Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had a Leucistic Texas Rat for about two years now. Until recently she has been a total angel, never bitten me or even struck at me. I kept her on cage carpet and about 2 months ago I put down a layer of carefresh bedding. That is the only thing that has changed. Now she is acting like the stereotypical Leucistic Texas Rats you hear about. Striking, biting, grumpy ect...I have also noticed she doesn't go into her hides much anymore, she is constantly roaming the cage and digging thru the bedding.

Anyone else have any problems like this, or know how I can fix this (without removing the bedding)?

I included a pic, this is how I am greeted when I go near her cage.

Yeah, I have the same problem. My girl was sweeter than honey when I got her. In fact, that was the chioce breaker to getting her. I cannot begin to describe how calm she was. Now, however, I have to cover her head and pick her up around the neck--like one might do with a venomous snake.

I don't know what caused it. One day, I was holding her like I did so many times, and then, bang, bang, bang, she starts getting all defensive and biting--and not just striking, biting, i.e., grabing and holding. I always wash my hands before handling my snakes, so it had nothing to with mouse scent. Besides, it was days after and days before the next feeding.

I had two normal. black rat snakes do this with me also, after about a year or two of being angels, they turn and become Satan's Daughters, to barrow a phrase. No amount of handling broke them of this behavior. Anyway, I had to get rid of them. Surprizingly, I have a male corn snake who has recently started this behavior as well. My theory is, some individual snakes 'snap' after a while and go back to the basic wild-caught defensive behavior.

Why do they suddenly start acting like it was the first time we met? I don't know. Hell, I'd love to know how I would go about testing my theory, but I don't know how I would go about that either, being as lazy as I am. Maybe through collecting and examining reports like ours. I guess a good avenue of investigation would be to study whether or not this behavior becomes permanent, or is temporary. We could see if changes in husbandry, e.g., cage environs, photo period, and so forth, have any effect on behavior. Keep us informed of your attempts to win her back, okay?

Yeah, I'd really like to hear more about this. It scares me. My little "Worm" is still a baby- a mere 20" long. And he's the most docile snake I've ever handled. Calmer than my corn. He lets you scoop him right up, and will chill in your hand forever. He isn't even head shy! If he stays this calm into adulthood, he just might be the world's most perfect snake...LOL. But hearing reports like this concern me. Oh well, only time will tell...
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- JENN ROSE -
www.jennrose.com

0.1.0 classic corn~ "Pumpkin"
1.0.0 leucistic texas ratsnake~ "Worm"

I also have a young leucy rat that behaves like you describe...hangs out on my hand forever, barely moves, never strikes or bites...BUT, I don't think it's because he's totally "tame"...I think it's classic baby snake extreme fear/defense behavior...he's "freezing" in hopes that the giant predator won't eat him...think about it; a truly tame snake is relaxed in your hands, but moves about slowly and steadily, tongue flicking and exploring his environment--he's alert and curious, checking things out, not frozen in place...I think once these fearful babies get a certain size on them, they switch from passive baby defense to active adult defense--which is when you get the striking and biting...in the wild, they're now big enough to maybe actually scare off or injure a predator..I'm hoping very much that my guy will relax enough with me that the behavior switch doesn't happen, but so far he's still pretty terrified...I'm not counting on it...

SR

Ok so this is not earth shattering news but snakes do bite. I have 2 lucys, 1 and 2 years old. My 2 year old was very gentle at first, then after the first year became very defensive. I just continued to handle him, but did so more frequently then before. He still vibrates his tail occasionally but has stopped striking. The key is to handle snakes not to hold them, that is don't try to control the head. This is very stressful and will never work to calmm a snake down. Just take the bites and think of them as little kisses. They do sometimes calm back down but not always. Just be happy it's not a retic.

THough I am new to rat snakes thought i would put in my own limited observations. As some of you already know I recently received a very nice Texan Leucistic rat snake. Only had him for a little over 3 weeks and so far haven't been bit by him. Though I am careful when handling him (most times it has only been to move him from his cage to a holding container so I can clean his cage) he is nervious with the contact. So far he hasn't gone into a defensive strike position (ie much like the picture above) though he really swings around his head whenever I touch any part of the body. To make sure I do have some protection if he does bite, I decided to wear light leather gloves. He doesn't seem to mind the contact with these as he does my hands.

I figure after a few more weeks of minor handling and interaction he will be calm enough that I can hold with my bare hands for a short period of time. His previous owner was able to hold him though he did indicate he will bite once he has had enough of being handled.

The reason I tell you all this is he is 4 years old give or take a few months so I am thinking those who have around 2 year old snakes start to freak out, maybe it's a stage they are entering. It seems most snakes of this size tend to reach full sexual maturity around 2-3 years of age, perhaps this is the reason for the sudden behaviour change in your rat snakes. Its just a theory of mine, I certainly don't have the experience or knowledge to back it but something that came to mind that may explain the reversal of behaviour in your rat snakes.
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PHLdyPayne

She's 6 feet and probably five years old and is amazingly tame.
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2 RES
1.1 Argentine B/W Tegus
1.1 Iguanaa
1 leucistic texas ratsnake
1 water dragon-RIP Gimpy
0.1 Knight Anole
1 mountain horned lizard
2 Egyptian dune geckos
1 Emporer Scorpion
1 dusky conure
3 australian shepherds
3 cats