concern.

Any advice or bit of information I'm lacking (I'm sure there's plenty) would be appreciated!

They hide a whole lot, it is normal. That's funny she got you while cleaning. I think you'll feel better knowing your BP probably has a good feeding response. Or maybe she just got scared by the activity in her cage. I remove my bp into a different box while I clean out their enclosure.

Also possible that the daily handling has been causing her to stress up over time, making her quick to strike defensively. Mostly people handle every other day or less often.