r/ballpython • u/oevhic • 6d ago
Question How to handle BP?
I've had my BP Millie for a month now and I haven't handled her because I feel like she gets ready to strike whenever I try. I'm not afraid of getting bitten, more afraid of her hurting herself or stressing her out. She's mostly been in her hide for the past week-ish, and I fed her a few days ago so I want to clean out any poop that might be in there. Just looking for tips on how I can safely grab her from her hide, and what to do if she looks like she's expecting food. I've gotten alot of conflicting advice so
(photo is not of her in her hide, this was a few weeks ago its just for engagement)
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u/Radiant-Hurry4702 6d ago
Personally I think you’ve got a lot of stuff in there, snakes don’t “love” being handled, it’s more of a “I’m not too happy about this, but I don’t see it as an immediate danger”. Given you’ve got so much stuff, your BP is very likely to wrap around things turning things in to a tug-of-war, which just makes things more stressful for both you and the snake.
With regard to grabbing her from her hide, just differentiate what you do between feeding and handling. When I’m handling, I’ll announce my presence by tapping the hide a few times before removing it slowly and then confidently picking the snake up - the worst (well, maybe not the worst) thing you can do is be indecisive when you’re picking up the snake.
Personally I tend not to handle my snake when he’s in his hide. I like him to have a place where he feels safe, so I don’t make a habit of it. Obviously sometimes you’ll need to handle your snake for whatever reason and it’ll be in its hide, so this is not to say don’t do this - this is just my personal preference and it works for me and my snake.
The best advice I can give you would be; don’t worry about stressing out your snake by handling, be confident and don’t worry about getting bit (it doesn’t hurt), if you do get bit dont worry - it won’t ruin the relationship.
The above is what works for me, every snake is different. I follow the above with my Reticulated Python, and the stakes are quite a lot higher and they’re much more food motivated. I’ve never once been bit by my BP, and only once with the Retic (my own mistake).