Hey guys I'm new to snakes and recently purchases a normal juvenile female Ball Python from a reputable cb breeder. She's probably about 2 months old. When I was at the store holding her and checking her out she seemed to be ok, however, when I brought her home she immediately tried striking at me. I decided to put her in her enclosure and waited a few days and then fed her. After a few more days, I tried picking her up and she tried striking at me MANY times, and bit my hand and it started bleeding. Also, whenever I look into her enclosure she strikes at the glass, trying to bite me. She is constantly trying to bite me, and I'm not sure why. I tried feeding her again but she just killed it and left it there (probably because she ate a mouse 3 days before). She is extremely aggressive and it is hard to even pick her up without worrying i'm going to get bit. Is this normal? And is there any way for me to try and get her tame? She is not CH or imported, she is captive bred. I'm not sure what to do, and for my first snake, I read and was told that BP are very docile. What do you guys think I should do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

A testy ball python is indeed a rare thing. Of the many I have had or handled regularly, only one has ever struck at me. But, I do have a lot of experience with some feisty young snakes, so can give some recommendations.

What kind of enclosure does she have? She sounds very stressed, and keeping her in an area with less foot traffic and enough hide spots could help in calming her down. I would maintain a regular feeding schedule, and just leave her completely alone for a week or two. After that, you can begin short handling sessions every week or so. She will likely bite you pretty regularly at first, but over time should start calming down. Younger snakes do tend to be a more nippy, and can calm down on their own as they grow.

Another tip would be purchasing a small snake hook, or using another device to help in getting her out of the cage. A lot of snakes will be hissy or even strike when you first stick your hand in the cage. Once they are already out of the cage, they tend to be a lot calmer. It may be why she was so calm when you first held her, but is now a feisty little girl.

Just don't let the biting discourage you, with enough time and patience she should calm down. If not, at least you'll get used to being tagged every once in a while. It kinda comes with the territory of keeping snakes.

Thank you for your advice jayefbe. She is in a fairly large plastic tub container with aspin bedding, 2 seperate hiding spots and a water bowl that fits her entire body in it. Half of the cage is kept around 90, and the other half is around 82 degrees. And I keep her tank humid with misiting everyday. I don't think i'm doing anything wrong with her enclosure.

Another thing, is that even though she has 2 enclosures, she likes to stare at me when I'm near the enclosure. Sometimes she will come out of her hiding spot and just sit there staring at me. For instance right now, she is out of her hiding spots, and right next to the edge of the container staring right at me. But if i get close enough, or put my hand on the outside of the enclosure, she will strike at it. I'll definately try your suggestion though of keeping her completely isolated for a week or two. What I thought before was to try and give her more attention and sit near her enclosure and just watch her as she watched me so maybe she would get used to me. But I'm not sure if that's working lol. I'll try your method though. =]

if theres any other advice anyone has i'd love to hear it! or anyone that has had a similar situation like this =]

Yep, let her settle in for a while then get her eating. Then she can be handled.

Just remember, this is normal defensive posture for a baby. Don't let her groom you though, if her hissing and striking keeps you from picking her up, she will think her little attitude works and will keep at it. Once you show her it won't stop you then they usually stop.

I've twice seen cases of unusually aggressive ball pythons producing more unusually aggressive ball pythons. In the first case I followed it through three generations. With the most recent case I sold the mom last summer (to an informed buyer) but then bought another adult female without asking about her personality and she turned out to be another striker. Eventually I want to cull these genes from my collection although some may actually select for aggressive ball pythons due to the general belief that they may be better feeders. I've still got the daughter of the striker I sold last summer and she usually settles for a loud hiss but I'm going to keep her to breed at least once to see if she also got the pied gene from her normal attitude father. The new striker might be gravid so will be interesting to see if she produces little hell spawns too.

Nathan, I'm with the majority here. Leave her alone for a couple weeks except for tub maintenance, spot cleaning, feeding, water changes etc., and don't let her intimidate you once you begin handling her again. Good luck.

I've twice seen cases of unusually aggressive ball pythons producing more unusually aggressive ball pythons. In the first case I followed it through three generations. With the most recent case I sold the mom last summer (to an informed buyer) but then bought another adult female without asking about her personality and she turned out to be another striker. Eventually I want to cull these genes from my collection although some may actually select for aggressive ball pythons due to the general belief that they may be better feeders. I've still got the daughter of the striker I sold last summer and she usually settles for a loud hiss but I'm going to keep her to breed at least once to see if she also got the pied gene from her normal attitude father. The new striker might be gravid so will be interesting to see if she produces little hell spawns too.

Randy, that's very interesting that it may well be hereditary.

I've twice seen cases of unusually aggressive ball pythons producing more unusually aggressive ball pythons. In the first case I followed it through three generations. With the most recent case I sold the mom last summer (to an informed buyer) but then bought another adult female without asking about her personality and she turned out to be another striker. Eventually I want to cull these genes from my collection although some may actually select for aggressive ball pythons due to the general belief that they may be better feeders. I've still got the daughter of the striker I sold last summer and she usually settles for a loud hiss but I'm going to keep her to breed at least once to see if she also got the pied gene from her normal attitude father. The new striker might be gravid so will be interesting to see if she produces little hell spawns too.

That is very interesting.

I am a little confused as to why she has two enclosures?

At two months old everything is huge and scary to her - plus she's just been moved to a new home (or two if you are keeping her in two different cages). Put her in one small enclosure and leave her -- you might want to cover it up so she can't see any movement that might stress her.

Just let her chill.

You don't need to be bothering with her except to change her water every few days and offer food once a week. But give her some more settle in time before you offer food. Once she has fed for you a few times you can start handling her.

Don't be afraid like most animals she will pick up on your fear and use it to her advantage -- you don't want to teach her that all that posturing will get her her way or she'll keep doing it. If it helps you can put a towel over her to lift her out of the cage and just let her hide under it - it will also help with her security.

With some work you should be able to make her handleable in no time.

Good luck.

I had a little het pied male that was like yours, as soon as I walked in my snake room and he saw me he was striking. It took about 2-3 wks, but he eventually learned I wasn't going to eat him and now he's puppy dog tame.

I am a little confused as to why she has two enclosures?

At two months old everything is huge and scary to her - plus she's just been moved to a new home (or two if you are keeping her in two different cages). Put her in one small enclosure and leave her -- you might want to cover it up so she can't see any movement that might stress her.



She only has 1 enclosure. Sorry I didn't make it clear. What I meant was, she has 2 hiding spots in her enclosure. One hiding spot on the hot side and one on the cool side. I'm going to try letting her be for a week and then feed her and let her be for a week more.

Sounds like a good plan. Right now she's just scared and thinks you're going to 'get her' every time you come around apparently. Baby ball pythons are food for everything out there just about, so sometimes they can get really defensive.
Good luck! I'm sure she'll settle in for you.

I've also had babies grow out of striking so hopefully yours will also.

The examples I was talking about are adults that consistently strike over a long period of time, in some cases years.

Randy I had an adult I got in that would strike strike strike.. she would nail you every chance she got, and never calmed down. She eventually struck the side of her bin so hard when I walked into the room that she broke her neck and died. No joke. I event ried putting wadded newspaper in so she could hide no matter what, put in plastic hides so she could feel secure.
She's the only ball python out of about... 60-80 I've owned that was just plain bitey and never calmed down. I would have been interested to see if any hatchlings from her were also so bitey, but (un?)fortunately, she killed herself before breeding.
All the babies I've had that struck a lot, have grown out of it with calm and quiet handling.

Randy I had an adult I got in that would strike strike strike.. she would nail you every chance she got, and never calmed down. She eventually struck the side of her bin so hard when I walked into the room that she broke her neck and died. No joke. I event ried putting wadded newspaper in so she could hide no matter what, put in plastic hides so she could feel secure.
She's the only ball python out of about... 60-80 I've owned that was just plain bitey and never calmed down. I would have been interested to see if any hatchlings from her were also so bitey, but (un?)fortunately, she killed herself before breeding.
All the babies I've had that struck a lot, have grown out of it with calm and quiet handling.

Holy crap, I've had snakes hit the side of their cage when they smell food and I'm walking by and I've always been a bit afraid of that happening.

Randy I had an adult I got in that would strike strike strike.. she would nail you every chance she got, and never calmed down. She eventually struck the side of her bin so hard when I walked into the room that she broke her neck and died. No joke. I event ried putting wadded newspaper in so she could hide no matter what, put in plastic hides so she could feel secure.
She's the only ball python out of about... 60-80 I've owned that was just plain bitey and never calmed down. I would have been interested to see if any hatchlings from her were also so bitey, but (un?)fortunately, she killed herself before breeding.
All the babies I've had that struck a lot, have grown out of it with calm and quiet handling.


I have heard of retics doing that but not BP's! Thats crazy!

If you get sick of getting bit whenever you take her out, go out and buy some leather gloves from the hardware store. This will help because you wont pull back everytime she strikes. Take her out for short periods of time. After a week or 2 she should start to calm down once she is out for a little bit. Once she starts calming down, take one glove off so that she can smell your hand. This will get her used to your smell and soon she will be an awesome pet. Don't get discouraged.

thanks for all your guys' advice! It is definately going to help me a lot! I'm probably going to go out and buy leather gloves to hold her more frequently until she calms down with the biting. =]

My favorite analogy comes from Kevin McCurley's The Complete Ball Python (http://www.newenglandreptile.com/book.html):
"Imagine being placed in a beautiful home without a phone. Every time you go outside of your home there is a giant Godzilla looking at you, so you run back inside and hide. The Godzilla is very excited to see you so he picks up your home and pulls you out and looks you over...Godzilla did not hurt you, but he is still Godzilla...the rumbles of Godzilla are felt with frequency. You are very nervous of this situation...at any moment Godzilla could demand your presence and awaken you...it is a scary experience and it takes time to trust Godzilla......you learn that Godzilla does not harm you...over time you may even feel comfortable with your Godzilla." :D

I like the gloves idea...I have an aggresive Het Albino male (aka: Little Sh*t) who can be just fine one day, and bitey the next. Had him since Oct. '08 and he's still tense (it's a quiet snake room). I use gloves when close to feeding day, when he seems to be most aggressive, but when I handle him to get used to me I use bare hands (make sure you're alone...no other Godzilla's around). In my opinion BPs know their owners by skin smell, and I would avoid perfumes or colognes...don't confuse them.

I also have a Pastel male that wanted a piece of me for the first month, then he calmed down, got to know me well, and is now one of my most friendly snakes. And both these BPs were just fine with me handling them when I was buying them, so don't feel that you made a bad choice or anything like that.

One last thing, confidence plays a role here too. If you're nervous handling the snake, they sense that. So if gloves give you that confidence back, use them. It seems now your getting used to your BP as much as he's getting used to you...his Godzilla! ;)

I don't have any biters yet but if I do have any adults I would use the gloves.

I have a couple of them that have been hell spawns at first. They were all nice when I bought them but once we got home they were wanting to melt my face off. One of them a little mojave was the worst. He was just eternally pissed. I thought he was the son of the devil. I just put him in his box and only picked him up when I needed to clean his box. After a couple of months he stopped trying to kill me and realized I was a friend. Now everytime I open the box he is out and up my arm. One of those snakes that seems to LOVE to come out and hang out. I really thought ok this one is just gonna be feisty forever. I also have a pastel female that as a baby she was so sketchy she would strike her own tail. She is also super friendly now. Just give yours some alone time for a while and start out with short 5 min handling for the first month or two. It should come around.

You just have to keep at it. I had one that was 365g and it bite me every time. Now that is my favorite BP