Weird Behavior

[sandyhorse97]

I just got a new ball python 2 weeks ago from one of my friends. It's a year old& he hisses all the time& refuses to sit under her heat lamp at all. It's not to hot but he always sits behind him water bowl is the shade& is always cold to the touch. I hold him almost every day for a good amount of time. Well two days ago I was holding him and texting on my phone& he was doing her normal hissing every so offen and then out of no where he bites at my face. It scared me to death so I put him back in his cage and have been scared to touch him since. He's even hissing more now louder while he's in his cage and I don't know what's wrong. I also have a baby rat snake that's in cage across my room from him. Could that be a problem? The rat snake hasn't been acting weird, just his normally jumpy self but I don't know what's wrong. Help me. & I am also not sure the sex of either snake.

[sharthun]

Hey and welcome! It's hard to say without knowing more about the enclosure temps, humidity and cover. Post pics of your setup. What are the temps of hot and warm side? What kind and how large is the enclosure?

[CosmicOwl]

Hey and welcome! It's hard to say without knowing more about the enclosure temps, humidity and cover. Post pics of your setup. What are the temps of hot and warm side? What kind and how large is the enclosure?

From the OP's post, I'm going to assume there is a screen top aquarium with a basking lamp and no thermostat. Plus the snake is probably stress from constant handling and poor climate control.

[kiiarah]

First of all, congratulations on your new little one. With some patience and proper care I am sure he will grow to be a calm and wonderful companion. You say that you got him from a friend, do you have any information on how he was kept? It is possible that the friend was not caring for him well which could explain the aggressive behavior. Full disclosure: I am also a new bp keeper and am by no means an expert, that being said I have done a ton of reading and research and can share a few suggestions. Take anything suggested with a grain of salt, this is just reading and minimal personal experience, but more seasoned keepers will surely be along to agree or disagree with anything I might mention.

First of all, terrarium set up. Be aware that ball pythons do not need a basking lamp, it is a big point of debate but most keepers agree that they will not make use of it and it will just reduce your humidity. If you must have a top light for viewing, pick up a non-heat emitting bulb and make sure to keep his day/night cycle to about 12 hours each. Ball pythons in the wild live in rat burrows and derive most of their heat from the ground, not the sun. Belly heat is critical to their health, as is good humidity which the top light will make very difficult to maintain. Get a heat pad if you don’t have one already and make sure your humidity is at least 50-60% at all times. Higher is not always better for humidity, as too high or too low can cause respiratory infections. As for being cold to the touch, get the belly heat set up and see how he is. Keep in mind reptiles will often feel at least cool to the touch as their internal temperature is going to be lower than our body temperature.

As for behavior, it is my understanding that hissing is not a normal behavior in ball pythons at all. They really do tend to do better with minimal handling so I wouldn’t call it “normal hissing”. Ball pythons tend to be very docile, so if it were me and the snake were hissing, I would immediately read this as a sign of a very stressed and uncomfortable snake and put him back to calm down. He probably only struck at you because he was too stressed to cope with handling. My juvenile pastel has never hissed at me once. I handle him fairly regularly but only because when being handled he is out, exploring, and relaxed.

My best recommendation would be to ditch the lamp, get the bottom of the tank heated properly. If you can’t maintain a good ambient temperature without the heat lamp, get something like a ceramic heat bulb as they can be run steadily without affecting the proper day/night cycle. Make sure your humidity level is correct. Also find out the last time he shed and check for cloudy eyes or rubbing against décor. Ball pythons are known to become more “aggressive” right before a shed due to discomfort and clouded vision. They just feel more vulnerable. After getting all the set-up to the correct specs, give him a week or so to adjust and see if his behavior has improved.

He will be fine and so will you, just make sure you are giving him the correct habitat and enough time to settle and feel comfortable. :)

Feel free to message me if you would like, I'd be happy to help to the best of my ability.

[mrgrimm]

I have read that respiratory issues can cause a snake to "wheeze" during normal breathing, just make sure it's actually "hissing" all the time and not a physical health problem.

I agree with the others though, get the setup right and let it be in there for a few days without handling so it settles in, then offer a meal and see if it eats. An eating animal is usually a happy animal from my experience. A few days after it eats try to handle again and see if anything has changed.