Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi, my ball is pretty head shy..
he'll put his own head right up on your finger and through
you're hand if you're holding him.

but if you make any movement towards his head he dodges away..

are most balls like this?

also, he hates being constrained around his head...for example trying to hold near the head.. what are peoples experiences with their snakes being head shy?

I've heard most people say their BP is head shy as well. Mine isn't. He lets me gently rub between his eyes. As long as I don't make sudden movements.

I think your situation is probably normal.
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alot of bp's can be head shy. while holding him try to keep him exploring by maybe moving & turning you hand in different directions. keep your fingers spread apart & try to have him keep running through you fingers. when he does very slower close you fingers together some. not to catch or squeeze him but enough that the back of his head & neck keep coming in contact with you fingers. the same for when he starts slithering backwards through your fingers. close em up some so he gets use to his head coming in contact with parts of your hand & fingers. if you are real slow & steady with it he'll prob be fine with it & after awhile he'll get so use to it you shouldnt have a problem
well that's what works for me
good luck

My ball was VERY wild when I got her. If you got 2 foot infrount her she would recoil. You couldnt touch her neck. But I slowley started to get her comfortble with me by holding her alot. when she put her head on my fingers i would try to touch it but SLOWLEY. and I did that for along time. And now I can put her on the head. I know this will sound weird. but if I set her on the ground, she will come over to me. She Is such a awsome snake. Just keep at it and dont give up. he will come around. Hope this helps

I think most snakes are head shy as an instinctive self-preservation response. They see us as potential preditors initially. Quick movement straight on towards the head is an aggressive move on our part and when the snakes senses this, the fight or flight response takes over. This would also apply to constraining the snake near its head. They are just protecting themselves from perceived aggression.

My ball python was also head shy at first. I agree with the other posts on how to desensitize the snake from being head shy. What I did was to approached slowly from behind the head and touched the top of its head. The snake will become accustomed to this and lose some of its nervousness. It's a desensitzation process so be patient.

This is why they ball up, hiding their head and tail in the center. They're pretty much the most unlikely-to-bite python, instead they hide. Everything mentioned so far is great and this is my method towards Ball taming.

If the snake will already crawl on your hands, great. Now, using the general holdng method, palm up toward belly of snake, let your snake slither so one hand is just about at the end of its first 1/3. Move your other hand, slowly and from underneath, as far forward as your snake is comfortable with. This is your baseline or starting point. Slowling start working with the snake until both of your hands can be within inches of its head. From there, take the index finger on your forward moving hand and while the snake is slithering forward, just gently touch just in front of the neck and rotate your hand so the snake is in your palm. Do this open-palmed several times, as your snake will mostly likely recoil from this for a while. Shortly, you'll notice it'll have no problem with feeling your hand on its chin and lifting it up. Now, you can start closing your hand around the neck, just behind the head. Same thing, do it really loose at first in case your snake wants to recoil from it. Once you get that down, start gently touching it on top of the head with your thumbs and/or index fingers. Eventually, your snake will let you close your entire hand around its head without any struggle. This will take time though, at least a month and sometimes longer, so be extremely patient and keep it short at first. Once you get to this point, you can start touching your snake while it's in its cage...like gently petting its neck and doing most of the same things. After that, you've got yourself a great and tame pet that will actually recognize you as its owner...or it'll seem like it anyway. The absolute key is to be slow, smooth and deliberate with your actions. It's a fun process and you'll learn a lot about your snake. Have fun and good luck.

my BP used to be head shy... but when I first got him I was giving him anti-parasite medication from the vet, so he got used to me holding his head and opening his mouth to give him the dose. So now he doesnt even care if you pet him on the head.
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