I purchased a ball python from a seller here back in January. The purchase was primarily for my daughter, but also me. I have never owned a snake in the past. The seller wasn’t exactly sure, but the snake is probably around seven months old or so right now. I have him set up in a 4 x 2 x 2 enclosure.
What I need help with is learning how to handle him. We’ve only handled him once, and that was when we first purchased him. It’s not always right away but anytime he notices us at night when he’s out he usually goes back into his hide. I have been trying for a bit now to just go in there at night when he’s out and just sit there so that he can notice that I am not a threat. He still seems very skittish and I’m not sure what to do. Do I literally just have to lift up his hide and grab him. To me that seems like it would cause him a lot of stress, especially since he’s a younger snake. any advice would be well appreciated because my daughter really wants to handle him often.
Other more experienced keepers will chime in with better, more specific advice but here are a few things:
Even just small bouts of exposure to you that show him you aren’t a threat will help! Progress isn’t linear nor is it often fast.
If he is under a year and in a 4ft x 4ft enclosure, it is possible he feels a little exposed in that big area if it isn’t nicely cluttered with hides and materials? A photo of the enclosure might help others expand on this
All good! That is a wonderful size for a full adult BP, I only mentioned it because a smaller baby may feel insecure/exposed if hiding opportunities are sparse
Some people will disagree with me on this, but I just pick them up and hold them. Ball pythons are much smaller than us and most certainly see us as predators, so they’re obviously going to try to retreat. I find that just reaching in and picking them up from the back side of the body (middle/near their tail rather than near the neck) is the best way to just get them used to being handled. It might stress them out at first and you may see some rapid breathing or hiding his head, but the more you do it, the more he will adapt to it and become comfortable with it. Keep handling sessions relatively short (10-15 minutes) and give him time to decompress between each time you handle him, but this approach works great for me.
Some people do more choice-based handling where they wait for the animal to come to them, which is a valid approach and I don’t necessarily disagree with it, but if you want to handle your animal it’s just not practical. You could go months without the snake initiating contact with you.
You could also try handling him during the day when he’s sleeping rather than at night when he’s more alert and aware of his surroundings.
The way I see it… if I never pick up any of my hatchlings, expose them to being handled and just go by choice-based handling those hatchlings probably would never outgrow their defensive nature. They see anything larger than themselves as a potential threat, they will always retreat by default if they aren’t socialized.
They need that interaction and human socializing if they are to become pets, especially to children.
Thats why I see the downside to choice based handling at least for young snakes, if it was an older BP thats already socialized to the point that they feel no need to be afraid of human presence then I’d be more comfortable with that method.
I reccomend at least 10 minutes of physical interaction a day to get your snake comfortable with humans, that progress however is gradual and can be worse or better on some days.
If your snake happens to bite you or act stressed, don’t immediately put them away… they will learn that behavior is necessary if you do. Hold them, wait for them to settle, let them relax with you and learn that you are not a danger. Then put them away.
If you never physically interact with /hold your snake he is never going to understand that you are not a predator/that you are not going to eat him. Not only that but you will never understand that your little guy can be so comforting, calming and downright charming to you and your daughter.
It’s good that you want to commune with him. You will have to go to him though because he definitely isn’t going to come to you. There is nothing wrong with lifting up his hide and gently but confidently picking him up by his back end, avoiding his head but making sure he doesn’t feel like he is going to fall.
Ball pythons are very head shy. Once you have picked up just him just let him settle in your hands. Let him slither from one hand to another for awhile if he wants to.After a few minutes gently place him back into his enclosure and then repeat the process the next day and so on until the both of you are comfortable with each other.
He will soon figure out that you are not a threat. And he will. By then you will have figured out how wonderful he is. After a few weeks you will hopefully enter the “why didn’t I get a snake sooner” mentality that snake lovers possess!
It’s a shame to own an animal but never commune with it……
I agree with all the above. I assume you have a heat gradient setup, hopefully on a thermostat. Make sure there are at least two hides, one on the hot side and one on the cool side. Make sure the hides are not too large. They feel most secure in a hide that they can cram into, feeling the sides of the hide on their body. And lots of clutter throughout to provide cover when they come out. They are nocturnal, so I would try to make the handling sessions at night when they are naturally more active. I’m not saying keep your daughter up until 3am for the snake’s sake, but maybe wait until nighttime, hopefully in a dark room so the snake will know it’s nighttime. Obviously you’ll have to turn on a light to see when pulling it out and handling it. And yes, keep the handling sessions brief in the beginning, like 10-15 minutes, until the snake gets more comfortable with handling. Probably not more often than once a day, in the beginning. If your ball python feels stressed by just about anything, they will often go off feed. The stress could be because of too much handling or (more likely) not feeling secure (not enough appropriately sized hides or clutter). So if it goes off feed I would maybe scale back the handling to make sure that’s not a source of stress.
Once the snake is “trained” to understand you are not a predator, it will relax and handling will be an enjoyable experience for the handler. I wouldn’t say snakes enjoy being handled by humans, they more tolerate it, but many do enjoy supervised exploring outside their enclosure once in a while.
Also @atar85 Even though all bps are snakes, not all bps have the same temperament/personality. I have 20 at the moment, all pets. Some are a bit shy while others are more curious. Some use their hides more so than others. After you and your daughter establish a “relationship” with your boy you will discover what he is comfortable with and what he wants no part of. As @halfmoonlakeherps said, snakes generally tolerate handling as a rule but if you respect your boy he will appreciate you more. Then the 3 of you should get along just fine.
Thank you, everyone for your advice. I really appreciate it and will be using it. Here is a couple pictures of the enclosure. There are 3 hides. I have a thermostat on ceramic lamp to make sure the temp doesn’t drop Below 73. 75w lamp and it stays around 93-97 during the day.
Ok. I read to keep the temperature between 90 and 95 during the day. I saw a lot of different temperatures from people though. Some that never let it go over 85 and some that let it go up to 100. It rarely gets up to 97 but has a couple times now that it’s getting warmer.
Trust me anything over 90 is too hot. I don’t know where you have gotten your information from if it’s from FB or Reddit or even Repti Files, you cannot trust everything you are told or read. Also a snake that’s too hot can make for a grumpy snake or even an unhealthy one.
I’m sure others here will back me up on this……
Also humidity should be between 50 and 60%.
I don’t have balls, but I agree with all the handling advice to just pick them up and hold them. It works for all my corns. Some are shy and barely move at first, others are panicky and fly through my fingers as fast as they can go. Be prepared for both. Just hand-over-hand for the flighty ones and they’ll eventually calm down.
It’s such a joy when they finally relax and aren’t afraid of you. It feels like a mini super-hero moment for me and majorly bonds me with my snakes! They’re such wonderful pets when they aren’t terrified of you.
Definitely wayyyy too hot, you do not want your temps going over 90° at the warmest spot, 86°F is ideal. You are risking your snake suffering from burns and overheating.
Ok I will adjust the temps to make sure they don’t go over 90. I also read from multiple sources that humidity should be between 60 and 80% … you’re saying that’s too high?
I felt like I did so much research on this, and I actually talked to somebody who had snakes. The variance of information I’ve been told is crazy.
Ambient humidity should go no higher than 65%, there are exceptions like if you have a humid spot for the snake to stay during shedding but the overall humidity still shouldn’t exceed that.
If its too high it can greatly increase the growth and spread of mold and bacteria which can make your snake ill.
Humidity also depends on your snake to say you keep it at 60% but consistently have bad sheds always bump up humidity when activley going into shed but keep an eye on his particular body ques as to if its to low but like cms said you dont want molding
