Our Snake Hissed at Me!

[NickP]

So how do you pick up your snake if he/she is hissing and snapping everytime you try to touch him/her?

btw I was only poking with a pencil because i didn't want him to strike at my finger.

[sw204me]

I sprayed her with a lite mist of water so she would coil up and hide, once I got to touch her she was fine, just had to get her to hide her head for a sec.

[Ginevive]

Yeah, they will hiss. Some more often than others. I really don't have any consistent hissers.. but once in awhile you'll get the odd hiss if you disturb someone.

[darkangel]

So how do you pick up your snake if he/she is hissing and snapping everytime you try to touch him/her?

btw I was only poking with a pencil because i didn't want him to strike at my finger.

I have found a towel is good for getting a hissy snake out of the enclosure without getting tagged.

[frankykeno]

Depends on the hiss really. You get to know after a time with each snake what different hisses, body postures, etc. mean for that particular snake. We have two adults for instance, a male and female ball python, that hiss every single time they are moved or disturbed in any way. They've always done this and with those two it means absolutely nothing....just them grumbling basically since neither has ever bitten. The female is a powerful hunter though and will come out of her tub to "help" you feed her if you aren't fast enough. (Robin knows which female this one is LOL)

We have other snakes that if they put out a certain low, serious hiss I'm going to fully respect that warning and get the heck out of their strike range as fast as possible or at least block their strike or redirect them with a mist of water or a tap of the spritzer bottle. Really just comes down to knowing each snake's reactions, their cues and trying to give them no real reason to feel defensive around you.

[MelissaFlipski]

Yep you live, you learn. Most snakes don't care to be messed with that way so he's just doing what a snake does dear. If he has regular problems with shedding then you do need to look at your husbandry and see if there's tweaks to be made so that he can manage it on his own. Some just aren't good shedders but it's always worth looking at husbandry, specifically humidity, first. If the shed on his head is only tiny little bits and not encircling or including his eyecaps personally I'd just leave it be and let it come off next time. Have you tried putting him into a warm damp pillowcase and then popping the whole thing back in his home for an hour or so? That usually works to rub off whatever shed is stuck. Also Christie did a fantastic sticky for bad shed help if you haven't had a chance to read it yet...

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=43403

Thanks, but I got the tutorial and used it last time. It does really help. It's just that he remembered what I did to him (when I pulled the skin off his head last time and got the nip). Here is the link with the pics I posted last time (from the same thread you mentioned).
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...t=43403&page=6

So he was telling me, "No, don't do that again!" I might try the pillowcase trick or have my husband try next time.

This is only his second shed with us. We've only had him since the end of August. Hopefully, his sheds will improve and he won't be a "difficult shedder." I think our husbandry is pretty decent, though we do struggle some with humidity, but mist a lot to try to raise it when he is close to shed (which we knew). We've put a large ceramic water bowl over the UTH to help evaporation, too. I admit, the 20 gal tank makes it harder to maintain the humidity.

[NickP]

Depends on the hiss really. You get to know after a time with each snake what different hisses, body postures, etc. mean for that particular snake. We have two adults for instance, a male and female ball python, that hiss every single time they are moved or disturbed in any way. They've always done this and with those two it means absolutely nothing....just them grumbling basically since neither has ever bitten. The female is a powerful hunter though and will come out of her tub to "help" you feed her if you aren't fast enough. (Robin knows which female this one is LOL)

We have other snakes that if they put out a certain low, serious hiss I'm going to fully respect that warning and get the heck out of their strike range as fast as possible or at least block their strike or redirect them with a mist of water or a tap of the spritzer bottle. Really just comes down to knowing each snake's reactions, their cues and trying to give them no real reason to feel defensive around you.

Ok. Yesterday i put my snake on the ground and he immedietly started escaping and would hiss and snap when i tried to pick it up. What would you do in this case? I get the feeling his number 1 priority is to escape his tank. Everytime he is in my hands he looks for stuff he can slither on and once completely out of my hands he won't let me pick him up again at times by hissing and snapping. I'm not really scared of being bitten, but don't want to be. Also I am scared I might damage my BP more by trying to grab it or grab his tail to slow him down or use a towel to stop him....etc.

[frankykeno]

Well Hammer I think I noticed in your other posts that you mentioned a few relevent points. You've had this snake since Monday, so less than one week at this point. You are fiddling about with it's enclosure, changing things up. You are handling this snake and letting it loose from your direct control.

The issues here are that you are most likely stressing this snake out completely. You need to think like a snake for a moment here, Hammer. This snake is new to your home, possibly quite young, hasn't been allowed to properly settle in and it's environment is changing. When you put it on the floor and stand over it, it's seeing you as a big heat emitting predator so of course it dashes for safety or it's out in the open where any predator could find it so it seeks a hidden place...that's normal snake behaviour. Ball pythons are snakes that live mostly underground in burrows and tunnels...they don't do open spaces all that well.

Hissing and striking at you are defensive behaviours because it's stressed, doesn't have the ability to understand the changes in it's life and if it's home is not set up properly...it just plain doesn't feel right. You need to focus on setting up it's home properly for a ball python, stop the handling for now and just get it settled and feeding regularily. Handling will come when the snake is more able to accept it. That handling should be done slowly with respect for what your snake is and what it isn't capable of dealing with.