Hey its me again. So we received a banana 66%het candy. This little 138 gram fellow has a big attitude. We knew he was fiesty but boy is he big mad. How would you recommend taming him down. We just got him yesterday. Usually the husband is the one messing with the ones like this but he is a truck driver so naturally he is not home so it’s all on me.
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Every time you open it’s tub, confidently reach in and touch it on top of the head. It should shy away from your hand. When it does, pick it up. Should only bite at targets offered at a distance at that point. If it’s just machine gunning and bites no matter what, it’s either stressed out or you got one of the rare ones. I have a 10 year old male named Rage, and he’s not playing games, ever.
If you’re running the hotspot at 90* drop it down to 85* for a few days and see if his behavior changes. Make sure there is a temperature gradient in the tub/cage as well.
Do you have it in a tub or a tank?
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You should wait a week after getting a snake before feeding or handling it due to the new environment. Do you have a picture and temps and humidity of the enclosure?
He is in a tub
The thing is he was the exact same way at the breeders so im thinking it’s just because he wasn’t handled much
It could be that it’s just a skittish snake, you can try taming but I would first wait until he’s acclimated. Often ball pythons are flightier as babies, so over time he will probobally get better.
There are a lot factors that go into it but only maybe a couple times a year do I actually have hatchlings that bite outside of a food response.
What are the temperatures?
Yeah I’m gonna give him about week to settle in…his feeding day is tomorrow
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I would skip this feeding, snakes will do fine skipping a feeding or two every once in a while, in the long run it’s usually better for them to acclimate properly without disturbances.
Ok…just never had one with this much attitude rofl…the banana that we’ve had for a few month would get hissy but never strike so this is a big learning experience for me. Thank you for all your help
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Each snake is different, the more cover you have in the tub the calmer they usually are (but I would wait a week until adding cover). I’m glad to help, if you have any more questions feel free to ask.
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I had to put a hide in with the one banana and she finally calmed down so I put a hide in with this little butthole…should I take it back out?
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No, if you already did it just leave it in, I wouldn’t add anything else until after a week.
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Nope, leave it in for now. Just leave him be for a week to settle. Don’t change his environment except maybe Temps. Use a temp Guage to make sure he’s not over 85-88 F on the hot side and just leave him be.
When you try again to handle, start by gently touching him with a foreign object. Preferably a snake hook, but anything that keeps your warm, looks like it might be a predator or prey item, hand some distance away. That should break his mental state away from attacking. If you need to, you can use the object to gently redirect him until you can pick him up from behind around his middle. Keep an eye on his body language. I have found snappy babies to be perfectly willing to strike at anything warm and moving, except the hand they’re curled up on.
I don’t get it, and it only seems to be true for our ball pythons, our kings will whip around and chew you in a heartbeat. But a ball will just sit there on my hand lashing out at empty air, derpy…
He may settle at that point. If not, or if he’s really stressed, put him in a snake bag and just hold him for a few minutes, then put him back. Wait a few days, repeat. You are trying to teach him that he won’t get hurt, slow and steady works. Start with short intervals of handling time and gradually increase the time you hold him, both out of and in the bag.
Try to have a different times for handling and feeding. For example, I typically only handle and clean tubs during the day with mine and feed in the evenings. So mine know, if the tub opens in the daytime, there won’t be any prey, thus no strikes, usually, they do sometimes just get grumpy. At night, they will almost always strike at an open tub, because they expect food.
Lastly, and this is just my theory based on my own experiences, I think that as they grow, they go through changes in their behavior in regards to predator/prey responses. As hatchlings, they’re afraid of everything (except my lav albino clutch this year, never hissed or struck at us ever, not once, loveable little weirdos 
), so they snap defensively and then try to run. You will see this in vids alot, one or two snaps and then just “run away, run away!” As they get bigger, more teen aged, somewhere around 200-300g for me, they get food aggressive. Like they think everything warm will fit in their mouth, “get in mah belly!” This lasts for awhile, varies, but they calm back down, for me anyway, around 500-700g or so, except Goldilocks…, she’s still trying to kill me…sometimes, can’t tell when, little nutjob…, good thing she’s so darn pretty… Pretty and crazy, great combo… 
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When I unboxed him and weighed him I had on a nice thick glove. So even if he did get, which I’m not necessarily afraid of just don’t want to get got, I wouldn’t feel it, not that it hurts cuz I have already been bit by a small one and a big one so.
I had this with Blaze and actually asked on here for ideas on how to chill him as my other boy isn’t like it!
He struck at me all the time I couldn’t even walk past his tub or he would strike also 
I found that ‘bopping’ him on the head like someone said helped, he would ball up and I’d take him out.
Use a fake plant or something soft; don’t whack him haha. To be fair just going near with it would be enough!
Now my fire cracker has chilled out and knows if I go near and my hand goes in I’m getting him out. If he tongs are coming with a rat on the end it means food time 
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Yeah I thought about the booking but he don’t even give u the opportunity too…he’s just a spicy little noodle right now…lol
You still need him to settle in without bothering him for at least a week. Two weeks are recommend for shy/defensive snakes.
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Oh blaze didn’t either! I was always on edge haha. Took me a while to get him to come around, at first it was taking his tub outside as he seemed more interested in what was out there than me and I was able to handle with ease. Then came the booping, and now he doesn’t care. He was born 5th July, I got him august 27th. So he’s only young and luckily snapped out of it quick!
I was also told about ‘hook training’?
Luckily I didn’t need it but also may be of use to you?
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Hook training is similar. You rub the snake on the head with a hook (or paper towel roll) before handling, not when feeding. The association between being rubbed with a hook and handling teaches the snake not to bite or elicit a feeding response. If you decide to try this look up how to do it for reticulated pythons since this method is common for them.
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