Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I purchased a male ball about a month and a half ago and it was the most shy snake I had. I had trouble feeding at first but it quickly got agressive and started pounding mice every 4-5 days. I would walk in the room with a mouse and he would notice right away and start to come out of his hide getting ready to eat. Almost like his feeding response is overly agressive (which im not complaining about). And everytime I walk past his cage he props up like he is interested in what I am doing which he has never done before. So today i go to reach in and he nails me on my hand, when he used to flip out if i would even get near his face. He did just eat a good meal yesterday but would that be the reason for his agressive bahavior? Thought it was kind of weird. Any thoughts on why he might be so agressive now??
-----
1.1 BRB
1.0 Columbian Red Tail Boa
1.0 Pastel Ball Python

How big is he relative to the size of mouse he ate? If he is getting big enough that one mouse just doesn't do the trick and he is still hungry after his feeding, then heck yes he is going to nail you on that nice tasty looking hand you offered. Other things that encourage snakes to bite you in their cage:
1. You feed them in their cage, therefore, they think anything in their cage that is warm and moving is food
2. You had recently been handling a rodent of some sort, and your hand smelled just like lunch
3. You offer him his food by dangling the mouse above his face with your bare hand, and now he thinks your hand is part of his meal.

It could be one, two, or all three of those.
Also, sometimes snakes bite, even the cutest most shy little ball python, it is something that happens if you keep snakes, especially in large numbers.
-----
Ball Pythons:
1.2 Normal
1.2 Pastel
0.1 Black Pastel
2.0 Het Orange Ghost
1.1 Mojave
1.2 Spider
1.0 Albino
0.1 Het Albino
1.0 Piebald
0.1 Het Piebald
Other:
0.1 Irian Jaya x Jungle Carpet python
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python
1.0 Tiger Retic
1.1 Burmese Pythons
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
3.3 Corn Snakes
0.0.1 American Alligator
1.0 Savannah Monitor
1.0 Chinese Water Dragon
0.1 Brown Basilisk
0.1 Sulcata Tortoise
1.1 Sugar Gliders
0.1 Puppy

I completely agree. I think it's better to get some cheap rubbermades than to take some bites!

A question on that though -

What do you people with racks do when you feed? Do you remove them into a seperate feeding 'container'?
-----
Corvid
"Look Like An Innocent Flower, But Be The Serpent Under It." ~William Shakespeare
0.1 "Normal"
1.0 Spider

I manage two large collections of snakes, one of about 250, and one of over 2000. Of those snakes, they all get fed in their tubs in the rack, because it is out of the question to move them all out. Unless they are particularly ill tempered retics, they get fed in tubs. There is definitely a cut off point, for me it is around 30, where feeding every snake you own outside of its cage gets a little bit too tedious.
-----
Ball Pythons:
1.2 Normal
1.2 Pastel
0.1 Black Pastel
2.0 Het Orange Ghost
1.1 Mojave
1.2 Spider
1.0 Albino
0.1 Het Albino
1.0 Piebald
0.1 Het Piebald
Other:
0.1 Irian Jaya x Jungle Carpet python
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python
1.0 Tiger Retic
1.1 Burmese Pythons
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
3.3 Corn Snakes
0.0.1 American Alligator
1.0 Savannah Monitor
1.0 Chinese Water Dragon
0.1 Brown Basilisk
0.1 Sulcata Tortoise
1.1 Sugar Gliders
0.1 Puppy

Now too you feed them all live or f/t? Or would it depend on the animal. I have started to debate on how too switch up my feeding habits for the snakes this next year when they hatch out a few clutchs. As of right now I take them out and feed them in a different box and I just love how they have gotten a feeding response to just being put in the box. They almost always eat. But I probably will have to set up a cut off point sometimes soon...
-----
Coolluigi

1.0 Pastel
1.0 Yellowbelly
0.2 Normal
0.1 Spider
1.2 Het VPI Axanthic
and soon to be more. *fingers crossed*

.
-----
Coolluigi

1.0 Pastel
1.0 Yellowbelly
0.2 Normal
0.1 Spider
1.2 Het VPI Axanthic
and soon to be more. *fingers crossed*

I generally feed stunned, as I have access to a rodent facility, it is useless for me to deal with f/t. I used to feed all f/t but I realized that I save a great deal of time, and the feeding responses I get are much better with stunned than with f/t. I certainly save left overs, and give them to the snakes that will take f/t or the monitor. If I have a snake who I am trying really hard to get up to breeding size and they show a stronger feeding response in their cage, rather than outside of it, then I feed them in their cage. That is for obvious reasons, like this pastel I have, she is about 100 grams away from breeding size, and will eat as much as I offer her, as long as it is in the cage. Otherwise she will only eat occasionally in the box. As far as switching from live to f/t, I have gone about it by offering different levels of stunned rats, until they will accept a completely dead rat. After they take a dead rat, it is good to kill their food, and let it sit for a half hour or so, that way they start getting their feeding response based of smell, not warmth. Typically though, if you have a snake that has a good feeding response in a box, and you feed from tongs, you should have no trouble switching them to f/t
-----
Ball Pythons:
1.2 Normal
1.2 Pastel
0.1 Black Pastel
2.0 Het Orange Ghost
1.1 Mojave
1.2 Spider
1.0 Albino
0.1 Het Albino
1.0 Piebald
0.1 Het Piebald
Other:
0.1 Irian Jaya x Jungle Carpet python
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python
1.0 Tiger Retic
1.1 Burmese Pythons
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
3.3 Corn Snakes
0.0.1 American Alligator
1.0 Savannah Monitor
1.0 Chinese Water Dragon
0.1 Brown Basilisk
0.1 Sulcata Tortoise
1.1 Sugar Gliders
0.1 Puppy

What's the best way to stun the mice/rats?
-----
Coolluigi

1.0 Pastel
1.0 Yellowbelly
0.2 Normal
0.1 Spider
1.2 Het VPI Axanthic
and soon to be more. *fingers crossed*

I used to do the basic technique of grabbing their tail and breaking their spine on the corner of something. Now I hold them by the tail set them on the floor, then I just tap them with my feeding tongs. This works great because you can tap light or hard, so you can either stun them for 5 seconds, 30 seconds, or you can finish them pretty easily if you need to. It also works quite well because you do not risk them getting a nose bleed as much.
-----
Ball Pythons:
1.2 Normal
1.2 Pastel
0.1 Black Pastel
2.0 Het Orange Ghost
1.1 Mojave
1.2 Spider
1.0 Albino
0.1 Het Albino
1.0 Piebald
0.1 Double het, Albino Pied
Other:
0.1 Irian Jaya x Jungle Carpet python
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python
1.0 Tiger Retic
1.1 Burmese Pythons
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
3.3 Corn Snakes
0.0.1 American Alligator
2.0 Veiled Chameleons
1.0 Savannah Monitor
1.0 Chinese Water Dragon
0.1 Brown Basilisk
0.1 Sulcata Tortoise
1.1 Sugar Gliders
0.1 Puppy

Im feeding him medium mice right now and he is only a couple months old. It looks like they are big meals for him. About the girth of this body or a little bigger. Maybe i am under estimating the size of the rodent he can be given.
-----
1.1 BRB
1.0 Columbian Red Tail Boa
1.0 Pastel Ball Python