Loki the Burmese Python

Well I have acquired a snake I'm going to call a rescue. She is a 7 foot Burmese Python with a bad attitude. I've had her for about a week and a half. When I first got her home, she did not want to be held or even touched. After working with her over the past few days, she has calmed down quite a lot and will already let me hold her. We still have a long way to go though, because she is used to getting her way, and when she wants down, she won't take no for an answer! Suddenly a 20 pound snake feels like she weighs 40 pounds! She is still hissy and fussy, but I think a lot of that noise may be due to her stuffy nose. Poor thing has a respiratory infection- no wonder she's so cranky! I'm keeping her kennel (more on that in a second) right in front of the heater, so she can crawl to the front and get really warm. I hope she will start feeling better soon.
So I brought her home immediately when I met her, leaving her cage behind to fetch at a later date. I put her in a large dog airline crate which she took to like a fish to water. She hid in the far corner and stayed there for several days. Then she moved up into her water tub and stayed there for another few days until she shed. After shedding she felt much better and came to the front of the kennel to greet me when I came int the snake room.
We then took her crate and all upstairs to the bathroom for a nice warm bath. She happily got into the warm water and then refused to come out! Determined not to handle her roughly, I suffered a lesson in patience and persistence to coax her back into her kennel. As soon as her nose was in the door she went straight to the back and coiled up again. So much for a first outing!
We repeated this process the last couple of days, and today she was quite social. She came out of her kennel on her own when I opened the door, and she let me carry her up the stairs to the living room. She sat with me on the couch for about an hour, and then we went to the bathroom to the tub for dinner where she ate 2 big rats quick as a wink.
So I started running some warm water into the tub for her to sit for a bit and get out of "hunt" mode, but she suddenly struck the water coming out of the faucet banging her nose hard on the metal. I felt so bad! I reached for her to pull her away so she would not hit her nose again, but as I started to tug her, the brat bit me! Then, thinking my arm must be a nice big bunny, she spun around my arm. The bite didn't hurt a bit. Her wrapping tight around my arm didn't hurt a bit. But her teeth pulling on my hand hurt like Hell!!! I wish I had gotten a picture of her twisted around my arm, but I was kinda focused on getting her OFF! First I poked her tail, but that made her spin tighter and her teeth pulled even more. OUCH!!! So I held as still as I possibly could until she started loosening up a little. Then I poked her belly under a coil on my arm. She loosened up a bit and I poked her again and she unwound and let go. I did get a nice picture of the bite, look at all those teeth!


Sadly, I know I won't be able to keep her. (Mom, I know this is good news to you ;) )
I just can't invest so much space to just one snake. I would love to breed half dwarf Burmese. Their size is much more manageable and much better pet quality. I will be keeping Loki long enough to get her sociable, and to get her respiratory infection all better. But then I think I will try to find her a home with one of my breeder friends.