Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Man oh man, guys.

I just adopted a 6 year old 2 ft long Ball Female. She was starving when I got her, and unfortunatly decided to take it out on my finger. I fed her a small rat as soon after I got her off my finger as possible.

Problem is that she is still super aggresive. I reached in her tank to get her out today, being as calm and normal as possible, and then she lunged at me and hit the side of the glass. What is up???

I have been around balls enough to know that they normally do not bite unless aggravated, but dang! I didn't do anything!!
Any possible explainations?

LOL, spooky ain't it ? If it was starving when you got it, I'd say there was a good chance it was teased enough to make it ornery . The only real cure is to try and handle it enough to make it realize you aren't a threat to it. Eventually it should calm down. Problem is, ya might have to take a few bites in the process. Good luck with it. 2 ft. long at 6 years of age seems seriously stunted. Whoever owned it before you must have starved it from the start. Very sad.

Quig

thats horrifing how anyone could starve a snake that bad, my oldest ball is about 9 or 10 months old and alittle over 2feet,

i hope she makes it

just goes to show you how tuff snakes are

good luck
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my addiction:
2 normal ball pythons (lazlo and izzy)
1 amelenistic corn snake (mazy)
1 wc eastern milksnake (psycho)

What is the best way to get a snake to remove itself (teeth) from your various and sundry tasty body parts?

I've heard hot water, and alcohol...Anything else?

I just want to be prepared...

Of the unbitten club, I saw one bite a breeder at a show & he blowed in it's face to get it to let go & seemed to work.

LoL. Well, "Bitey" seems not to care much for that, as I have kind of tested it out, but I have a feeling she is a bit too mean for that to work completely.

It took us about 5 minutes to unravel and get her teeth out of my finger the first time, cause we didn't know what to do but pry... Man, that was interesting. Lucky I have a high tolerance for pain. But it really doesn't hurt that bad...

Although hot water and alcohol are generally used for the
'large' snakes, burms, retics and the like, I imagine they would work. I've only been bitten 3 times and every time all I did was pry one of the jaws up enough to remove the teeth from my skin. They released and backed off. A little peroxide on the bite and yer ready for round two Hope this helps.

Quig

set her down in her tank and let her decide

and from now on use a hook or hold her behind the head
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my addiction:
2 normal ball pythons (lazlo and izzy)
1 amelenistic corn snake (mazy)
1 wc eastern milksnake (psycho)

Well I've been tagged but it was always tag and release Never had to try to get them off. I would say that the methods suggested should work though as they seem the standard for most people with experience. As for her calming down. Once she realizes she is going to be fed on a regular basis and that she doesn't have to try to eat everything just so that she won't starve, she'll be fine. To avoid getting bit, when you go to pick her up bring a clean tea towel and gently place it over her head and then lift her out, you should be fine. Worked on a male rescue I got that weighed only 960g at 10 yrs old, he was nippy too when I got him but he settled down after a couple weeks of eating and is now puppy dog tame and weighs 2600g, I got him March '04.
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Nita Hamilton
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Ball Pythons

Heard lemon juice works, but haven't tried it. I have a male (cb) and a female (wc) in my collection that were very strikey and bounce off their cage fairly regularly. But if I hook either one and lift their body off the ground a couple inches, I can then use my hands without them striking at me. The wc female mellowed considerably with a substrate change and is now pretty tame even tho' she's back onto paper towels. The male is still a little butt tho'.

Oh that poor thing!! And thanks to you for bringing her in for rehab. I have a couple really nippy ones. I make sure to keep their bellies full, and the bites aren't as frequent. Poor thing is probably so hungry she bites and constricts everything. If she was purely in defensive mode, IMHO she wouldn't constrict, just tag and back off.

Feed Feed Feed and I bet she calms down in a few weeks. If she were in my care, I would feed her smallish meals as often as she wants them. Eventually, her appetite will get back to normal.

And the few times I have been bitten and they wouldn't let go, I hold my hand and the perps head under running cold tap water for a few seconds and they always let go. Not sure if that is the correct thing to do, but it works for me.