Really aggressive feeding behaviour...

[Nicky]

Hey all,
I was just curious if anyone had ever noticed thier ball python being very aggressive towards one person when feeding. Today when i went to dangle starburst's rat in front of her she immeditly went for my fingers not the rat. Even after withdrawing my hands and accidently dropping the rat in the tank( dead of course) She kept staring at my hands rather than the rat that she was know sitting on. She also struck at the glass when i moved away. The funny thing is a week befor when i asked my cousin to try feeding her she took it from him no problem and didn't go for his fingers... Has anyone ever had this happen befor it's just kind of odd the way she went straight for my hand instead of the rat?
Either way I still love her to death just kinda odd.
( i'm now currently waiting for her to go back into her hidebox or at least stop staring out of the tank and then i'll try again)
Kayla:)

[hhw]

It could be your hands are warmer than the rat, so it senses you instead. Try heating your rat up a little more. Also, now would probably be a good time to invest in some hemostats or tweezers.

[Artemis]

Or even a cheap pair of tongs from walmart you can grasp their little tails with. I cant believe you have actually been using your hands! You got bigger kahunas than I do, thats for sure. I take the plastic bag with a frozen rat in it and the coffee mug of sub nuclear water right next to the enclosure, and pull it straight out of the water JUST before I feed, to keep the rat optimally warm. I usually feel it thought the bag with my fingers to make sure its neither too hot nor too cool. And hey- better aggressive feeding behavior than weak responses!

Definitely hemostats time though!

Art

[mykee]

Feeding with your hands is just asking to get tagged, use something. Even the bbq tongs.

[latazyo]

my "hemostat" is a pair of BBQ tongs as mykee mentions....0.88USD at walmart

[BrandonVeenstra]

Well although the hemostats or BBQ tongs might prevent you from getting tagged.. its not always true. If you have an agreesive snake, I'd go for them..no point in getting tagged if you dont have too...

[Nicky]

Ok kool I had been using tongs but the rats tail kept falling off and then i still kept getting tagged with them so I just gave up on them, But i think i'll try longer bbq tongs. Thx alot everyone:).
Rock on
Kayla:)

[nita]

I use the BBQ tongs and rather than hold by the tail I would hold either by the behind, locking the tongs onto the hips of the animal or right around the belly, easier as well to make the food dance for those tough to feed snakes.