Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all! I usually post on the dog forum (not about my python obviously) but I was wondering if someone here can help me with my Ball Python. His (don't really know his sex) name is Milo and I have had him since he was 6 months old, he is now 4 years old and has become very aggressive to the point where I can't pick him up without a coat hanger. He was always a pretty docile snake, he was a bit weary of things getting to close to his head, and I always had to be a bit slow and careful with him, as he often went into the S position, or a ball, but he never ever struck at me or bit me or anyone else. A couple of months ago, he escaped and was missing in the apartment for about two weeks. Then one night our cats woke us up meowing and there he was right in the middle of the hall. Ever since then, he will strike at me whenever I get near him and I don't know how I should handle this. I don't think he is sick, he eats and drinks normally. Actually more than ever. This is the first winter he ate straight through. Usually he wouldn't eat from November till June or July, but he never lost weight so I didn't worry about it. I know I should handle him more but I can't even get near him! I hate to give up on him, I know he is only about half way through his life so there is room for improvement, I am just not sure how to approach the situation. Thanks in advance for any advise anyone can give me!

I don't know if this is relevant or not, but over the past two months, since we had him back, he has been slowly breaking out of the tank. It's a sliding lid, and he has been wedging himself between the top of the glass and the front plastic piece of the cover and pushing and pushing and slowly but surely the plastic has been breaking. We noticed it one day when we didn't see him in the tank and then we saw scales seeping out the front top of the tank. He is safely secured with duct tape now.

ball pythons can live 20-30 years on average, provided they are taken care of properly. 4 years old is just coming into breeding age. Your snake is a "teenager"

You may want to invest in a new cage or better locking top (I assume you have an aquarium now), to prevent escapes. A cage made specifically for snakes would be best (do a search for "snake cages" on google or dogpile, etc. Enclosures such as vision cages (a brand) are more pricey than aquariums, but will keep your snake from escaping.

After escaping and possibly being scared by the cat(s), it is easy to see why he's been on the defensive. You'll probably have to handle him more frequently, and with gloves if you don't want to get bit, until he calms down.

HTH

Andrew
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1.1 B&W clownfish
1.0 dwarf angelish
1.O Orchid dottyback
lots of ball pythons soon i hope

LOL 20-30 years??? holy smokes! My sisters bf had a ball python that died at 9 years old, she said it was from old age. I didn't think he was even close to being full grown, size-wise. He's probalby only about 2.5 ft long. Wow, so he is only a teenager. I love my Milo and I feel horrible cause he hates me.
The tank I have is not a fish tank, its a reptile tank with a sliding mesh lid, I beleive it's a 45 gallon. But I will look into getting a better lid. I'll have to measure the top.
I didn't think snakes were smart enough to "hold grudges". I thought they didn't have emotions and couldn't really be affected by trauma like a dog or cat could. Not that I traumatize my snake in the slightest! It was all the cats, I swear!
I will get a pair of gloves, but wouldn't handling him now just traumatize him more?
And for the record, my cats were a hell of a lot more traumatized than the snake!
Is there any way of finding out his sex without getting him probed? I know you can go by their claws, but I have nothing to compare them to so I don't know if they're big or small. I'll have to take some pictures.
Thanks for all your advise!

only way to sex a snake is by probing or popping both should be done by someone that knows what they are doing. The spurs(claws) are not used to determine sex. Any good reptile stores in your area? they might sex it for you.

Oh ok. There are no reptile stores around, but maybe my regular petstore can do it, I will ask the rep department the next time I am in. I hate to spend $50 at the vet just to know when I am going to love him either way.
I read somewhere that the males have bigger spurs than the females? And what is Popping? That doesn't sound like fun!

the size of the spurs being bigger is a snake myth. (short version) Popping is the process by which you invert the sex organs to check and see if it is male or female. I would suggest if you are really interested you can get this video it is very good. Just make sure you have someone who knows what they are doing so they don't injure the snake.

http://drseward.com/New_Site/NWsexingdetail.htm

PS Rubbermaid containers can make nice temp. cages if you are in a pinch and can't rig the other one.

My ball python's herpetologist told me that female Ball Python's are worth approximately $1000 by me, because they are hard to find...I don't know if I have a male or female, but I'm in no rush to find out...I would not sell her if she turned out to be a girl...but I would have to change her name from Sosa to Suzy!
As for your python turning mean, were you feeding it in the cage? If you were, it has grown to associate your hand with food, so that may be why you can't get near it without it trying to bite you. You really should try to handle it as often as possible...before it's too late...I saw a rat snake that was rescued...it ws living in a small bowl and it had no human company...so it was mean...it never calmed down. Good luck!

There's a great reptile shop near me that sells baby, juvenile, and adult BP's and they sell captive bred female babies for only about $65. You can get an adult captive female for about $120 from them also. I bought my two BP's there and they are wonderful! One's a male and the other, female. The only female BP's that are worth $1000 are certain morphs or hets. Of course others are worth much more, but that's just a rough price for some. A regular female is fairly inexpensive.

Circusfan

I believe the person who posted the message about a $1000.00 female ball python was from Norway and they could possibly be that much there.

CJinNH

True captive bred clean females of excellent breeding size (i.e. probably not what you see in the pet store on several accounts) can be worth that much during the breeding season to someone with the right dominant morph male. You can get lucky and find something like that at a pet store some times if they don't know any better but you also take a big risk that it's a recent import or otherwise not well suited to breed immediately and produce 10X that much or more worth of babies.

True. I hadn't taken that into consideration. But if the poster was talking about a baby then $1000 is crazy for a normal. But you're right, for a 100% clean and healthy, ready to breed adult female, could possibly go for that to the right breeder..

Circusfan

No, I always fed him in a seperate container. I was told to wait until breeding season was over before I should handle him again.

Unless you plan on breeding him/her, I wouldnt worry too much about getting it sexed. I've had my BP for 2 years now myself and could care less about what sex it is. Besides, you may end up just adding stress to an already stressed snake from the cat situation.

BTW, I have a Sterilite that is 46" X 20" X 7" as my permanent setup. It's a lot cheaper than a regular tank and a lot easier to control temps and humidity in. Just have to do some tweaking to it as far as ventilation goes as well as what heat sources you want to use, etc. Anyway, it's not as nice looking as a regular tank, but i could care less about that at this point as long as it's good for the snake. Just a suggestion.

Thanks for the tip! What is a sterilite?
I have had Milo for four years now and have never cared what his sex is really. If I ever had to take him to the vet for other reasons, I may ask to find out. But other than that, I really don't mind not knowing.

Sterilites are just clear plastic containers and tubs that you can buy at any Wal Mart, Target, Home Depot, places like that. I think I paid about $12 for mine at Target and I bought one of the biggest ones in terms of floor space for my BP. It was either that or spend over $100 for a tank and screen top of similar size or smaller in terms of floor space. Floor space is more important than height for BPs.

Yea I have one of the expensive tanks with the nice stands. I went home and looked at the lid and none of the tape is where he could make contact with it so I think we're good for now. I hate throwing away $150 that I spent on this tank, so I think I'll just look for a better lid.
Thanks for the info!

please don't use duct tape, take it from me.

I don't like to tell this story often but when I first got into snakes I covered a small hole in the top of the screen on the cage with black electrical tape(which I didn't think was really sticky). Needless to say I came home one day to find it stuck on top of one of my ball pythons head, and he wasn't one of my tamer snakes. Needless to say getting tape off of a snakes head is not fun. Please learn from my mistake and stay away from tape at all costs.
ps the snake is fine and had no problems in other words I got lucky

I would suggest placing books or other heavey objects or anything else you can do to rig it until you get a new cage.
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Misty Sprouse Ball Pythons

Putting something heavy on top wouldn't do anything because it is the front of the lid that is coming off. There is only about a half inch space, but he is squeezing through. I will definitely take the tuct tape off when I get home. Maybe I can rig it up with rubber bands or something until I can get to the pet store.
Thanks for the help!

As you can probably gather from the previous posts Duct tape and snakes are not good pairs. Pick up a rubber maid on the way home or at the very least when you get home flip the cage/tank over.
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Tosha

8.10.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and currently un-named)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Dessert Tortoise (Pope)
7.9.5 Fish (1,2,3,4...)
0.0.1 Frog rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.2 Lizards rescued from pool skimmer

.

I would say your snake may be extra agressive this time of year because breeding season is just coming to an end in most areas and your snake is also probably trying to escape for the same reason. You can usually tell they are more restless this time of year. Give him a month and make sure your cage temps are around 90-95 24 hours a day. This should help him transistion back to non-breeding mode.

I would suggest just leaving him alone for a month. I bet by mid april he will be the same docile snake you used to know. Then you can get him used to you again by handling him more often.

BTW most snakes that were handled a lot when they are small don't need to be handled very often to keep them 'tame'. usually a few times a month will be enough.

So what would you consider "young"? I got him when he was about six months old. He's 4 now. This is the first time he has ever acted like this during the winter. He usually doesn't even eat from like November to June or July. Could it be because he is just reaching sexual maturity? Would this help me determine if he is a male? I know with a lot of species, like with my tarantula, females don't travel as much as males because the males are seeking out the females. Just curious.
Thanks for your help!

I'm no expert, but I think being picked up with a coat hanger might pi$$ him off.
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www.strictlyballs.ca

Well picking him up by hand is DEFINITELY pissing him off, I don't have a choice but to use the coat hanger for now. I am not jabbing him with it or anything, just sliding the curved end under him, and the whole process takes about 3 seconds, just moving him from his regular tank into his feeding ten gallon tank, and back again.

Whoever write that comment about the coathanger...Thanks for the comical relief!Cindy

I don't understand. I wasn't trying to be funny. I am trying to get help.

hey really what happend is that your ball is in a wild mode right now hes never had a taste of freedom like that untill now feed him in a sepret container and you are going to have to take a bite

What do you mean? Are you saying if I feed him in a seperate container, he will bite me? Or are you saying I should let him bite me? LOL I am sorry, I just don't understand that sentence. Thanks!

1) This is not the first year that he is sexually mature, but it might be the first year he has been trying to actively seek out females. Often they will not actively seek out females until they are "big enough" to combat with the larger males. Since smaller males can get hurt during combat, they will breed if the situation presents itself, but usually will not actively try to find that situation until they are about 3 to 4 years old. BP can live to be 40..I believe the oldest on record was 47 years old, so yes 4 is young.

2) Picking him up with a coat hanger is unacceptable. How would you like to be picked up with a coat hanger? You can brake ribs very easily picking them up with a snake hook, a coat hanger is even thinner. NEVER do that again EVER, you will only make him more aggressive. If you cannot pick him up by hand DONT PICK him up. Better yet, buy a pair of thick leather gloves. LEAVE HIM ALONE until he has calmed down...this could take a month or even more. Most BPs much prefer to be left alone anyway, so leave him alone. Try picking him up again in a month, I bet he doesn't try to bite, but just in case, get the gloves. Learn to read your snakes body language. If he looks like he is going to strike, leave him alone, if he looks relaxed, he will more likely let you pick him up. If he is already out and moving around at night time he will be more likely to let you pick him up.

Will do! I had no idea he was at risk of being injured. I see them being picked up by sticks all the time on TV. I know that is no excuse and I am hardly a proffessional, but I thought that picking him up by hand would be more stressful since I am an animal making contact with him.
I always feed him in a seperate container, and If I'm not supposed to pick him up without gloves until breeding season is over, how am I supposed to feed him? I wasn't using the coathanger just to hold him, I was using it to move him from his enclosure into the feeding tank and back. Thats the only time I handle him right now because he is being so aggressive.
Thanks so much for the info and I will definitely make some changes!

he's always hard to understand. feed in different cage. or take a bite...LOL. i think is what he meant.