>>my banded egyption cobra is very nasty he has charged me mouth open and ready to kill. my monacle cobra is a wc and is a lot nicer than he is. he eats like crazy but i think he is very thin he is about 5 1/2 feet and is just as thin as my 4 foot monacle cobra what should i do and is it normale for a egyption cobra to be so nasty?? thanks steve

Steve, what you're describing about your banded egyptian is nothing surprising at all. Welcome to the world of Naja I have 2.2 monocled cobras, 3 w.c. normals and 1 male that is c.b. and albino. Of these 3, surprisingly enough, the c.b. albino male is by far the most aggro. From the time he was still tiny to now (at a little over 3') he has never slacked in his hooding, hisses, and open mouth charges and lunges. Each snake is different, and w.c. vs c.b. really has nothing to do with it. MsTT, a frequenter of these forums, has a HUGE banded egyptian male (I think she said over 7') that I've heard and read horror stories about. However, I've known people that kept N. haje and they were reportedly very docile and laid back. So like I said, individuality rules, just the luck of the draw.

As far as your snake's thinness, would it be possible to post a picture or two of him on here. There are a few possibilities as to what may be the problem. One, you may just be overfeeding the monocled and he might just appear thicker than the haje. Two, if the haje is w.c. or even c.b., have you had a fecal done on him to test for internal parasites? If this is the case, the parasites might just be taking all the nutrients from his food and leaving him none. Three, maybe your snake was just born with a higher metabolism than most, and he just burns his food too quickly. At 5.5', a haje should be girthy, at best, as MsTT's 7'er and some other large haje's I've seen were very thick-bodied elapids. I'd suggest you take him to your vet and get a fecal done to test for parasites, and if that's not anything big and he's eating great, then I wouldn't worry about it too much. Don't up his food too much because you don't want to stress his system. What is your feeding regimine for both the haje and the monocled?
-Chance

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