Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, as some of you know I rehomed one of my snakes a few weeks ago (I adopted them from someone I know, they are a year and half (two males) and had lived together their whole lives). I was told that they wouldn't care, and for the most part the snake I kept doesn't seem to care. He is actually a bit more active since the other snake is gone. But I got an email from the guy that bought the other snake, and he said that he's mean and he tries to bite him every time he goes in the tank!!!

Why would the other snake act like that? I NEVER had that problem with either of them, and like I said the snake I kept hasn't shown any type of behavior like that. And I know for a fact the previous owners never had that problem and they have had them since they were 2 weeks old. Granted he is in a new tank and by himself for the first time in his life (1 1/2 years), do you think he is afraid? I did notice that he handled the snakes a little rough..like he would squish their heads kind of and manipulate them instead of letting them do their own thing, which is what I was tought to do. He has never even OFFERED to bite anyone, though?? I mean, he wouldn't really even strike at his prey when he was eating..he would kinda just slowly open his mouth and take it. And now to be honest I am a little apprehensive about picking up the snake I kept! Should I expect this type of behavior from him, too? Did I do the wrong thing?

Ugh..I know I am kind of freaking out, but to be honest with you I just got really confident handling the stupid snake to begin with!

>>Ok, as some of you know I rehomed one of my snakes a few weeks ago (I adopted them from someone I know, they are a year and half (two males) and had lived together their whole lives). I was told that they wouldn't care, and for the most part the snake I kept doesn't seem to care. He is actually a bit more active since the other snake is gone. But I got an email from the guy that bought the other snake, and he said that he's mean and he tries to bite him every time he goes in the tank!!!
>>
>>Why would the other snake act like that? I NEVER had that problem with either of them, and like I said the snake I kept hasn't shown any type of behavior like that. And I know for a fact the previous owners never had that problem and they have had them since they were 2 weeks old. Granted he is in a new tank and by himself for the first time in his life (1 1/2 years), do you think he is afraid? I did notice that he handled the snakes a little rough..like he would squish their heads kind of and manipulate them instead of letting them do their own thing, which is what I was tought to do. He has never even OFFERED to bite anyone, though?? I mean, he wouldn't really even strike at his prey when he was eating..he would kinda just slowly open his mouth and take it. And now to be honest I am a little apprehensive about picking up the snake I kept! Should I expect this type of behavior from him, too? Did I do the wrong thing?
>>
>>Ugh..I know I am kind of freaking out, but to be honest with you I just got really confident handling the stupid snake to begin with!

It is hard to know but the first thing that comes to mind would be high temps.
There are a number of things it could be and it would take first hand experience to know for sure but a few things can cause such reactions.
Excessive heat
unfamiliar smells
simply not adjusted to its new invironment yet
The one thing I can tell you is it IS NOT because it was separated from the other snake.
keep handling your snake with confidence, if it is calm now it should stay calm especially with regular handling
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

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Yes,..like Jimmy stated, it has ZERO to do with being seperated from the other snake. And we don't know if the guy put him in a cage that previously housed a kingsnake, or whatever!that would flip his wig!!..... All snakes move around a lot when re-housed, until they settle in and find a comfortable hiding place....If he started with a thoroughly cleaned cage that wasn't used by another ,he will settle down in short time.....snakes lives are governed largely by smell, and if the new cage has a smell that doesn't agree with him they can go nuts!!, I've seen it many times... so see into this, as this might be the culprit.....Doug
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Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

He is also feeding him a LOT more than I was he/his previous owners were. When I got them they were on one mouse every 2-3 wks, and I bumped them up to 1 mouse once a week and he is feeding two mice once a week. Could that account for his aggressiveness? Poor snakey..hopefully this guy isn't some crazy yokel..

No,.........if it were starving, THEN it would be more apt to bite,....this is fine, it will put on some needed weight.
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Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

Yeah and from the way you described how he handles it that is probably agravating the behavior. With my boas I have learned that two of the quickest ways to get a snake in a mood to bite is either to try and pick it up too roughly or to not be confident enough when picking them up. They seem to smell fear and anxiety lol.

Also you might ask when he is handling them because I know some of my snakes get testy if I try to move or handle them too soon after feeding. This generally gives me only about a 2-4 day window between feedings for handling with my growing snakes. Mainly because most of them as juveniles are eating every 5-8 days.

IMO, the problem is how he is handling the snake. Many will disagree, but I swear most of my snakes can recognize me by my scent. I've always handled them gently, so whenever I reach to get them out, as soon as they "taste" me with their tongue they instantly calm down. It's not the same when someone else handles them; the snakes are usually alittle shy at first until they trust the person. I think they have a good memory and can associate the scent of a certain person to an action. In short, he never gave the snake a chance to trust him. Instead, by starting off by handling it roughly, it now associates him and his scent to danger. Like I said before, I've met many people who don't agree and don't think a snake can recognize an individual, but based off my experience, they can and do! I have a question for you: Does this man have any experience keeping snakes? By holding it the way you describe, it sounds like he has a fear of it. Another question: do you know if the snake is strike-hissing (striking with a closed mouth) or actually trying to bite, because different things can cause each one.
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-David

1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)
1.0 kenyan sand boa (Diablo)
1.0 nornal corn snake(Cypress)
0.1 amery. corn snake (Morgan LaFay)
0.0.1 banded cali. kingsnake (Cain)
1.0 tangerine honduran milksnake (Narcissus)
0.0.1 albino rat snake (Valkyrie)
0.0.1 sandfish skink (Slick)
1.0 dog (Luke)

I dont know about how he is biting/striking at him. He just said that he is mean and he tries to bite him everytime he goes in the tank. I just can't imagine..I mean that was the more docile of the two snakes! Do you think the poor snake is unhappy now?

He seemed experienced, like I said he brought over his 8 year old corn snake and it was freaking huge!! I thought that the way he handled the snake was more because he was very confident, not because he was inexperienced. Know what I mean?

Sorry to shout out on this one, but if your holding a snake like you described, I dont take that as confidence. If you need to hold the head and force the snake, you dont trust your snake therefore your snake doesnt trust you. AND your snake, gets mad cause its getting forced. He may be experienced with snakes, but not about CARING for them. Just about keeping them.

Just my .02

yeah, I agree. I try to never hold any of mine like that unless I have to (for example, my milksnake shed this past week, and an eye cap was left, so I had to hold him pretty tightly, and gently rub it off with water and my finger. But since I usually never hold him like that, as soon as I let go, he was fine.) Unfortunetly, I don't think there is much you can do You can try to tell the guy to be more gentle with it, maybe give it a week or even two without disturbing it, but I doubt he'll listen if that's how he thinks they need to be held. (BTW, roughly, how old is the guy?) Now, there is the possibility, as others have already said, that the problem could just be the scent of another snake (kingsnake or something) that has him freaked out. I made the mistake of feeding my kingsnake in a container, then about an hour later trying to feed one of my corns in it without washing it out... man, she was freaked out for days! From my experience, something like that is when they will mostly do the hiss-strike. They'll hit up to 4 or 5 times (closed mouth and hissing) then run like hell!
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-David

1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)
1.0 kenyan sand boa (Diablo)
1.0 nornal corn snake(Cypress)
0.1 amery. corn snake (Morgan LaFay)
0.0.1 banded cali. kingsnake (Cain)
1.0 tangerine honduran milksnake (Narcissus)
0.0.1 albino rat snake (Valkyrie)
0.0.1 sandfish skink (Slick)
1.0 dog (Luke)

Yikes...I feel really bad for the poor little snake I tried to find him a good home, but it looks like I may not have done such a good job

Lets just hope that the problem is only a strange smell, and it will go away and everything will be fine. And if it IS how he's handling it, then maybe after some time he'll trust the snake and not feel like he has to be rough with it. Don't be hard on yourself. If it does really bother you, you might want to try and get it back from him, and either keep it or find it another home. If all it does is try to bit him, he might not have any problem giving it back.
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-David

1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)
1.0 kenyan sand boa (Diablo)
1.0 nornal corn snake(Cypress)
0.1 amery. corn snake (Morgan LaFay)
0.0.1 banded cali. kingsnake (Cain)
1.0 tangerine honduran milksnake (Narcissus)
0.0.1 snow corn snake (Valkyrie)
0.0.1 sandfish skink (Slick)
1.0 dog (Luke)

I have'nt noticed snakes recognizing me individually. But I don't see as to how a snake can't recognize an individual person, as they have the ability to recognize differences in prey and other things just by smell.
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-J.Hill