Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone.
New snake owner and I need some help.

We just got a Ball Python from some friends who have had her for a couple of years. When we go her, 3 weeks ago she was very docile and tame. We got her home and were able to take her out and handle her. She was just finishing shedding, but seemed to acclimate right away.
A week later we fed her (she was always fed in cage) 2 live mice (always ate live) and she had no problems eating them. We handled her a few days later with no problems.

Low and behold, the other day my wife went into the cage and Summer (thats her name) hissed and struck at her (not latching on, just a warning bite). We thought she might be in a bad mood and let her be. Well the next day the same thing, coiled head hissing and generally not happy.

Nothing has changed since we brought her home. It's been a week since her last feeding is that it? Our friends that had her, fed her 2 mice every 2 weeks, so I thought that food would not be the case.

We really want to be able to handle her.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

ball pythons "in general" are a calm, easy mannered species. but they have their own personalities just like any sort of animal. 95% of my snakes are sweethearts, but i have a few that are complete biatch's and i've had them for 6 years, so it's not that they are not used to me. they simply dont like me or my presence.

that said, young ball pythons can be nippy. teenage years. you frighten them and over time they will learn you mean them no harm. also, this animal is new to yr home, yr enclosure, yr way of doing things. give it time. and if it's small, let it bite you. it will soon learn it's not having an effect and stop. if it is larger or your woried about being bit, wear gloves. it's important that you dont act jittery afraid of being bit - calm and confident and if it bites a few times, so be it, it will soon stop. the hissing though... sometimes that never stops with some individuals. grumpy gus's.

Thank you so much for the quick response.

Thing thing that worries me is that she was not acting this way when we first brought her home, only now, 3 weeks later.
We did clean her cage out last weekend, so Im wondering if she's PO'd about that.

We were handling her just fine, she was curious and crawling all over us when we would take her out. She was very sweet and calm.

Thanks for the advice, going to have to suck it up and show her who's the boss.

A couple things....

I have a couple balls that hiss like crazy and even strike sometimes if they are in their enclosure. What I do is I take a plastic waterbottle and put it on their head gently to block their sight and then take them out. The second they are out of their cage, they are completely calm. Many are just cage agressive sometimes and sometimes not.

Also, if it's an adult, you are not feeding it enough. An adult ball on mice should be getting at least 2-3 mice a week. Oh and don't put both mice in at the same time. Your snake could get hurt easier that way.

I think she needs to eat more too.

Originally the people who had her were only feeding her 2 mice, once every couple of weeks. My wife and I moved that up to 2 mice every 10 days, but it looks like we should move it up to weekly and do 3.
We only give her one mouse at a time.

As far as her enclosure, she has the same cage. The people who gave us to her gave her everything to go with it (cage, heating pad, hiding places (one in cool and one under the heating pad) and water dish and branch she can climb on.

She is roughly 3 feet long.

Maybe she's telling us she's hungry?

My wife is going to try and take her out today while the kids are gone and the house is calm. I'll be picking up 3 good size mice today on the way home from work for her.

Any other suggestions are DEEPLY APPRECIATED.

Thank you!

It could just be the environment too. I have an adult female that was hissy but fine with me. I gave her to a friend for a while for breeding. while she was with him, she acted like and a rabid anaconda! now that she's back with me, she's calmed a lot down but still pretty nasty at times. Different outside environments effect attitude as well. Just be patient and don't give up on it.

Is she in an aquarium? Is that aquarium "on display" in a family area? Are there Dogs or cats around? Did any of the kids drop her? Usually these things trigger major attitude changes. Balls are very reclusive.
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