Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK my female hatchling pastel is definitly nippy. She has bitten me and I have read that when they get a little older that they calm down. But this chick is plain vicious. As I walk by the rack, if she is outside of her hidebox, she will stare me down and actually launch herself into the side of the tub. I haven't even gotten to open her tub yet and she already is all wound up. I know she isn't a cat or dog, but this is a little crazy.

It's stress - cover her tub so she can't see traffic it will help calm her and keep her from injuring herself!

Good Luck!!

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Tosha
JET Pythons

(CJBianco explaining the origins of the BP market.)
"In the beginning Bob created the Ball Python market. And the market was without morph, and wild traits were upon the industry. And Bob said, Let there be morph, and there was morph. And Bob saw the morph, that it was good; and Bob divided the morph from the wild trait. And Bob called the morph Albino, and the wild trait Normal. And the Albino and the Heterozygous Albino were the first investment.
-- Christopher 1:1-1:5"

Ok but will she ever calm down in order to handle her?

I had one that did that for the first 3 weeks I had her but once she got settled she calmed down. Not saying that she will calm down for sure being they all have different personalities but I think odds are that she will if you give her time to adjust.

Depends on her personality. Most babies are super-defensive like that, every one I hatched this year was. The one I kept back is still bitey at 2 months old, but much better than she was at first. I also have a 5-year-old adult female that is mean as hell and will try to take my face off -- and she was raised as someone's pet with plenty of handling. She's the minority, most of them are not like that...but it just goes to show that they are individuals with their own personalities and some may change, some may not.

Good luck!
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

Hopefully yours will outgrow her baby defensiveness.

I've also got one of those rare evil adults. I set her beside the giant tub while I clean it and she inevitably squares off and starts striking. Thing is I also have a daughter out of her, and she is just like her mom, and she is an adult now too. Both also hiss loudly. I'm actually sort of hoping they don't prove out (het pied indicator markings) so I will not be tempted to keep propagating their genes. I think one of the nicer things about ball pythons is their normally good temperaments.

Randy, that's interesting. The one baby I kept back that is being really nippy just happens to be the daughter of my evil adult female...never really thought anything of it until now...
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

I had another example once that seemed to follow 3 generation but was pretty mild in comparison. The grandfather was my original het albino male and he hissed for a few months when I first got him as a yearling but I put that up to coming from a big breeder and probably not getting much handling. His daughter also hissed and the grandson struck every chance he got (but sold has a hatchling so might have grown out of it).

But the current unrelated Mother/Daughter pair takes the cake as by far the worst tempered balls I've worked with. Some people feel that strikers make better feeders but I can't say these two are particularly good and I've got some extraordinary feeders that aren't ill tempered. Hopefully we aren't selecting for bad tempered balls. I'm mainly curious to see if the het pied belly on these two mean anything but if it doesn't they will not exactly be good pets either so I might have the joy of cleaning their cages for years ...

They do calm down with handling. She is just stressed, and she thinks that you are trying to invade her space. Give her some time.

My one hatchling was like that also, I did cover her and left her alone, she is now 5 weeks old and getting much better. I can hold her without bitting but she is always trying to get away and moves way faster then the other calmer ones. In time I think she will get better.

most babies are a little nippy. i find you just have to be very confident in your handling. to help with this, if they are young biters, i may put on a pair of thin gloves - that way i am not tense and overly cautious. then carry them in one hand while you use your other hand for the few minutes it takes to clean their enclosures. a few weeks of this, they calm down. then handle them with the same nonchalence without gloves. some never stop a mild hiss here or there, but i've stopped seeing that as aggression - i am not quite sure what it is really, but i have 3 year olds that hiss the first few seconds as i remove them, or put them back, but they are some of my calmest. with this technique, i've never had a snake over 6 months old take a bite at me.