Reptile & Amphibian Forums

as i have read on here lately alot about bp's striking alot, how many of you actually have snappy, moody balls?

Out of 10 adults we have 2 that are what I would call moody. They hiss every time we pull out their tub or touch them. However, no matter how much they hiss or what I am doing to them (cleaning cage, weighing etc.) they have never actually struck. Of course with them I approach with caution and the respect that their hissing deserves

Laura

I have one that strikes all the time, constantly, and without end. I've had him for almost a year now. I traded one of my more docile babies for him as a favor to a freind who owned a pet store. This snake had been bought, and returned twice because of his nasty attitude. To this day you can set him on a table and stand six feet away from him, and he will repeatedly strike in your general direction so violently that he often flips himself over. He is a great feeder though, and my boyfriend loves his attitude, so I keep him around.
Bulldawger

exactly like mine...are they related.....lol

I have one that will his but does not attempt to bite. I have one that will "bite your head off!" if she gets a chance. Her eggs are due to hatch in the next 2 weeks. Although, she is not brooding them.
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Jay A. Martin

unfortunatly mine not only hiss's but strikes no matter what...jus plain moody and tempermental...but i usually put a glove (without my hand in it...i'm chicken yet...lol) near him to see if he's going to strike or not before i put my hand in ...usually he strikes once, then balls up n hides...once he's out he's not as bad, but i'm not goin to let him get the best of me...he's calming down...slowly...

I 30 ball pythons, only one has ever bitten me, and she bites me every chance she gets! We have named her Ms. BB for Ms. B-itch Bites!

A couple of the others have struck at me when they were new, but have stopped now. Only Ms BB still wants to nail me, and I actually use her when people ask me if they are dangerous, She show's people that a defensive strike is different than a feeding strike (Why does everybody think the snake wants to eat thier fingers?!?) A defensive strike is usually fast, and the snake backs away, it doesn't hold on to see what you will do next!

My girl hissed her very first day here, and only because she had to sit in the little tub for a couple hours for the ride home (I'm guessing).

However, Isbella's (the BP) brother, at the shop, was, according to the keeper, "A rabid BEAST!" I figured haha, a mean BP, so I asked to handle him, and sure enough, he laced into my hand two or three times. Usually you don't see typically nice snakes aggressive without some sort of problem, but the keeper says he's shown no sign of disease, gets the same kind of cage/temp/positioning as the others, and is actually the best eater out of all of them. I guess some of them are just mean.

You would think she was a mamba, just mean as can be.

You must have seen my post below. Though she's an awesome feeder, I don't think it's a feeding response, as I said she's hit me twice, left a wet spot, no teeth, seems defensive. About 15 yrs ago, I got nailed by my 8 ft. Burmese in a feeding response...in 2 seconds, I had at least 80 1/4" teeth deep in my hand and 3 coils of determined snake constricting my arm, confident it had siezed prey with blood pooring into it's mouth. I had to grab her neck and push my hand into her mouth to release the backward curved teeth, then wrestle her off my arm and throw her back into the cage. As in most of these cases, it was completely my fault...I did not open the cage and let her crawl out partially before attemting to handle her (the normal routine). That time when I opened the cage her head and my hand were in the vicinity of where the rabbits usually were presented. She responded instinctively, I soaked my hand in peroxide and spent a few hours trying to get all the blood stains out of the carpet. Lesson learned...And...Now I keep Balls, not Burms!!!