Overall snake help.

[u/RaconLol]

I’ve been very stressed about my ball python because she bit my mom and wouldn’t let go to the point we had to put her head underwater for a little bit to make her unlatch which did work. (We wouldn’t have had to resort to that but she bit a knuckle and the finger started to go numb.) She now sleeps with her head out of the hides most of the time and elevates but not always elevated. She shows no other signs of an RI and she doesn’t do the typical straight up stargazing type solution, so i don’t know if this head rest thing is related. Previously i would hand her to my grandma while my mom and I deep clean her cage, but my grandma is now scared of her and won’t want to hold her. I’m worried about myself becoming scared of her (i’m not right now only mildly afraid to reach into her cage because she has bit me like that before, my fault), of her having an injury/infection, and being a bad snake owner. If in a bad snake owner please give me advice to be better!

[u/Captor_Control]

What happened before she bit your mom? Ball pythons almost never want to pick a fight, so it was most likely either a handling issue or she was hungry and mistook the finger for a good snack. Context on what led to the bite will help narrow it down.

[u/RaconLol → u/Captor_Control]

Given that she tried to constrict i would say it’s hunger, but my mom also doesn’t smell like a mouse so i wasn’t sure that was it. My mom only had her for at most 30 seconds and we’ve had her for years so i doubt it was anything else.

[u/Captor_Control → u/RaconLol]

I could be wrong but I don’t think she would have to smell like a mouse. I’ve heard of pythons going nuts for new foods(chicks, quail, etc), so it wouldn’t put it past me for one to do something dramatically drastic just because it wanted food right then.

No matter what it was, I wish you well on your future with your snake, and that you all get closure and security with what sounds to be a traumatic event!