My baby ball python has been striking when I get near the cage at night...

[ADEE]

mxtub, good job for the positive response to this poster.. you suggested some great things. i just wanted to give you some koodoes for that

everyone has made some great suggestions, i second the motion of leaving the little guy (or girl) alone for a couple days. next time you choose to add a snake to your collection i highly suggest using a reptile store or breeder, try to stay away from petco-petworld-petsmart-pet____-exc.. just seems to be more problems then anything else on so many levels but since you already have your little critter i would abide by some of the suggestions here and enjoy your new friend you cant do anything now about having a pet store snakes just know for the sake of knowing next time stay away from them, as hard as it is.

again, congrats and good luck getting your stats where they belong

[mtxsub7]

mxtub, good job for the positive response to this poster.. you suggested some great things. i just wanted to give you some koodoes for that

everyone has made some great suggestions, i second the motion of leaving the little guy (or girl) alone for a couple days. next time you choose to add a snake to your collection i highly suggest using a reptile store or breeder, try to stay away from petco-petworld-petsmart-pet____-exc.. just seems to be more problems then anything else on so many levels but since you already have your little critter i would abide by some of the suggestions here and enjoy your new friend you cant do anything now about having a pet store snakes just know for the sake of knowing next time stay away from them, as hard as it is.

again, congrats and good luck getting your stats where they belong

TY I know how tough it is for a newbie and getting overwhelmed isn't tough so basic opinions and simple advice really helps

[ADEE]

TY I know how tough it is for a newbie and getting overwhelmed isn't tough so basic opinions and simple advice really helps

it absolutly does.. and the fact of the matter is, at some point we were all newbies making some kind of error, and this website is a community out to help one another so good job for being positive influence. I would love to see some photos of this new little snake and its enclosure. (i know for me, with 7 snakes everyone but my boa is set up very basic, one hide, one bin, inside dark rack with a water bowl..and that my friend is the easiest set up ive ever had!)

[NickP]

My bp used to strike at me too, but now he's rather tame (but does strike at passer by-s every now and then.

Here's what I did. I didn't touch him for one week. Following that I fed him and let him be for another three days. Then he would strike at me non stop so I used gloves to take him out and after a day he stopped striking so I stopped using the gloves. Another 3-4 days and he stopped hissing and now he doesn't even jump when I go in to take him out.

Another useful advice: Get an old dirty t-shirt or white beater. Tear up a small bandanna and tie it around your hand for few nights as you sleep. That will scent the bandanna with your smell. The stick that in the BPs hide and he will start associating your scent with security. This has worked wonders for me. My bp seems to recognize me nowadays. For instance when anyone but me goes to take the snake out he will curl up and raise his body wherever they touch him. Every now and then he would even hiss, but when it's me he slithers onto my hand. I stopped doing the bandanna trick a while ago, but the snake still seems to recognizes me. Now that might just be me being crazy and wanting to believe that the snake recognizes me, but still, it did make a difference.

[Sprattles]

Thank you all so much for responding and being so helpful! Well, here's what happened...

After I made this topic and got a few responses, I told my mom, and so she went to a Petco, a different one than we got the snake from, and talked to main reptile guy there, who was very informative and explain a lot to us, and helped us get a bigger tank and what we needed for it. So we now have a....I believe it's 20g or more. It's big! I now have two hides, a bigger water bowl, and a log to climb on. I have a couple pictures here, of the new enclosure, and then the snake in it's old enclosure.

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...les/Misc-3.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...les/Misc-2.jpg
^The snake is hiding in that hide right now.

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...les/Misc-1.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...es/Misc-12.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...es/Misc-10.jpg

The old tank he was in is now going to be his feeder tank. His/her/it, rather. I still don't know the gender!

Also, I totally know now to go to a breeder or the like from now on, after this experience. But I made a commitment to this snake and I'm going to keep it and make sure this snake gets a great life.

[mtxsub7]

Thank you all so much for responding and being so helpful! Well, here's what happened...

After I made this topic and got a few responses, I told my mom, and so she went to a Petco, a different one than we got the snake from, and talked to main reptile guy there, who was very informative and explain a lot to us, and helped us get a bigger tank and what we needed for it. So we now have a....I believe it's 20g or more. It's big! I now have two hides, a bigger water bowl, and a log to climb on. I have a couple pictures here, of the new enclosure, and then the snake in it's old enclosure.

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...les/Misc-3.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...les/Misc-2.jpg
^The snake is hiding in that hide right now.

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...les/Misc-1.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...es/Misc-12.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...es/Misc-10.jpg

The old tank he was in is now going to be his feeder tank. His/her/it, rather. I still don't know the gender!

Also, I totally know now to go to a breeder or the like from now on, after this experience. But I made a commitment to this snake and I'm going to keep it and make sure this snake gets a great life.

I'd recomend getting a better therometer and humidity gauge, those aren't very accurate and can be +10 degrees off most of the time also, have it in the middle of the cage not the side

[mtxsub7]

I'd recomend getting a better therometer and humidity gauge, those aren't very accurate and can be +10 degrees off most of the time also, have it in the middle of the cage not the side

Also those hides are pretty big for the snake, I don't think it can feel too safe inside them, You bought the snake setup for $100 right? comes with 2 lights and everything you need.. well you might want to get smaller hides and diffrent gauges and possibly a controller of some sort for the lights



EDIT: I might of lied, that might be a 29G [if it is, it's going to be tough to keep humidity in]

EDIT2: that substrate your using the little pad thing isn't really good, im using it for my leopard gecko and it sucks, you should use what you were originally using that was perfect

[giaach]

Those are some pretty good suggestions right there...

[BMorrison]

I'm using aspen and having no problems with humidity. I put some humidifying moss in there.