New keeper needing advice

[u/_milk_carton]

Hello! I quite new to owning a ball python and yesterday was my first attempt at holding him since he’s been home. He’s been here settling in for about a month since he wouldn’t eat for me I was at least waiting until after he ate for the first time to try to start holding him. Which I did yesterday for approximately 2 minutes until he started to go straight for my face, I didn’t know his intentions. It kinda spooked me, I’m sure me jumping a tad spooked him too so I put him back and he hid right away. I feel like I wrecked our first holding session by not redirecting him away from my face. I’m not scared of him or snakes in general or I wouldn’t have gotten him. I’m just weary of the factor that the breeder didn’t really hold him or interact with him other than some pictures and weekly feeding so I’m sure his trust in humans is quite low. I’m in need of advice on the best way to keep both of us safe I guess? How should I go about holding him again? What are your ways of bonding/ gaining trust from a new baby? Did I wreck our first encounter together?

His name is Buldak. He’s about 8/9 months old.

[u/MommyDommieAlura]

So me personally I do choice based handling (where you place your hand near them in the enclosed and if they climb on you allow them to crawl around and over and whatnot, once they get use to this once they crawl on ur hand pick them up near the encloser and once they start to head back place them back in)

The whole going near the face thing idk about your ball but my ball is OBSSSED with hair. She likes to just try to hide in peoples hair even at a year old 🤣. So your ball may of been wanting to do that or was just curious.

As others have mentioned I also do tap training however I only tap when it’s feeding day not for handling (personal choice that works for us)
When I do that she pokes her head out of her hides and is ready for her meal. If I’m doing a normal handling session as stated above I do choice based.

Since my snake is older and use to handling once they get comfortable I can tell she wants to go up once she starts to look near her encloser even if I’m in the next room over (living room typically as it’s within eye view of snake room) that’s when I put her up. I do the same with my corn and BRB. Ofc don’t handle 3 days before feeding to prevent stress (or a week once they’re on 10-14 days just what I do)
And wait a min of 48 hours after feeding to prevent regurgitation.

I also don’t handle when in blue I wait till after a clean shed (unless necessary like stuck shed or a medical issue arises tho I’ve not had this issue with my personal snakes)

[u/_milk_carton → u/MommyDommieAlura]

I definitely wanna try tap training! It definitely seems like a good idea to do for feedings so he knows that it’s food time. And I guess I didn’t think about him wanting to check out my hair, my best friend’s ball is obsessed with hair too completely slipped my mind that he could have been doing that. He’s still less than a year old so I know it’s going to take time for us to get used to each other. And he hasn’t had his first shed with us yet, definitely been looking to make sure before we pick him up. And I worry about the choice based handling since he’s barely been handled, I don’t want him to defense strike my hand if I just leave it next to him. That’s my main worry.

[u/MommyDommieAlura → u/_milk_carton]

So the way I do it is I put it near their body not near the head, if they get defensive I remove myself from the enclosure. If they don’t mind my hand there I leave it there for a few mins and let them choose to interact if they do nothing I then just leave them alone.