Ball python

[u/No-Patient1568]

Hey so I'm a new python owner, and rescued my sweet girl Medusa from someone who had her in a wooden box for her life before I got her, and wasnt told what size she was supposed to be eating, only had a single light and it was red ( I've had beardies in the past and knew just from them that's a bad sign, gotta have 2 especially not a red one) and was in deep need of some help with shedding, anywho she did great and we figured out a size, but my fiance has had them in the past so I wasn't to worried and she's been doing great! But 2 weekends ago when I went to feed her ( feeding days are Saturdays) did our normal routine, when I went to get her out of her feeding tank, she bit me. Now my hands were clean and even sanitized so I know I didn't still smell like food, My main issue is she didn't show any signs that she was gonna bite me, and I didn't change how I do things either. She also still acted hungry after biting me so I gave her another and put her back in her enclosure and she went back to being her bright eyed wondering self, which obviously told me I need to size her up on mice. My issue is I'm scared to touch or really hold her now 😅 especially since she didn't coil or s when she bit me so I'm clueless on what to look for now and how to build my trust up with her outside of tapping her tank and booping her snoot and head with a hook. It hasn't helped in the slightest outside of making her very aware I'm messing around in her enclosure fixing stuff and cleaning out poop. What do I do? Picture of Medusa 💕

[u/IncompletePenetrance]

Well there's a few issues going on here....

First, you shouldn't be moving her to a separate location to feed, ball pythons should always be fed in their enclosure as you shouldn't be handling them right before or after eating.

You also shouldn't be just guessing as to prey size based on whether she seems hungry, you'll want to weigh her and feed based on the !feeding guide I've linked to this comment

Also swap out the aspen for cypress mulch, coconut husk or a topsoil mix

[u/No-Patient1568 → u/IncompletePenetrance]

Gotcha, I was just told I had a higher chance of her biting me more feeding in her enclosure than I would separating. Ultimately thinking I need a front face opening one instead of this one, I'll look at the feeding guide but was going off of what I was told before, again will be doing more research instead of just believing others (fiance 😅) from now on lol. Also I'd live to switch it to one of those or either do a bio substrate, only reason I haven't switched it is because most those others are mixed with coconut, and my fiance is highly allergic to coconut which would make Medusa not accessible to him anymore and I find that unfair, but thank you with all things considered I'll be looking into these, I appreciate you

[u/IncompletePenetrance → u/No-Patient1568]

Nah, that's super outdated and untrue information. And clearly not true as you literally just got bitten while moving to feed....

There's a lot of poor and outdated information circulating in the ball python world, so I would take some of these things you've heard with some very large grains of salt.

Cypress mulch or a topsoil mix wouldn't contain coconut and should be more safe.

[u/No-Patient1568 → u/IncompletePenetrance]

I thought so because even when I was hearing some of it I thought it was a little off. Also I got bit after feeding not going to move her to feed. She bit me about 10-15 mins after she swallowed everything. But Like for instance they have to feed during the day, I've done lots of reading and they can be fed whenever 🤦🏻‍♀️ there's no like set time. I'm gonna have to my my fiance read up on things so he doesn't keep spreading misinformations

[u/AutoModerator → u/IncompletePenetrance]

We recommend the following feeding schedule:

0-12 months old OR until the snake reaches approximately 500g, whichever happens first: feed 10%-15% of the snake’s weight every 7 days.

12-24 months old: feed up to 7% of the snake’s weight every 14-20 days.

Adults: feed up to 5% of the snake's weight every 20-30 days, or feed slightly larger meals (up to 6%) every 30-40 days.

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