New BP!!

[snickers1714]

I got my new BP today. Her name is Juneau. One question though. I wasn't home when she arrived so my mom put her in the tank. When I got home I gave her fresh water and took her out for some quick pictures, I know i probably shouldn't have.
She was fine when I took her out, she just hid her head but did not ball up. I put her back in and turned around and she struck at me, well not at me but at me inside her tank. And when I was going over by her cage she did it too. Is this just because she is stressed out today or did I just aquire a mean BP. Is she just full of it because I had another BP before that would always strike but when I had him out he was fine. I guess she is just trying to deter me. O well we shall wait and see, but I am super excited none the less.
Here's some pics. (They might be kind of crappy because I was resizing them alot because I haven't really gotten good at posting pictures and the pixels got screwed up)

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...4/dscf5293.jpg

[joepythons]

Nice looking girl

[starmom]

Great looking girl!! Make sure you have the hides and husbandry together and just leave her alone for a while and let her get settled in. Covering the sides and back of the tank will increase her security as well.
Check out the sticky on glass tanks for reminders
Again, pretty snake!

[snickers1714]

yeah, i put a black towel around the sides for now, thats what I did with my old snake. I am going to wait until she eats then slowly reduce the amount covered. It worked for me before. Thanks guys!

[balls4life]

Beautiful girl you got there.

[Wh00h0069]

Yes, it sounds to me like she struck because she was stressed. Ball pythons stress easy, especially when they are moved from one environment to another. I would give her a week or two to get used to the new environment, and you. Then only handle her occasionally at first so that she has a chance to get used to you. Hope this helps.

[pedipalps]

Nice ball and pattern you have there. Congrats to your new bp.

[kc261]

yeah, i put a black towel around the sides for now, thats what I did with my old snake. I am going to wait until she eats then slowly reduce the amount covered. It worked for me before. Thanks guys!

Gradually reducing the amount covered might or might not work as far as keeping the snake stress free. However, there are 2 reasons for covering the sides of a glass tank. The second one is to help stabilize the temps and keep the heat in, which can be issues in glass tanks. The covering helps with this, and you may want something that does a better job of insulating than just a towel.

You can still make it look good by using one of those aquarium/terrarium backings between the glass and the insulation, or any number of other things that would look nice.

As far as her striking at you, as you guessed and others have said, it is probably just her being stressed from the move to a new home. Give her time to settle in and she will probably be fine.

Congrats on your pretty new girl!

PS - Your paper dragon hatchling is cute!

[snickers1714]

Ok name change..haha. Her name is now Cora.