How much affection should you give to your Ball Python?

Question

I was wondering if there is too little or too much attention such as holding or petting. If the snake is left in the tank until feeding and is only taken out for feeding is that bad? Can there be too much attention?

Answer 1

i cant stop laughing at Bridget's answer! snakes dont love you. thats just silly

and giving your snake affection is called bestiality and is illegal

Answer 2

the more affection you give it the better pet it will make

Answer 3

Contrary to other answers, most snakes are pretty low on the intelligence scale.  It's probably not going to care much either way if you handle it or not. They don't like being handled they just tolerate it. To the snake its 'I'm in that warm tree again that picks me up I'm not in danger'. The fact that they will strike your hand if you don't wash it after handling a rat says alot about brain capacity. smell food=bite. Too frequent handling is stressful for some snakes. Infrequent handling may make them more prone to get defensive when you open the cage. Once a day is more than plenty. Every few days is fine.

Answer 4

I actually just bought a snake today. :)

but they people I bought it from told me that you should handle your snake almost daily, so it gains your trust and is docile toward you

& when feeding your snake you should put it in a different environment (like a  different box) so that it learns not to strike at you, and so that it learns that feeding time is only when it is placed in a different area :)

So taken out for feeding is good :)

Answer 5

You should hold your snake on a daily basis (even if only for 15mins.) and you can handle it as much as you like.....the more it knows you the better...as it grows bigger and bigger it will know you and listen to your directions.....if you are only taking it out for feedings that could be bad because if it is really hungry it could bite you for food or punish you because it is hungry......it is better to handle them on a daily basis so not to loose the bond with it as it grows and that way it also stays friendly so others can handle it too.

Answer 6

Snakes are intelligent and will learn to love you if you show it love. As will all pets, spending as much time as possible with them will build your relationship.

Put yourself in the snakes position, would you rather be out and about exploring, being talked to and seeing new things and people... or would you like to be in a tank all day by yourself?

When you do have him out though let him have his own time once in a while because more than likely he is just bursting to explore somewhere new :)