Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i know this sounds rediculous and all my friends laugh at me but i got this one ball python a year ago. he was real placid when i got him but the last 6 months he's been real mean he's bit me 5 times now!!!! his name is chompy! any ideas cause it kinda sucks that i can't handle him like my other balls
is this normal are some just mean or is it cause i don't handle him enough?
thanks for any info
Dave

Perhaps- have your feeding methods led him to being handled or having the cage opened with being fed?
This recently happened to me with an asian ratsnake, it was a matter of me not feeding him quite enough and me thinking it was funny that he would catch rats in the air if I underhanded them to him.
He was tame for two years and then I went to get him out one days and he bit me up quite badly.
Just one possibility.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

i don't think so maybe i feed at least every 14 days a but its usually every 7-10 days but that is the only time i really handle him is when he's feeding or i'm cleaning the cage or if some1 wants to see him. but he's biting alot like everytime he gets a chance any other suggestions from anyone?
thanks

If you only handle him when you clean his cage, or when YOU FEED HIM why would you even have to ask why he bites. Handling=Food=Biting. You'd honestly think that after being bit 5 times you'd figure it out.

mine used to bite. handle him every other day, and touch his head alot. who cares if he bites you, show him who is boss by keeping on holding him. YOU OWN THE SNAKE, it doesnt OWN YOU!

thank you!!
i appreciate a good awnser and i've started handling him everyday (except b4 feeding and after)
i don't really care if he bites me cause it doesn't hurt it just bothers me cause he didn't used to do that
thanks

What are you going to do to the snake to show you own it? Spank it? You are totally misunderstood. Snakes aren't meant to be docile creatures from the get go. They aren't cats nor are they dogs. It comes with the territory.

Deal with it, if he bites you. Don't jerk away or you may end up hurting the snake. Wear a glove if you have to.

Better yet, get rid of him, send him to me, where he'll be tame in about a week.

Joel

>>mine used to bite. handle him every other day, and touch his head alot. who cares if he bites you, show him who is boss by keeping on holding him. YOU OWN THE SNAKE, it doesnt OWN YOU!
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- Joel Smith

"If you're not part of the solution, you're still part of the problem"

He is handling him almost everyday now, he said it doesn't bother him, so why give him grief?
Just wondering,how exactly would you tame the snake in a week?
I have a few snakes that are shy, so I would like to know your method for taming them.

It wasn't the fact that I'd tame him in a week, it was the fact that i'd show the snake attention.

>>He is handling him almost everyday now, he said it doesn't bother him, so why give him grief?
>>Just wondering,how exactly would you tame the snake in a week?
>>I have a few snakes that are shy, so I would like to know your method for taming them.
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- Joel Smith

"If you're not part of the solution, you're still part of the problem"

i was merely saying you need to own the snake...not be scared to hold it. then its owning you. i do not hit my snake. but it used to bite me and i got it out everyother day and touched its head and after a month, it has calmed down to the point to where i can touch its head all i want and it wont jerk back and ball up. it wont strike at me anymore, nor bite. and mykee is always putting people down instead of helping them...or he is always yelling at them for doing somthing wrong. if you got a problem with me, email me.

Lee, if you continuouslt touch your BP's head, you deserve to be bit. That's just not smart. "Tame" your snake by touching it's head? I've never heard anything more foolish.

is that why he never bites me anymore?

i agree with lee. mine used to be real skiddish but when i started touching his head he has no problems anymore. he is as tame as can be
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*John*

I love ball's with a bad attituide. If you want to want to be rid of him and replace him with something a little more mellow just let me know.

haha no thanks i like him even if he is a little grumpy!

Well I tried. the way I look at it if they bite they will probaly eat good. Good luck

I have heard of instances of snakes getting very irritated by something in the cage. If the little guy was placid then turned into a biter, something is setting him off. Trying removing possible offending objects from his cage. As an example, I remember reading awhile back about some BPs (different owners!) who went ballistic and turned into biters when they had toilet paper cardboard rolls in their cage as hide spots. They calmed down immediately after the items were removed.
Think along those lines. Oh yeah, Id definitely feed every 7 days, no longer.