Ball Body Language?

[Tosha_Mc]

A snake is primarily muscle - so when the snake is uneasy you can see and feel the muscles tense up and when it's relaxed you can see it relax. If you are holding a snake that doesn't want to be held -- it will be all tensed up and hard and likely try to flee or poop on you -- once it relaxes it will be a soft and mushy snake that wants nothing more than to curl up in your warm lap.

As for babies -- some are nice enough to huff and puff and get in the strike pose prior to striking - easy enough to read. And others just randomly launch out and bite at anything they can -- they tend to outgrow this little maneuver.

[Sonya610]

it just means that most of my snakes are females so I have 20 females and 5 males

Ahhh...okay that makes sense. I guess a lot of breeders have many more females than males. It just seems I have noticed quite a few people talk about "annoyed girls" but maybe that is cause they have a lot more girls.

With canines and felines (especially in groups) it is easy to see the males are often sweeter and more social, I wondered if the same applied to BP's (I bought my baby thinking it was male and now it appears to be female).

It surely does take time to learn to read the body language of new species. I remember when I bought my first Doberman the very experienced show breeder said "you can feel them shudder through the lead before they act, you will feel the rumbling before they growl, you will learn to know when its coming" and sure enough...years later I started to feel the vibration before it happened.

[Freakie_frog]

Same thing with Ball pythons you'll be able to tell (most of the time) when a strike is coming. I can go to a show or to a store look at a group of young snake at tell you which ones will make you bleed picking through them.. It's really kind of fun once you get over the shock of getting struck at.

[donley]

I my limited experience I can't say whether yawning is a sign of being relaxed or not. But a ball is relaxed when they aren't trying to get away/striking/ or being an all around pain.

I have had my snake for a month now and everytime I take him out he "crawls" around like crazy. He's never just 'sat' on my lap. Does this mean he is not relaxed? I always just thought he was curious.

[Freakie_frog]

I have had my snake for a month now and everytime I take him out he "crawls" around like crazy. He's never just 'sat' on my lap. Does this mean he is not relaxed? I always just thought he was curious.

It would depend on his attitude while he doing it if hes just crawling around like "LA LA LA LA" then its relaxed. But if its more like "OH MY GOD RUNNNN FOR THE HILLS.....DON'T TOUCH ME.....AAAAA" then I'd say no its probably not thrilled to be out in the open with that huge warm strange thing looming over it (<< that's how you appear to your snake). Now not to say that your snake wont calm down and get more use to the idea but then again it might not.

[mikeamy2007]

Ive had mine for about a month, but hes about three foot, which makes me wanna sy hes about 2? anyhow ive noticed that if i come at him too fast, he'll kinda tense up, but he never "tracks" my hand and once i got ihm, he just kinda goes completely relaxed, and its at that point i know hes good to go. He very docile

[Freakie_frog]

anyhow ive noticed that if i come at him too fast, he'll kinda tense up,

Yea your snake is doing that " what the hell?" "Oh it's you" thing most of them will do that even the very docile ones. It takes them a second to process the "will it eat me" factor.

[Sonya610]

It would depend on his attitude while he doing it if hes just crawling around like "LA LA LA LA" then its relaxed.

Yeah I have noticed if my girl sits quietly while being held, then stretches her head/neck way up high and starts smelling things, it does seem she must be relaxed. In the wild stretching like that, raising ones neck and head up several inches would probably not be the best survival strategy when frightened.

(Did i say i was not hijacking the thread? Guess I lied, but this is so interesting and I hate to post tons of newbie questions in brand new threads.)

[mikeamy2007]

Yea your snake is doing that " what the hell?" "Oh it's you" thing most of them will do that even the very docile ones. It takes them a second to process the "will it eat me" factor.

Yeah it never really worried me, but i did notice it. Anyone in my house can reach in and get him, i guess i got really lucky.

[Cam]

Thank you for the helpful replies.

Thanks again!

Should we just stick with the gloves until about a year old then?