My python is having issues
 

So I have this ball python (Chloe), and she's about three and a half feet long. Lately, she's been really bitchy. It's like her skin is really sensitive to touch and she has this particularely sensitive spot about three inches back from her head.

I noticed a difference when I took her out to slither in the grass about a week ago. Oh, and we fed her when she wasn't quite done shedding and so a theory is that her skin didn't have the elasticity that it should have, so she's just sore. But it's pretty bad because pythons never bite out of self defense and the boyfriend has been bitten like three times now.

If anyone can help us out, that would be great. I'd like to hold her and play with her but she's so angry. She even hisses just when I open the cage, I don't even have to touch her.

Oh, and she doesn't ever stay still anymore. I guess snakes are nocturnal, but she doesn't sleep during the day either. She slithers up and down all the walls of her cage and usually ends up falling over with a thud.

So yeah, any help would be appreciated.
Much thanks.

i realy dont know but maybe you should check the spot out, maybe something is in there, maybe a parasite. other then that maybe get to a vet.

Go to a vet, it could be some sort of internal thing.

Also is the cage large enough for her? It's important that she has a cage that is large enough to be comfortable for her. I don't know how it is for snakes but I do know that for larger fish you have to have a tank that is as wide as the fish is long, and twice as long as the fish is. That's just the bare minimum for a large fish, meaning they won't thrive in that situation and become agressive. Maybe that's what is happening with your snake?

good thing they don't follow that rule with snakes. even a 3' snake would have quite big cage.

Take it to a Vet.

However there are a few common snake ailments that can cause this,

1 If you have a basking lamp on its enclosure it may be too close and/or too hot.

2 It's developed a bacterial infection and needs a Vet to administer antibiotics.

3 Mites are a common problem that can cause skin irritation. Their eggs can lay dormant for years after the snake enters captivity. Bedding is usually an underlying factor that contributes to mite infestations. Can be easily cured by sterilizing the enclosure and several applications of vegetable oil.(no kidding it works)

4 Vitamin deficiencies can be known to cause skin irritation as well. However there is still alot of controversy over which vitamin causes this. There are many broad range, multivitamin, food suplements on the market that can help with this.


There's many more but those were the most common I found in the herpeculture scene.