Quote Originally Posted by newbie View Post
Hey, mi sister bought a baby ball phyton for my nephew. So I have decided to learn about them, I'm usually more a dog person, but I think phytons are cool. However I need some advice from experts about how to handle them. Today I went to see her and I knocked on the glass of her cage, and she was like backing up and quickly hitting the glass where my finger was pointing, so if the glass wasn't there would she actually eat my finger?, are they violent because they need to get familiar with people or because she is hungry already?, my sister is not here right now so I don't know if she has fed her yet. Do they drink water?.

Please be patient with me, like I said I'm new to this, and I hope you can help me with my questions...
Thanks!
ball pythons arent really aggresive snakes, so she must have been pretty scared for her to strike you when you werent feeding her. id leave her alone for a week or two to settle in her new habitat before you begin to handle her. when you do handle her, you need to support her body weight, dont let her dangle. also ball pythons are pretty head shy and will probably flinch if you touch their heads, so i wouldnt bother. you can stroke them but always do so in the direction of the scales, dont rub them the wrong way bp are shy creatures and you need to give them time to get used to you. only handle them for 5 minutes to start then you can gradually build it up. sometimes handling them too much can stress them out, if she curls up in a ball (hence the name) then shes using her defence mechanism meaning she doesnt want to play. enjoy the world new world of reptiles, im sure youl learn a lot as you go along!