Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We recently purchased our first ball from a fellow who bought it "for" his daughter. He sold it to us because the snake was nippy (unusual, I understand, for a ball). The snake is 3 months old.

I was putting her in a critter container for feedings (I thought that was what he said he did), but she wouldn't eat. I messaged the seller, and he said that he had actually been putting the fuzzy in the snake's habitat and letting her hunt it down.

Two questions:

1) Could this snake be nippy because she is being fed in her habitat --- and when I reach in to take her out, she's conditioned to think my hand is food too?

2) Should I try to "train" her to eat in a critter container to avoid finger/prey confusion.....and if so, how?

We subsequently purchased a second ball (year old, docile female) and she eats quite successfully in a critter container.

Thanks for any suggestions.

we never feed our snakes outside their environments. think of it this way. if your snake is conditioned to eat in it's cage then once it's out it will no longer think it's getting fed. However, on the opposite if a snake is taken out of it's cage and then fed, it never knows whether or not it's getting fed durring handling sessions and thus is always in the feeding mode when take out. a feeding response bite is very easily remedied. buy a short hook and before you go pick up your snake, nudge it with the hook several times and this usually lets the snake know it's not being fed. The myth that all ball pythons are tame is nothing more than a myth. Out of the 100 bp's that we have, i know for a fact that at least 10 of them will bite you given the chance. It's not that big of a deal though. A bite from even a large 5ft bp isn't that bad and at worse you are going to have a few small holes in your hand.
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Josh & Krysty Hutto
J&K Reptiles

Various Ball Pythons:::

1.0 striped vanilla
1.0 spider
1.2 Citrus Ghost and hets
1.2 Albino and hets
2.3 het Pied
0.6 50% poss het pied
1.1 Pastel (male has additional gene going on with him)
a bunch of normal female breeders
a bunch of normal female holdbacks and several rescued 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!!!!!

Thank you -- I will put her fuzzy in the enclosure. I'm sure she's very hungry!

If you take it out and put into a separate container with out delay you will ovoid this confusion and the snake will come to now the difference . But not all snakes will eat when put into a separate enclosure , some will only take pray from a ambush ,like from inside there hides and will not eat if disturbed so you do what you can I feed all that will feed in a separate enclosure in a separate enclosure and the others were they feel most comfortable and feed the best . They are all different in one way or another .David of DS Reptile Rescue

Use feeding tongs to feed snakes, it works much better than using hands..especially once you switch them over to frozen thawed (which is good ideal to do, especially with ball pythons which can be rather finicky, so best to get them on frozen thawed as soon as possible, or at least fresh killed)

Holding a frozen thawed rodent with your fingers is asking to get bit. If the rodent isn't quite warm enough or has cooled between sink (where it was warmed up) and the cage, it can cool pretty quickly..SO, your snake is presented with something that smells like food and the hottest object it sees will be your hand, and it may strike your hand in mistake...instead of the cooler form of the rat below your fingers. Feeding tongs puts that much more distance between your fingers and the rodent.

All my ball python bites have been feeding responses because I was stupid and offering food with my hands. Or trying to pick up my snake after handing mice/rats and forgetting to wash my hands and arms first.

Young ball pythons can be nippy, its normal. Sometimes they are more nippy during their shed cycle. Most grow out of it. Some never do. But, like any living thing, there are always those that are more aggressive, more calm, more etc. than the average.

I never feed my snakes outside the cage....more work than its worth and I don't want them to associate coming out of the cage as meaning 'I am going to be fed' It is much easier for a snake to bite when its outside its cage and already in your arms...In their cage you can see how they come out of their hides if they are about to bite. Besides, I rarely take my snakes out of their cages during their prime hunting/activity time (ie evenings for most snakes) I take them out during the day or early evening but before dark. I find they are more calm (being asleep) and typically content to explore a bit. I don't keep them out long though, unless I am presenting them at a show or something. Even then I give them breaks after they have been out for awhile.
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PHLdyPayne