Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a female baby ball that snaps at everything that moves. Its probably just stressed and doesn't know who it can trust. When I first got her I would put her in her feeding tub (like all the others) and give her a f/t rat pup. She would strike at it and pull back. I work with her for a little over 5 minutes each time by wiggling the rat (w/ tongs) a few inchs away from her, every week. I sometimes have luck and other times she just gets to stressed and i have to put her back in her tub. She's seems to be getting even more aggressive, as soon as she see's me she gets in her strike position. I have been bit by her a few times and it doesn't hurt, just kinda irritating. I have got to the point where I can't get her out of the tub with out her trying to bit me. Today I wiggled a f/t rat just outside of her hid and she grabbed it with no problems. I know alot of breeders feed there snakes in there own tub, but a lot of care sheets say your not sappost to. Can anyone give me advice about my little girl?..............o also..temps are 83-90, humidity is around 60, she's on paper towels, two good hides & a water dish. Sorry I rambled so long.

IMHO feeding outside an animals normal enclosure does nothing. LOL I say it everytime "try doing that with a 10ft Retic or burm". It's just not logical! Why bother? I feed everything "By Hand" and in their enclosure. Do my animals try and bite me when I go into their enclosures....no! Some animals actually won't eat out side of their normal enclosure. Anyways this is my take on it. I happen to like aggro balls
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John Light
Pristine Pythons
ristinePythons@Hotmail.com" target="_blank">Contact Me

Mine snaps too... 3 months old I don't know the gender.

I havent picked it up since I got it on Saturday, but I have gone in the cage to clean/refill his water bowl.
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0.0.1 Eastern Painted Turtle
0.0.1 Indonesian Blue Tongue Skink
0.2.0 Leopard Geckos
0.0.1 Northern Water Snake
0.0.2 Crested Geckos
0.0.1 Ball Python
?.?.? Assorted goldfish, minnows and guppies
1.0.0 Ferret
1.1.0 Cats
1.0.0 Aussie Cattle Dog/ Border Collie Mix

Well, I can understand not wanting to take a huge snake out of its cage, that can be a bit much. Its just wierd that so many care sheets on the internet say to feed in a different enclosure. Do you guys have ball pythons that were very aggressive and didn't calm down. Is there a chance of this ball still being snippy with me even when it reachs adult hood. I would think it would calm down and slowly get use to me, but you never know.

IMHO it all depends on your substrate. We feed our snakes outside their enclosures because we use Repti-Bark (Fir chips) and we want to prevent impaction. If you use newspaper or paper towels then I can see no reason why not to feed an animal in it's cage.

When I first got all my baby balls, 5 females and one male pastel. I had them all on cypress mulch, but I have had trouble getting 3 of the females to eat. So, those 3 are now one paper towels. One is eating live rat pups, another is eating f/t mice and the other is the one that snaps at me. The other two females and the male pastel eat f/t rat pups with no problem out side there enclosure. I wasn't sure what IMHO ment.

some snakes are just born that way. If your conditions are right and the bp is healthy i wouldn't worry.

I have a large WC female that laid a clutch for me last year. this mother was the meanest bp i have ever encountered.... of her babies, 3 were sweet as can be and 1 little female has had an attitude from day one, she strikes at me when I walk in front of her cage even. she's a good eater though so I can put up with her disposion... she has mellowed some.

snakes are like people, although their personality's are harder to recognize, you'll still get the occasional bad-a$$.

Hint: If you're getting bit, you're not doing yourself or the snake any good. The snake can lose teeth biting you and get a mouth infection. Take precautions if you know the snake is aggressive. Use a cage hook (short snake hook), or cover the snake with a rag or old t-shirt when going in the cage. It'll make life easier on both of you.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Your not telling me anything new. I do use a cloth to cover the snake and also kitchen gloves.

Excellent, then! Just trying to help.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

sorry, didn't mean to sound rude. Thank you for the advice.