I just got a ball python (three feet long) from a neighbor who moved out of the apartment building. They used to hold it all the time and it never bit them, I held it a couple times and it was fine, then about two weeks ago it struck at the glass when my three year old daughter was standing next to it. she loves the snake, likes to watch it eat, isnt mean to it, etc. well then the other day (about three days after it shed) I was holding it and letting it crawl around in my lap and it bit me in the stomach. I threw it on the floor out of reflex because it drew blood!! now anytime someone puts their hand in the cage to change water, feed it, clean cage....it strikes. I thought that these pythons were gentle?? whats wrong with mine??? I even fed it the next day thinking it got hungry because he shed??? nope, still being a butthead!
It's probably just scared... Give it a little bit of time to let it calm down. They are just naturally a defensive species, so in a new environment, they can be that way for a little bit. There are lots of ways to avoid getting bitten though... I'll try to explain them when I have a little more time...
Feeding should be once a week.. not when he bites or sheds cause you think he is hungry. also did you give him a week or 2 WITHOUT touching him to settle into his new home? that is a must it can cause major stress which could lead to no feeding. plus if you just got him and you threw him on the floor that is even worse lol
he is in the same cage, lots of room to crawl, has heat rock, hiding hole, large branch thingy.....and we do feed him once a week dud, we just gave him an extra one to see if that was his problem, he has had time to settle in and we used to hold him once a day, but nobody has touched him since he bit me!! he eats fine, just scared he is going to bite again...or bite my three year old or my one year old if they get close to it when someone else is holding it!!
Is the Heat rock on? i suggest if you are scared of handling him or scared of him around your children you should adopt him out to someone who can provide him with the care and attention he needs to be happy.
Ok...well I've noticed that this tends to happen sometimes. Somebody asks an innocent question and then all of a sudden somebody's telling him he shouldn't have a reptile. So back on point. I'm no expert but I've learned a bit on here and on animal planet. I think that they're right when they say you need to wait a couple weeks to let the snake get used to seeing you. Maybe more now that you've dropped him. He's in a new household now with new people and smells and stuff. I don't know if your friend has children either but that might be a new experience for the snake too. I would give him time to see you as the food giver and provider instead as the new jailer. Just a thought...good luck with your snake. I totally understand you being cautious with your children. I'd be careful too.
Def keep your snake in a tank ALONE for at least a couple weeks, only going in his tank when you ABSOLUTELY have to. Only change the water and feed. Let everything else just relax. I would even keep the kids away from the tank. I think that you would HATE to be in a new place in new surroundings with little kids looking in all the time!! haha Make sure it has somewhere to hide its whole body also. They love to hide and burrow. Just give him some time! I'm sure he'll settle in very nicely, and you'll see the sweet snake again before too long. But if you do have him out for any reason, be sure to keep his face completely away from your face or anyone else's. Good luck with him though!!
thanks for all the advice... except for the fellow telling me to give him away, if you are having problems with your kids do you just give them away?? no, you work through it and you dont give up on them, well this snake is my husbands newest BABY!!. we are good people and the people that had it before us didnt take that good of care of it, so it has a better life with us, they got a dog and simply stated that they have a new dog they didnt want the snake anymore!! what losers!! they got evicted for getting the mangy dog anyways so, in time we are going to start handling him once a week, then twice, until he shows us that he trusts us again and doesnt bite, and if he bites again it wont get held for a week. maybe it will learn, maybe not, but you have to be careful right?
also, we had the heat rock on, but then was told not to anymore because it could burn the snake?? so we have a heat light on top of the cage, should we go back to the rock?? and now it wont come out of his hiding rock again, he was in there for like three weeks, and then when he was sheding it was all over the place rubbing and now its back in the hiding place!! the people that had it before had kids the same age as us also, but it was on top of their tv stand, we have ours in the bedroom on a stand we made for him
yes dont turn on the heat rock it can burn him. a light is fine but it shouldn't be on for more than 12 hours a day so you might want a UTH to keep the temps from getting too low at night. I wouldn't be worried about him hanging out in his hide alot though ball pythons are nocturnal so he is probably moving around in the middle of the night while your sleeping. do you have a temperature gradient in the tank and a hide on both ends so he can chose if he wants to be warm or cool? i agree with giving him a couple weeks alone to settle down but this will not work and will only serve to reinforce his biting. snakes are not dogs, they do not crave companionship and in fact are usually happiest being left alone, so leaving him in his tank for a week is a reward for biting you, not a punishment. He was probably unhappy being held and then when he bit you you stopped holding him, and now when he strikes he gets left alone too, so he is probably already learning that biting you equals being left alone, which is exactly what he wants - you are unintentionally reinforcing his biting. The best thing to do may be to get some handling gloves so if he bites it wont hurt. then if you reach in to pick him up and he strikes at you pick him up anyway, and only put him back when he hasn't bit or struck for a few minutes. if he learns that biting you doesn't hurt you or make you go away he will probably stop. Keep the handling sessions short at first, keep your movements slow and deliberate, and try to make sure the house is quiet and theres no other activity going on in the background that may spook him. You want to show him you are not afraid of him and that he has no reason to fear you or being handled. Good luck him!
man, so let him keep biting me? that sucks but makes sense.... I need to get some gloves first, now that he thinks he can bite people to be left alone, but they dont sell gloves for my stomache lol.... maybe ill only hold him in my hands from now on, just thinking about how much it would have hurt if he had bitten me a little lower OUCH!
Make me out to be a bad guy all you want. but in your post you gave off the impression to me atleast that if he is always going to be biting then your not going to mess with him. which is why i said Give him up to a person who can deal with it. i have seen TO many times people owning snakes and getting bit and starting off by just trying to handle less then that turns into not handling at all which turns into Not changing water which turns into a snake being in a house with no care and becoming very sick. i should have approached it a different way. i do not know you and i guess my post made it seem like i thought you were bad people. I apologize for that i just get worried for animals health because like i said i have seen things just like this turn into a very unhealthy or dead snake. Again i apologize and the Ideas above i agree with completely and hopefully he will overcome his temperament and good luck with him. Jason,
Don't sweat it I got the same impression, if concerned he will bite the kids, keep him away from the kids until the problem is resolved. Also it maybe best to only have one person handle him until he is comfortable, it tends to lessen the stress.
dum... you are not a bad guy, I was just kidding about everyone except you!! you have the snakes best interest in mind and that is what matters. we fed him two mice tonight and he devoured them like hed never ate before, ...... they were left in the truck too long i guess because when we went to get them out they were both dead!! but the snake didnt seem to notice, at least we know he wont have a problem with dead feedings from now on!!
Never feed live feeders. f/t is the best route, I would also be concerned about feeding mice that died while in the truck. You will want to switch him to f/t right away and soon after that rats are a good step.
yeah, def don't just let him bite you and then put him back and leave him be for a while. That's telling him okay, YOU are boss, not me. Handle him, and try your best not to jerk when he does strike. I know its easier said than done though!! My little ATB's strike ALL the time, and its SOOO hard, even though I know it doesn't hurt b/c he gets me nearly every time I get him out, its your brain yelling, "NO!". haha But if you can work through not jerking and not putting him right back up when he does get you, you'll eventually assure him that he's not getting anything accomplished with biting you, and he's not getting hurt either, he'll stop. My little Columbian Rainbow used to do that, now he rarely ever tries to get a bite out of me. He does however know my scent from Chris'. He'll try to get at him when he's standing near. But it does help out a lot to handle,handle, handle!! And I agree w/ the heat rock thing too, NEVER use them!!! It damages their scales on their stomachs! It can leave terrible scares! I use over head heating with most of my snakes, only the ground dwelling ones get UTH's. Most of ours are always in the tree's though. Do you have any pic's of your little guy?
its worse now. ... and we turned the heat rock back on to see if that would help!! the mice died because it was so hot thats all. ... anyways after eating both the mice he was worse this morning!!!! he is biting at the side of the cage, he is striking at the heat rock and the top of the cage, I think he is mentally unstable, we are seriously thinking about getting rid of him now. We dont want to, but he is getting out of control, he will coil up and then strike at nothing when nobody is anywhere near him and he goes crazy as soon as he smells the children, its so wierd.... they love him and dont hit the glass or nothing, but he doesnt want anything to do with them and follows their heat and strikes. the neighbor must have done something when they had him because this is not normal, we have been nothing but nice up untill he bit the other week!!!
