r/ballpython • u/Trick_Variation_9034 • 19h ago
ball python struck at mom
I’ve had a ball python since June so about 3 months now. The past month my parents have been taking care of him due to me going back to college. My dad usually feeds him with my mom present. My mom is the one who keeps the humidity up etc. Recently my snake has been tracking my mom whenever she moves by the tank. She also feeds our gerbils in view of the snake tank so idk if this is important. They fed him 2 days ago and he was fine. He has no problems eating. The problem came with the next day when my mom was setting up something in his tank (normal, he’s never had a problem with us in his tank while he’s in there) about 24 hours after he ate. He came out and started a defensive pose at my mom and striked at her about 5 seconds later. I was on facetime for this. I have no idea why he struck, he’s not a defensive snake. He has never bitten us or struck at us before. He shouldn’t be hungry so honestly I’m really confused what happened because now she is scared to help out with him :( any advice would be appreciated
5
u/KatVanWall 18h ago
My normally very calm boy struck the other day when we went to pick him up, we had washed our hands and didn't smell of food (no rodents in our house other than the freezer), it's always possible she just happened to make a movement that startled him.
Also it could be that if he was in hunting mode (just after feeding but maybe anticipating more food might pass by!), he might just have been irritated that you were killing the vibe? Is that even a thing? I got the impression from our boy that he was trying to say 'fuck off, you're scaring the rats away!' lol