Hi there, I'm hoping someone here can help me. I've spent hours online searching for an answer to my problem and have found nothing of any consequence. I've called several emergency animal hospitals but all of the doctors on call know far less than I do about snakes!

I have a beautiful almost one year old ball python named Barbara. She is usually very docile, sociable, and sweet. She is the kind of snake that (while I know this isn't very intelligent) lets me hold her right to my face to give her kisses. For the past 2 nights she has not been the Barbara that I know and love. I went to check on her after being away for 2 days (she was left with fresh water and my mother had been turning her lights on and off for me) and attempted to strike me twice! Unnerved by this, I left her alone for the night hoping she would cool down. (Maybe she had mistaken my hand for food. It's happened one time before. The incident scared the both of us. lol) Tonight I went to check on her again. I picked up her "safe rock" and immediately she tried to attack me. I closed the lid of her cage and she still continued to strike at me, hitting her head into the glass about 8 times! She is showing signs of extreme aggression, which I am pretty sure has nothing to do with her thinking my hand is food. This is all extremely out of character for her and I am worried something is wrong with her health.

About a month ago when I was away for 2 days and my mother was taking care of her, I came home and she was aggresive, trying to snap at me the same way. My mother and I had come to the conclusion that she was overheated, because my mother had accidentally left her day light on for a full 24 hours. Once we turned the light off and I gave Babs time to cool down she was back to her old self, so I wasn't worried. But now as you can see it's happening again and this time it couldn't have had anything to do with her lights being left on.

For the record this is not my first snake. I've had 2 other wonderful pythons that I've had no problems with over the course of several years before having to give them away. I am not inexperienced with snakes but this problem has really thrown me. Any immediate help you guys can offer me is greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Kitrina

Hmm, very intiguing situation you've got there. I've had a similar situation happen to me with my Lampropeltis getula nigrita (Black Mexican Kingsnake). What I did to calm her down was to feed on a 4-day interval rather than a 5-day interval. It made loads of difference, that one day. She has calmed right down again. I'm not up to date on the feeding schedules of ball pythons, but I'd suggest decreasing the time between feeding sessions.

"She is the kind of snake that (while I know this isn't very intelligent) lets me hold her right to my face to give her kisses."

-Yes, this is a very bad idea. I'd strongly suggest not doing that anymore for two reasons: 1. potential face bite, and 2. potential Salmonella from oral contact.

I hope this helps a bit.

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Grammostola rosea 0.1.0
Pandinus imperator 2.0.0
Lampropeltis getula nigrita 0.1.0
Uromastyx maliensis 0.1.0
Rhacodactylus ciliatus 2.2.2
Uroplatus henkeli 0.0.1
Eublepharis macularius 1.0.0

Thank you so much. I've actually been feeding her every week, so every seven days. :-S I've always heard and thought this to be appropriate but I will definitely take you up on your suggestion!

For the record I give her air kisses...like kissing the air almost right where her she flicks her little tongue. I will not do this anymore however. I don't think I could ever fully trust her again. That makes me sad.

"I don't think I could ever fully trust her again."

Haha, as much as I like snakes, never trust them. Even before my Black Mexi got aggressive on me, I handled her, but didn't trust her. I still handle her and get bit ever so often. Not a big deal though.

It is a bit odd that she would have a sudden outburst of aggressiveness and the others did not. Especially since you've been keeping them on similar feeding schedules (I'd assume, because "[You] [are] not inexperienced with snakes").

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Grammostola rosea 0.1.0
Pandinus imperator 2.0.0
Lampropeltis getula nigrita 0.1.0
Uromastyx maliensis 0.1.0
Rhacodactylus ciliatus 2.2.2
Uroplatus henkeli 0.0.1
Eublepharis macularius 1.0.0

Exactly. I don't know what's going on. I've talked to a number of other snake owners and most haven't had anything like this happen before, at least not to the same degree.

At one point I wondered if she was smelling my pet rat on me. But I've been careful to wash my hands thoroughly each time I go to hold her. Besides over time, one grows to recognize when a snake strikes out of feeding purposes as opposed to aggression. When my python goes after her prey (she refuses to eat pre-killed), she carefully stalks it, waits for the perfect moment, and strikes. Now Barbara, the moment she sees me, strikes wildly... and I forgot to mention she also HISSES uncontrolably! A sure sign of stress and aggravation. Up until this incident she has never once hissed, neither have my other 2 snakes. (My past pets being another ball and a Columbian red tail boa) All of this leads me to conclude that perhaps she is sick?!

"At one point I wondered if she was smelling my pet rat on me."

-Possible. But hard to prove.

"But I've been careful to wash my hands thoroughly each time I go to hold her."

-Yes, but even so, the olfactory receptors in snakes can pick up signs of potential prey even when we think we've gotten rid of all trace of it. But still, the description you've given would suggest that this is not the case.

"Now Barbara, the moment she sees me, strikes wildly... and I forgot to mention she also HISSES uncontrolably! A sure sign of stress and aggravation. Up until this incident she has never once hissed, neither have my other 2 snakes."

-This is very odd indeed.

"All of this leads me to conclude that perhaps she is sick?!"

-Hmm, any signs of lesions/wounds/lumps? Maybe a bacterial infection, but unlikely since it wouldn't explain acute, hyper-aggressiveness. Another extremely far-reaching hypothesis is a parasite that has got into her brain or nervous system. But how it ever got into her, I have no idea. The only way to find out either scenario would be do get blood work done, or if she happens to die (hopefully not!), get a reptile vet to disect her. This may yield some answers for problems that you can't see from outside her. Maybe you can gain some clues by inspecting her poop and looking for anything out of the ordinary (ie. blood).

Anyone else have any suggestions?

__________________
Grammostola rosea 0.1.0
Pandinus imperator 2.0.0
Lampropeltis getula nigrita 0.1.0
Uromastyx maliensis 0.1.0
Rhacodactylus ciliatus 2.2.2
Uroplatus henkeli 0.0.1
Eublepharis macularius 1.0.0

Is this snake in plain view of the other snakes? That may be a contributing factor that the other snakes may just ignore. But even so, that alone wouldn't cause acute hyper-aggressiveness...

__________________
Grammostola rosea 0.1.0
Pandinus imperator 2.0.0
Lampropeltis getula nigrita 0.1.0
Uromastyx maliensis 0.1.0
Rhacodactylus ciliatus 2.2.2
Uroplatus henkeli 0.0.1
Eublepharis macularius 1.0.0

Snakes do not act aggressively for no reason. There has to be some factor that is setting your snake off. Just keep gathering data and hopefully a conclusion can be made.

__________________
Grammostola rosea 0.1.0
Pandinus imperator 2.0.0
Lampropeltis getula nigrita 0.1.0
Uromastyx maliensis 0.1.0
Rhacodactylus ciliatus 2.2.2
Uroplatus henkeli 0.0.1
Eublepharis macularius 1.0.0

Perhaps something has spooked her??? Do you have a cat or dog....or maybe just the smell of someone different watching over her caused the problem....

When she is fed, is there a visible lump in her body...perhaps she needs an upgrade in the size of her food???

I hope she calms down for you....good luck!

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Warmest Regards from Lyn

Is it possible that someone in your mother's house, a child for instance, is annoying the snake? If I read your post right, the snake has this problem after being housed there?

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!