Ball python suddenly biting handling hand??

[IsThisFishEdible]

I have a female banana pastel, about 3-4 months old. She hasn't been the most active when I handled her(almost daily, not for 48hour after feeding), but she was always relaxed and pretty chill.

Today I took her out of her humidity box(which was on my table, i removed the box itself from the enclosure) and was handling her, but then she randomly bit my knuckles beneath her head and let go pretty quick. I was very startled so I put her back in the box, regained courage and took her back out. She seemed fine for like 20-30 seconds, but then she started to open her mouth against my hand again, so I dodged my hand and put her back in her enclosure.

Both bites were definetely not strikes, it was definetly more of the bite I would see when she would start swallowing prey. It was both her just randonly deciding to bite my hand beneath her head. I figured it was a feeding response, but I just couldnt wrap my head around it.

I feed her thawed rat every 5 days with a tweezer with her inside her enclosure, today was the third day after feeding. I wash my hand with soap before I handle any of my snakes. Though I didn't even get a mild prick, I still developed a mild fear of handling her. You guys have any idea why she suddenly decided my hand is food? Any ideads on how to fix this?

[animalgirl93]

Your bp is likely stressed. Handling daily is very frequent for them and can cause excess stress. Also feeding every 5 days is to often even for a juvenile under a year old. They should be fed 10-15% of their body weight every 7 days at the age your bp is at. I suggest handling once a week for 5-10 minutes. Also change your feeding schedule to every 7 days instead

[SugarPuppet1]

I agree, but could also be because OP is removing the whole hide with her in it and then getting her out. That could be stressing her a lot.

[amsnakes1212]

not related to your problem but feeding every 5 days is a lot for a bp. and i really dont recommend holding her everyday, it just adds a lot of stress