I have a 5 year old female retic who is pushing 15 feet and most of the time quite calm and predictable. She usually feeds on 6 to 8 jumbo rats or several medium sized rabbits when they are available. I rarely try to handle her 24 hours after feeding to avoid regurgitation or being mistaken for a prey item. For the most part she is docile and seems to not mind being handled. Four days ago i was out of town visiting my parents and came across a very large rabbit for a very good price so i brought it home and fed it to her. She took it down without hesitation. i was suprised as it was far larger than anything she had eaten in the past. I left her alone for several days and when i went to move her into her sterelite bin for routine cage cleaning she seemed very reluctant to come out of her cage. I gently tried to get her out but as fast as i could pull her out she kept going right back in her cage. Seeing she was not happy I allowed her to stay in her cage and called it a night. Today I returned to clean her cage and she struck at the glass every time I got near her. (i keep her in a large vision cage). I gently touched the top of her head with my hook as I do each time before picking her up just to let her know it was time to be handled and she still seemed very aggitated and uneasy. The tempature is the same as always, there is no new introductions to her enviroment, and I cant figure out what has caused the change in her behavior. A larger prey item is the only thing that has changed. Has anyone ever heard of a link between aggression and snakes being introduced to large prey? Your insight would be apprechiated. Thanks

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• larger prey causing aggression? - naja77, Mon Jul 6 14:09:52 2009
• RE: larger prey causing aggression? - nagrag, Mon Jul 6 18:17:22 2009
• RE: larger prey causing aggression? - bigtman, Tue Jul 7 05:07:50 2009