I'm new, and need veteren help!

[NCKarlov]

I am new to these forums, and to the world of owning a snake for that matter. I did some basic research and found that a ball python was my best bet as far as a new snake owner would be concerned.

So i bought a female baby ball from my town's most reputable pet store (not some corporate owned pet chain). Beautiful marks, bright skin, clear eyes, not aggressive, had been eating wonderfully, no scrathes or any problems.

I buy her everything necessary, her cage has been around 80-85 on the warm end, don't have a thermometer for the cool end, i suppose i should get on, i assume it's around 70ish. she has 2 hide boxes, 2 water dishes. No undertank heat pad, but has 2 dome lamps (a red bulb for night time and a regular 100 watt for day).

Ok now getting down to the part where i need help!!


first and foremost, i know i must be doing something wrong with my snake. Please take in to consideration i have never owned one before and do not believe i have a vast knowledge of them...if i am doing something extremely stupid or incorrect...PLEASE let me know so i can fix this problem.

OK my problem is that she is being more aggressive since i obtained her. When i first got her she was very very calm, a bit skiddish and scared, but very calm for the most part. Within 2-3 days she would let me handle her for a couple minutes at a time, no jumping or striking. She simply gripped tightly against my hand and peeked around. Well it came to thursday (when she was used to being fed). the pet store guys told me that she was much larger than the others and as such, was feeding on 2 mice each feeding. They fed pre killed mice. so i naturally did the same, bought 1 frozen mouse, used a pair of tongues to dangle it in front of her (i have never moved her from her cage to feed, and i am thinking this might be a cause for her aggression). anyways, she was a bit frightened at first, but did eventually strike and coil and swallow. Well they said to feed her two. so i go to the pet store much closer to my house, and they only have live. I think to myself "these snakes don't feed off dead things in the wild, what is a live one going to hurt". so i feed her the live one with no problems, she gobbles it up just fine.

Ok i know i have just wasted alot of time by talking about unimportant things, but i'm trying to let you guys know the exact order of events, to see if there is anything i'm messing up.

Well i believe it was 3 nights after her first meal in my room. That i am sitting on my computer (maybe 3 feet to the right of her warm side hide box) and i see her head sitting still on the ground, facing me as i'm just sitting here typing and occassionally glancing at her to see if she decides to move since it's now nighttime. her body remains in the hide box, but her head is maybe 4 inches out. I don't think anything of this so i just keep going about my business. I notice her water bowl is a bit low, and i don't wish for her humidity to go down, so i reach my left hand closer to her cage, maybe one foot, when she immediately strikes at the glass (mouth wide open) slams into the glass, and then quickly zooms into her hide box.

I am not afraid of snakes and never felt uncomfortable around her until this. I thought hmm maybe i was just doing something wrong.

But then last night, i come home and her head is in the same position. facing me. So i roll backwards in my chair to see what she will do. and sure enough she inches her head closer and lifts her head off the ground in the exact manner that she does before she strikes a mouse. i know that if i move close to her she will strike again, so i simply get in bed, turn my monitor and get out of her line of sight.

I am writing this at midnight (around the time she has previously been aggressive). and she is simply in her hide box doing nothing.

OK now that i have THOUROUGHLY explained my situation, here are some of the things it MIGHT be, and some things that might help you guys come to a conclusion.

1. She only does this at night, and on days where she fed earlier (but does not always do it on nights she feeds)
2. I have not handled her in quite some time (2 weeks), due to work and school and recently, this confusion she has caused me.
3. I do not remove her from her enclosure for feeding, i simply drop a mouse in the cage, and watch her eat.
4. I read that in some cases, female baby balls may need to feed more often, so i have been feeding her on wednesday and saturday (only one mouse each time now though, rather than 2 once a week).
5. my computer is very close to her cage, 3 feet, and i am on it quite often. i don't know if the lights or the movement of me typing could have any influence on it.
6. *may not be important but i figure i should include it*. i use coconut bark substrate (the guys at the store swore by it). she has two 12 pack soda containers for hide boxes, one at either end like i mentioned, she has a large tupperware bowl in the middle (6"X6") and a small round one on the warm end (3" diameter). she is in a 30 gallon L tank. and she is roughly 2 feet long. pretty beefy around her mid section as well (though not bloated and disproportional).


She is a beautiful and healthy snake, and i would love nothing more than to be able to hold her, let her rest on me, and keep her calm for as long as i have her. Needless to say, this has been very stressful for me, because lately i feel as though i live with a monster rather than a pet...

Pleaseee help me, i am in desperation!!

Forgot to add...I have been feeding her during the day...around 5 o'clock. they are nocturnal i know and i am not sure if this has anything to do with it.
I also might not have mentioned that my method of checking temp is one aquarium tank strip on the warm side...would it be wise to invest on a digital thermometer that measures both sides and humidity???

[joepythons]

I am new to these forums, and to the world of owning a snake for that matter. I did some basic research and found that a ball python was my best bet as far as a new snake owner would be concerned.

So i bought a female baby ball from my town's most reputable pet store (not some corporate owned pet chain). Beautiful marks, bright skin, clear eyes, not aggressive, had been eating wonderfully, no scrathes or any problems.

I buy her everything necessary, her cage has been around 80-85 on the warm end, don't have a thermometer for the cool end, i suppose i should get on, i assume it's around 70ish. she has 2 hide boxes, 2 water dishes. No undertank heat pad, but has 2 dome lamps (a red bulb for night time and a regular 100 watt for day).

Ok now getting down to the part where i need help!!


first and foremost, i know i must be doing something wrong with my snake. Please take in to consideration i have never owned one before and do not believe i have a vast knowledge of them...if i am doing something extremely stupid or incorrect...PLEASE let me know so i can fix this problem.

OK my problem is that she is being more aggressive since i obtained her. When i first got her she was very very calm, a bit skiddish and scared, but very calm for the most part. Within 2-3 days she would let me handle her for a couple minutes at a time, no jumping or striking. She simply gripped tightly against my hand and peeked around. Well it came to thursday (when she was used to being fed). the pet store guys told me that she was much larger than the others and as such, was feeding on 2 mice each feeding. They fed pre killed mice. so i naturally did the same, bought 1 frozen mouse, used a pair of tongues to dangle it in front of her (i have never moved her from her cage to feed, and i am thinking this might be a cause for her aggression). anyways, she was a bit frightened at first, but did eventually strike and coil and swallow. Well they said to feed her two. so i go to the pet store much closer to my house, and they only have live. I think to myself "these snakes don't feed off dead things in the wild, what is a live one going to hurt". so i feed her the live one with no problems, she gobbles it up just fine.

Ok i know i have just wasted alot of time by talking about unimportant things, but i'm trying to let you guys know the exact order of events, to see if there is anything i'm messing up.

Well i believe it was 3 nights after her first meal in my room. That i am sitting on my computer (maybe 3 feet to the right of her warm side hide box) and i see her head sitting still on the ground, facing me as i'm just sitting here typing and occassionally glancing at her to see if she decides to move since it's now nighttime. her body remains in the hide box, but her head is maybe 4 inches out. I don't think anything of this so i just keep going about my business. I notice her water bowl is a bit low, and i don't wish for her humidity to go down, so i reach my left hand closer to her cage, maybe one foot, when she immediately strikes at the glass (mouth wide open) slams into the glass, and then quickly zooms into her hide box.

I am not afraid of snakes and never felt uncomfortable around her until this. I thought hmm maybe i was just doing something wrong.

But then last night, i come home and her head is in the same position. facing me. So i roll backwards in my chair to see what she will do. and sure enough she inches her head closer and lifts her head off the ground in the exact manner that she does before she strikes a mouse. i know that if i move close to her she will strike again, so i simply get in bed, turn my monitor and get out of her line of sight.

I am writing this at midnight (around the time she has previously been aggressive). and she is simply in her hide box doing nothing.

OK now that i have THOUROUGHLY explained my situation, here are some of the things it MIGHT be, and some things that might help you guys come to a conclusion.

1. She only does this at night, and on days where she fed earlier (but does not always do it on nights she feeds)
2. I have not handled her in quite some time (2 weeks), due to work and school and recently, this confusion she has caused me.
3. I do not remove her from her enclosure for feeding, i simply drop a mouse in the cage, and watch her eat.
4. I read that in some cases, female baby balls may need to feed more often, so i have been feeding her on wednesday and saturday (only one mouse each time now though, rather than 2 once a week).
5. my computer is very close to her cage, 3 feet, and i am on it quite often. i don't know if the lights or the movement of me typing could have any influence on it.
6. *may not be important but i figure i should include it*. i use coconut bark substrate (the guys at the store swore by it). she has two 12 pack soda containers for hide boxes, one at either end like i mentioned, she has a large tupperware bowl in the middle (6"X6") and a small round one on the warm end (3" diameter). she is in a 30 gallon L tank. and she is roughly 2 feet long. pretty beefy around her mid section as well (though not bloated and disproportional).


She is a beautiful and healthy snake, and i would love nothing more than to be able to hold her, let her rest on me, and keep her calm for as long as i have her. Needless to say, this has been very stressful for me, because lately i feel as though i live with a monster rather than a pet...

Pleaseee help me, i am in desperation!!

First off Welcome to the group .Now on to helping you out.Not knocking you of course but the temps are to low for the hot side,needs to be 90ish.I have found over the years that UTH(belly heat) tends to do a better job at keeping the ball pythons temps correct for digestion.The heat lights will keep your humidity low as they tend to "dry out" the air.Its recommended to not bother a new snake for at least a week or two,it gives them time to settle in.Now the reason she is striking at you,she sees shadows reflecting off the glass and reacts in the defensive mood.You only need to feed her a prey item once a week and it should be as round as her midsection.If she is putting away 2 mice at a time then i would try her on a rat weanling.Now you said the pet store fed her pre-killed then you fed her a frozen thawed,its best to stick with one type of food or she could refuse to eat out of confusion.By this i mean if she eats frozen thawed stick with that.If i missed any questions let me know lol.

[joepythons]

Ok you added something lol.Throw that fish tank thermomater in the garbage as its worthless unless your tank is full of water.

[PJ FF]

It looks like Joe got it all down. Also take a look at this caresheet.
http://ball-pythons.net/modules.php?...warticle&id=59

[joepythons]

It looks like Joe got it all down. Also take a look at this caresheet.
http://ball-pythons.net/modules.php?...warticle&id=59

O yea i forgot we have them caresheets lol.

[Griggs2121]

First make sure your set up is right. Sounds like you need to get that temp up higher. 85 on the warm end should be more like 90-94 degrees. Under tank heat on a thermostat is the best and will maintain the exact heat you want. You just have lights, do you turn these lights off at night? If so, the temp will drop to a very cool temp at night, and the light on 24 hours might stress her as well. What about humidity? You have a glass cage with a screen top? If so all of your humidity is probably escaping through the top of the cage, your humidity is probably very low. You want is around 50% Check out the link on this site for aluminum foil and duct tape to keep humidity in.

It sounds like she is stressed about something. I have a snake that was kind of like this when she was younger, and on a really bad day can act the same way.

If something startles her, that could be root. Maybe she was sleeping and you moved in front of her cage really fast scaring the crap out of her. They can be very spooky snakes. One of my snakes doesn't like cameras, she kinda act like that everytime someone got a camera out.

Its probably not a feeding response if shes been fed enough, and if you were to take her out of the cage, she should immediately realize its not feeding time, espescially if you never feed outside the cage. You might need to just spend some time with her and let her get used to your smells and touch.

Also, when you first buy a snake, make sure you leave her alone in her new enclosure for at least a week. Let her get used to everything, if you immediately started taking her out she would indeed get stressed very quickly. Hope this helps, I'm sure someone can chime in as well.

[Griggs2121]

lol, you are fast.

[joepythons]

lol, you are fast.

Who me?

[NCKarlov]

wow you guys are quick when you wake up in the morning. i post this. run outside and smoke a quick cigarette and i am back with 5 responses...

ok some more info.

yea i know that thermometer is a joke, and i know the humidity is definately off, i just didn't know how essential they were. apparently very essential eh? first thing i'll do when i get back from christmas break will be get a digital thermometer and do something about the humidity getting out. I can't stress enough how much i'd like this snake to grow up to be a model pet.

with some of you guys telling me about how i need to not mess with her for a while, i have had her 2 weeks as of last friday. so that gap has been crossed. Maybe she is comfortable now and a bit arrogant? i don' tknow the complete temperment of snakes.

Also, i am 18 years old, and though i am very mature in maintaining my snake, i cannot say the same for all of my friends. They like to get very close to her cage, take pictures of her, tap fingers on the glass, move quickly around her. I tell them time and time again to be slow around her and not to mess with her. They think this means tap slowly and only jump once every minutes rather than twice a minute. I know there isn't much i can do about that...but would putting up some kind of visual barrier around the glass be beneficial at all? *sigh*

So what i have gathered...
1. feed her only once a week, but make it a fat one
2. get my temp and humidity fixed ASAP
3. try handling her a bit more, take her out of the cage

Anything else?

Side note, right as you guys responded, she came out of her hide box, looked right at me and just passed by, got a drink from her dish (first time i've seen that, and is just resting on the cool side of her cage

[Griggs2121]

Very good. Sounds like she is relaxed. If she has had a good amount of time away from you, it might be a good time to take her out. As long as its been a good 48 hours since her last meal.

Take her out and let her set the tone, let her take a second to get all the smells down and realize your aren't going to hurt her

PS - no kidding, I respond because nobody else has, then I post, and everything I said has been covered, lol.