advice

[kira1123]

So I have had my ball python for awhile now, close to a year and for about the last month or so she has been really.. don't know how else to put it but... B***hy... She has never bit me, but she does start to hiss when I try to pick her up. I only get to hold her about once a week and that is normally the day before or two days before she has been fed.

I feed her live mice once a week, in her container since she won't let me take her out to feed her. The rest of the week except for maybe 2 days if I'm lucky she doesn't want to be bothered, looked at, or held. This has been going on for a month maybe two now.

This bothers me because before this started she use to be super sweet and would let me take her out whenever I wanted. She would sit in my hands or curl around my wrist and sleep while I watched tv. I also have a male that I keep in the same room, but he only shows signs of aggression when it is feeding time. Other than that he is as sweet as my female use to be.

I'm not planning on giving up on her, but I was hoping there was something I could do to maybe make her less aggressive. She is about a year now and around 2+ ft. Any suggestions?

[dr del]

Hi,

How much ar you feeding her in relation to her weight - ie how much does she weigh and what do the mice weigh and how many do you feed her?

Has anything about her setup changed recently?


dr del

[kira1123]

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply, but I've been busy moving to my new place.

She weighs 384g, and I feed her 1 mouse that is anywhere from 20-26g. I did just clean her tank last week before I posted. I normally clean her tub once a month.

I have been noticing that her hot side has been high. It's sitting at about 100F and I don't know what to do. She's on a johnson thermostat and my other snake's temps are right where they are suppose to be so I don't know why one UTH is burning hotter than the other.

[dr del]

Hi,

Yeah that does sound odd.

You could put it into a rheostat to adjust it slightly downwards as a short term measure but long term it would be best to work out why one is hotter than the other - I assume they are the same brand/ wattage etc and there is no sunlight hitting one tank through a window? Or possibly stray drafts?

Just to recap the thermostat goes to one mat straight but through a rheostat to the one thats getting hotter and you experiment with it for a couple of days.



dr del

[West Coast Jungle]

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply, but I've been busy moving to my new place.

She weighs 384g, and I feed her 1 mouse that is anywhere from 20-26g. I did just clean her tank last week before I posted. I normally clean her tub once a month.

I have been noticing that her hot side has been high. It's sitting at about 100F and I don't know what to do. She's on a johnson thermostat and my other snake's temps are right where they are suppose to be so I don't know why one UTH is burning hotter than the other.

Those temps are too high, what is your setup like?
Some just hiss alot, just ignore it and dont let it intimidate you or she will pick up on it and do it more.