Reptile & Amphibian Forums

we have a female ball that did something tonite that SHOCKED us...she bit my BF...and strikes at pretty much ANY movement now this was a snake that never showed any agression whatsoever...not even the slightest bit head shy...would even turn her head for us to rub the side she wanted us to...is it breeding aggression?....she has locked with our male at least 4 times over the last month...but I have never seen her act this way...almost makes me scared to try and handle her...she just fed about 5 days ago so I know she wasn't "over" hungry...it just doesn't make any sense to me

Females somtimes get like that during breeding season. IMO, you should not really hold them too often during breeding season anyway.
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John Vandegrift

My wife gets like that too. Buy her something made of gold and if it has diamonds affixed to it all the better. She will be hugging you again before you know it. Lol!

Stop handling her so much, leave her alone, and just feed her regularly. My female became a little more antsy last year during breeding season, but it was nothing too bad. Bites from a ball aren't too bad anyway (I've gotten worse from a cat!) so just keep handling to a minimum to reduce stress, and when the season is over chances are she'll be back to her usual self.

By the way, rubbing the side of the snake's face is more likely to be a stressful event than a relaxing one for it. When in nature does something living that's not food or a threat really touch a snake's face?

~jenny
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