I've had my Ball Python Vergil for about 6 months. I bought him from LLLReptile at the Sacramento reptile show last year. He's been a great pet, but he's gotten into the habit of biting at me when he's getting fed.



I feed him F/T mice in a plastic drawer that I put a layer of lizard liner in(his tank doesn't have the same kind of bedding in it so that isn't the reason). Here's my feeding routine: I'll thaw out the mouse in the sink, place his box on the counter about 4 ft. or so away from the thawed mouse, get Vergil out of his tank, walk into the kitchen and put him in the box, close the drawer, grab the mouse with my tongs, hold the mouse inside the box, and he'll eat.



The problem occurs after I've set him down. When I'm pulling my hand from the box is when he'll bite at me. He's done this at least 6 or 7 times since I've had him and I can't figure out why he's doing it. I don't handle the mice before I get him out of his tank. When he bit me just now it wasn't a little nip, he hung on to my finger after I'd jerked away and was dangling from it! I pulled him off after I'd grabbed him behind the head, but it wasn't an "I'm trying to swallow this" kind of bite, it did feel like he was trying to get his teeth out when i was pulling my finger out.



I'm going to start having wearing a pair of gloves that I'll only wear when I'm feeding him, thinking that he'll stop assotiating my hands with feeding. Any other ideas on what I can do correct this?

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