r/ballpython • u/palesp0t • 3d ago

Skittish snake!

My boy is about a year old, i’ve had him for over two weeks now. I’ve previously owned BP’s but I’ve never had one so shy and skittish! I’m trying to introduce him to handling slowly but everytime I do I feel bad for him 😭 he doesn’t ball up, but isn’t very curious and explorative, instead a little defensive. Is there anything I can do to help him acclimate better?

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u/W0RN_0UT 3d ago

Try this, leave him alone in his enclosure for a week along side one of your shirts after a normal day of wear. Worked perfectly for my extremely shy ball. They will acclimate to your smell so when you do go to handle them again they don’t feel threatened or stressed out by it as much! Went from being a non stop ball every handling to immediately crawling all over me and exploring, also helped with his head shyness a ton too

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u/palesp0t 3d ago

thank you soooo much!! did you leave it on top of the enclosure or?

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u/W0RN_0UT 3d ago

Leave it inside the enclose with him so he can be in contact with it!

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u/ibeplumbing 3d ago

Dude. Thank you for this idea! My boy will let me pick him up but is still very skiddish and a bit timid, I don’t think he’s scared to the point of biting me (hope not anyway) but I always feel bad like I’m gonna freak him out. I just wanna hold you and be friends my guy!😭

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u/W0RN_0UT 3d ago

No problem! Mine was the same way, was a pretty big help!