Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just bought a baby ball at the Hamburg show last week.I'm trying to let her adjust and not take her out much.The past two time she's come out,she was fine at first then got snippy.So my question is should I leave her alone or take her out more?I got a ball because of their docile personality-was I wrong?

Leave the snake be. Don't. Take. Her. Out. At all! For at least a week, or until she starts eating. She is stressed! She just went from her nice lil tub at the breeders to a car ride to a show to another car ride to this strange new tank and this strange new person keeps taking her out and she doesn't know what to do. For all she knows you could be getting ready to eat her!

It's hard to do but just Leave Her Alone! Ball Pythons are great, wonderful, docile snakes with marvelous temperments (90% of the time), but they do need plenty of time to settle in, destress, and get used to their new environment.

Best way to tell how the snake is doing - she's eating regularly and shedding in one piece. At the least, don't start taking her out and playing with her until she's eating regularly. This could be six weeks from now, it could be next week. The snake will let you know.

~jenny
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1.2.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, Periscope, and dah bebbies)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

I got her on a Sat..she ate a froz/thaw pinkie Mon.Then Sun she ate 2 live pinkies.So in one week she's eaten 3 pinkies.I tried froz/thaw a couple times this week,after the first one she just didn't take to it,so then I tried live..much better.

Get rid of the "pinkys"! A ball as old as the one you have, will eat "medium" adult mice or preferably "fuzzy" rats! Trust me, you'll be amazed!

She may also still be hungry and stressed still. We feed our hatchling balls hopper mice out of the egg, pinkies are for colubrids, I would agree and try adult mice or a rat crawler..
Kim

I agree with the above, but want to add that hatchlings are more likely to be snippy than adults. Once she settles in get her aquainted with handling, and she will be fine. I had a baby that actually hissed and rattled his tail, but is used in educational shows as an adult. He is such a calm boy now!
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Thanks,
Amy
www.myboids.4t.com
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1.14 Normal ball pythons
1.0 Pastel ball pythons
0.0.1 Sinaloan Milk Snake
0.0.1 Plains Garter
0.1 Normal Kenyan Sand Boa
2.0 Anery Kenyan Sand Boa
1.0 Mid-Baja Rosy Boa
0.1 Leucistic Texas Rat
1.2 Dumeril's Boa
1.2 BCI
That's Just The Snakes!

Don't mean to change the subject here, but isn't is weird that a snake from a continent where rattlesnakes don't exist uses that same defense mechanism?

Quig
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

Iguanas do it too...it is a sign of agitation!
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Thanks,
Amy
www.myboids.4t.com
----
1.14 Normal ball pythons
1.0 Pastel ball pythons
0.0.1 Sinaloan Milk Snake
0.0.1 Plains Garter
0.1 Normal Kenyan Sand Boa
2.0 Anery Kenyan Sand Boa
1.0 Mid-Baja Rosy Boa
0.1 Leucistic Texas Rat
1.2 Dumeril's Boa
1.2 BCI
That's Just The Snakes!

NO ! not aggression , SELF DEFENCE !!!! Thanks David

Well the seller said that she was feeding on hoppers,but the petstore didn't have any.So instead of a full grown mouse,I opted for a couple of pinkies.She takes a long time to eat,she was messing around with the first pinkie for a while before she ate it.That makes me afraid to put a mouse in there,I wouldn't want anything to happen if she doesn't eat it right away.By the way thanks for the quick replys I appreciate it

If she's over 2 months old, chances are she can handle a full grown mouse. If you're worried, just hang around the room keeping an eye on them when the mouse is in with her and take it out if you need to. Chances are she'll jump the mouse and that'll be that.

Don't worry, these guys have survived for thousands, if not millions of years, without getting beat up by mice. Yours'll be fine!

~jenny
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1.2.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, Periscope, and dah bebbies)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

Like Jenni said don’t ever leave a live pray animal over the size of a fuzzy in with your snake unattended . And when feeding live keep a pencil in your hand so if the snake makes a bad grab you can stick the pencil in the prays mouth to keep them from biting your snake OK. GOOD LUCK AND INJOY YOUR SNAKE . Thanks David of DS Reptile Rescue

Hi ! I agree with Jenni and the others but would like to add a new reptile should go threw a Quarantine period any way even if you don’t have other reptiles so thay can get acclimated . Thanks David of DS Reptile Rescue