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my 18 month old female has just started striking every time I go near her. She'll eve strike at the glass when she sees me. Ive had ger for about 13 months and this is a ver sudden change in behavior. Any ideas how to handle this or what might have caused it?

thank you.

Moved her into another room with a bright light?
Messed with her heating configuration?
Not enought hides?
High traffic area?
How often and what size prey item is she eating?
Substrate? Furnishings?

When is she striking at night or during the day?

During the day I can barely even find one of mine cuz of the light but sometimes they will just hide their head under their bodies from the light or burrow or go under a hide or furnishing but regardless mine are rarely seen. Any more info you can share would be great.
Bob

Hi Bob,

No, haven't changed a thing which is why I have found it a little surprising (and none too pleasant). She'll strike when being handled, she'll strike when there is any movement inside or outside of her cage. I don't know whether I should handle her or just leave her. Not sure what to do for the best of her.

Could it be a rise in temperature causing this? I know that some people have had pits (gophers,bulls and pines) act more aggressivly when kept warmer.
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-J.Hill

How do you feed her? In her cage or in a separate enclosure? If you feed her in her cage, she might be associating everything that moves as food(or a food source).
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Scott

Reptiles
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1 Colombian Rainbow Boa (Rocky)
1.0 Ball Python (Sultan)
0.1 California Kingsnake (Leota)
1.0 Eastern Painted Turtle (Yugi)
0.1 Red/Gold Bearded Dragon* (Irwin, R.I.P.)

Other
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1.0 Betta Fish (Tyrone)
1.0 Hooded Rat (Clubber)

Hi Scott,

I do feed her in her cage. She was originally a really poor feeder and I was advised not to handle her much until she was feeding well. The only way I could get her to eat (and still) is if I dip a defrost mouse into really hot water and waggle it in front of her. She never eats if I leave something with her.

Should I start feeding her outside of the cage?

Yes you should start feeding her in a separate enclosure. It's very likely your snake is associating any movement in her cage as dinner time. This results in a snake that likes to bite, and is tough to handle. By feeding her in a separate enclosure, she should soon stop striking every time you approach her cage.
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Scott

Reptiles
--------
1 Colombian Rainbow Boa (Rocky)
1.0 Ball Python (Sultan)
0.1 California Kingsnake (Leota)
1.0 Eastern Painted Turtle (Yugi)
0.1 Red/Gold Bearded Dragon* (Irwin, R.I.P.)

Other
-----
1.0 Betta Fish (Tyrone)
1.0 Hooded Rat (Clubber)

My rainbow was a very finicky eater; I could barely get her to take a mouse at all. Then I bought a baby rat and she took it like there was no tomorrow! She still won't even pay attention to a mouse; she'll only eat rats. (BTW, I only feed prekilled f/t mice and rats). So you might want to try a rat, but what worked for other problem feeders was to put them in a small container (with air holes) and try to get them to strike; if then never would strike it, I'd simply place it in the container with them, close it. Now what I've found to work the best is to place the container BACK in their cage, close it up, and if they don't eat it quicly, leave them in there with it all night. 9 out of 10 times they would take it by morning. I think this helps in several ways: although they are IN their cage, you're not really feeding them in their cage. At the same time, I think it reduces stress on the snake because they are at home, with approx. the same temp and humidity that they are used to. I hope some of this has helped!
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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)

As long as she's eating, handle her anyway. Shell get used to the idea and will calm down. She should be tamed for her own good. You don't want her to hurt herself as she strikes the glass. You need to be able to handle her when cleaning her cage or examining her. If she refuses food, she's stressed. Back off and let her alone until she's eating again.

If it makes you feel better, get a thick pair of leather gloves or a skaestick. Once the animals have been removed from the cage and gently handled they will usually calm down (Even defensive animals). It's important to avoid any sudden or threatening movements near her head. Try not to restrain her when handling. Rather, let her slither freely through your hands. I bet that after 5 minutes, you won't need the glove.

You may get bitten. It happens. Try not to let it discourage you. Good luck, let us know how it comes out O.K.
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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

Sounds like she is developing a very strong feeding response. Mine would do the same thing, mostly for my own mistakes. I don't feed her in a separate cage. I don't take her out as much as I should and finally, she always had a very aggressive feeding response (she rips the frozen thawed rats right out of the tongs, often before i can open them up to release the rat. Now I just hang on tight so she doesn't pull the tongs out of my hand too LOL).

However, when I want to take her out of the cage to either clean or handle, I bring her cage down off the shelf (I have to inorder to get the cage open) and just let it sit on the ground for 20 minutes. She comes out of her hide and will strike any shadows coming near the cage, or wait right at the top of the cage where the door is, watching. I wait till she calms down and goes back to exploring the cage, or into her hide. Then when I open the cage if she doesn't smell rat, she typically stays calm. I can take her out and put her into a holding cage so I can clean, or just hold her for awhile.

My female bit me when she was around 18 months old, and it hurt then, so I definitely don't recommend letting her bite you. I have used gloves with my female time to time, till I figured out the above method.

I switched my female onto rats .... actually I don't think I fed her anything other than rats for as long as I owned her (and I bought her as a hatchling). An 18 month old BRB should have no troubles with weaned rats. My 3 year old (well three and a half now) female is eating medium to large rats easily. Heck she probably eat two if I gave them to her, but I don't want her to get too fat either, I want her a nice healthy weight when I breed her next season (she could go this season, but I didn't want to have too many baby snakes on my first season breeding snakes in general (have a ball python and corn snake breeding this year).
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PHLdyPayne

My opinion is that the snake has relearned a genetically programmed defensive behaviour. In the wild these snakes are preyed upon by other animals and so they strike to defend themselves. By handling them often when they are little they learn that we will not harm them and that striking and biting do not cause us to leave them alone. When they restart striking and do not get picked up and handled it reinforces the historic defensive striking behaviour. Striking causes the predatory human to go away so it continues to strike when it sees you. IMO you should pick the snake up and handle it rather than letting it strike with no consequences. Let it bite you a couple times and do not back off and it will quickly relearn the "tame" behaviour that is desireable. Snakes by their behaviour are always telling us something. We just have to learn to understand what they are telling us.
Jeff

>>my 18 month old female has just started striking every time I go near her. She'll eve strike at the glass when she sees me. Ive had ger for about 13 months and this is a ver sudden change in behavior. Any ideas how to handle this or what might have caused it?
>>
>>thank you.

Thanks to everyone who has been kind enough to offer me advice on this problem.

At the moment she is shedding and I dont tend to handle when she is so as soon as she has shed I will dedicate some time each day to handling her more - which is pretty unpleasant if I'm being honest with her being so uptight, especially as she has literally just developed this new personality in the past weeks where she used to be very calm and easy. I know some have said this is a feeding response and others have suggested it is a defensive thing but everyone seems to be of the opinion to handle her more rather than less so that's exactly what'll I do.
Thanks again.

I heard that snakes can be pretty grumpy when they are in preshed. So maybe that was all it was. Of course, the other ideas are great: handling more often, not feeding in cage, etc.

Good luck and let us know how she is after she sheds completely.
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phflame
kingsnake.com host

It'll let you get your snake out of the enclosure and into your hands. Since this is the time they most likely bite, it's a great tool to help!
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-Iman

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