Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Lately my Ball Python has been very moodie,and even bit my husband and hissed and now even when we get near his tank he acts as if hes gonna strike at any moment.We dont understand....
Ive tried emailing the person who I bought the snake from but he refuses to email me back.

I bought my ball python when he was just a baby hes now almost 3feet and very huge I feed him sometimes 3-4 mice a week depending on size I get from pet store hes never been miss treated or abused in anyway, He is our favorite animal. I just dont understand what could be wrong with him Ive read everywhere that this is not normal...please some if possible help out with this if you could thanks alot.

Althogh it is not normal, I also would not say that it extremely rare. Did the snake bite while it was in its cage of while it was being held? It is very possible that it was spooked and just chose to bite and not hide. My girls have hissed at me before too, althogh they have not bit me.

Have your temps been in the proper range lately? This is about the hottest time of the year and if your temps are high your snake could be stressed. This could cause it to become aggitated and more likely to be defensive.

one thing you must remember is that snakes, BP's in particular are very secretive animals and they can alter how they act when stressed weekly. I have several females that are so moody at times, meaning will strike at anything even the snake in the next tub and at other times the most docile snakes I've ever owned. These changes can be from day to day so I never know until I get next to their tub or start pulling it out, lol. Another thing to consider is the size and amount of prey. A 3ft ball python can easily consume almost medium rats and he could just always be hungry. If rat's are not available try increasing the amount of feeders you offer at a time or decreasing the time between feedings. Also adding more hides and moving his cage to a lower traffic area may also decrease the amount of stress and could help him calm back down. I hope one some of this will help you and your ball python go back to a meaningful relationship.

P.S. you know he might have bitten your hubby because animals are a great judge of character,lol jk. But if you need any more advice you can email me directly and I will try to help you out as much as I can.
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Josh Hutto
J&K Reptiles

Various Ball Pythons:::

1.0 striped vanilla
1.2 Citrus Ghost and hets
1.2 Albino and hets
2.3 het Pied
1.1 Pastel (male has additional gene going on with him)
a bunch of female holdbacks and several rescue normal males

0.1 columbian boa, she's a feeding monster, controls my
over production of rats, lol
0.1 brazilian rainbow boa, another rat eating monster
1.1 corns

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrier as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!