Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We just got our first snake in Jul. We were told it's a girl. I named her Molly. Molly is not a very nice snake. She is a corn snake. She's still really little, and about a year old. She's not much bigger around than a pencil...still. She's maybe a foot and a half long.

My question is, how do we get her to be less aggressive? She's tiny, but I know she's got teeth and I know what they feel like! She's still eating pinkies, it's going to be several more months before she's big enough to go to the next size, I'm guessing that's fuzzies? How do I get over being so scared of her? She is so little...I did post a link to a picture I took of her, I hope it works. She does rattle her tail when she sees us. It doesn't help that one of the cats knocked her tank over, twice. (a long story, we did get her back, though). I want her to quit being so fearful of us, she has to know by now, that she's not going to become a wallet, or a belt. She's not big enough for a pair of shoes! (I'm just kidding!!!) Thanks for reading...(Lysa)
My pets

She's aggressive because you are under feeding her.
My yearling corn is 3 feet long and eating adult mice.

At 18 inches she may be able to handle small hoppers and definitely can handle fuzzies.

Snakes have an amazing ability to eat prey bigger than we think they can. Pinkies are not very nutritious, they are mostly water.

Start feeding her fuzzies, I would do one a time for the first few feedings (every 4 days) then move her to two a feeding, then try a hopper.
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11.14 L. getula californiae (Cal. King)
2.3 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 L. getula floridana (Brooksi)
1.1 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
0.1 Heterodon nasicus nasicus (W Hognose)
4.2.14 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

I just looked through my records - 20 to 21 inches is when they start maybe being interested in hoppers.

So - use fuzzies for now. Try the small (aka peach) fuzzies first, when she eagerly takes 2 of them then go with the larger fuzzies.

That probably will calm her down and reduce her aggression.
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11.14 L. getula californiae (Cal. King)
2.3 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 L. getula floridana (Brooksi)
1.1 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
0.1 Heterodon nasicus nasicus (W Hognose)
4.2.14 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

Lysa,

In addition to the feeding suggestion, regular handling is what will help calm your snake down. If you are fearful enough to leave it alone or put it back down when it gets "mean" then it will learn that acting mean will help it get its own way.

If my snakes rattle or bite or musk...That's an automatic extra 5 minutes of handling. In other words, you get put back down once you are acting calm. That should help.

How often are you feeding right now? And how many pinks? My yearlings are not as big as those described by previous poster, but they are no longer eating pinkies. At that age/size, they should get fed at least once a week, and every 4 or 5 days may not be a bad idea. If the pinks no longer make a bulge in the snake, then give 'em two. Move up to fuzzies when the thickest part of your snake is just a little thinner than the prey item.

But the handling, in my opinion, is the big key at that age.
Duffy

Really, thanks for all the advise. I really do appreciate it. She's eating pre-killed pinkies about once a week. They do still make a bulge in her, you can follow the bulge down, in fact. That's why I'm afraid to give her something larger.

So it's okay to keep her on the pinkies, and get the fuzzies when she's a little bigger around? She's got one frozen pinkie left. Believe me, there's no problem with her feeding!

I suppose in another week, We'll just have to suck it up and take one for the team. Just stick our hands in there, and let her get used to us. Yes, I've noticed she's not stupid.

Thanks again...

I would increase the feeding regimine also. One pinky once a week is barely enough. If you are worried about the width of the prey item then feed 2 pinkies.

I have one yearling that is taking adult mice every 5 days and the other one is taking fuzzies every 3. They will grow at their own pace, but after a year should be on at least fuzzies.

In your case, I might suggest latex gloves. The thin kind used in medical and janitorial work. Use them for the initial pick up and until the snake calms. It will make you more confident, and the snake does not like the "taste" of them. I used this to help tame my texas ratsnake 5 years ago. He's great now (which is good, since he's pretty big).
Also, don't worry too much about all these folks telling you how huge their yearling are. Yours may be on the small side, but lots of folks are so impatient to see their snakes grow that they overfeed. Two pinks every 5 days might be a good plan for now, though. That also gives you a smaller window in time to handle, however, since you want to give them a couple of days after feeding with no handling. Good luck. I bet your snake is calmer in just a few weeks. Duffy

Overfeeding results in fat snakes. Very rare with babies.

Young snakes that eat more will grow faster - it's that simple. About the only way to overfeed a baby snake is to power feed (the acts of forcing a snake to eat more than it wants to) and that is very dangerous.

It is possible to underfeed in captivity - with the result being aggressive snakes.

In the wild snakes do not eat as often and do not grow as fast, but they have a much wider temperature range - as they can go into burrows underground where it is much cooler, slowing their metabolism. In captivity, they don't have that option - the coolest they can get is the cool side of their enclosure. Thus their metabolism is faster and they need to eat more, resulting in faster growth. But they are not overfed - there is no fat on them.

In fairness, my '06 is an Abbott and I understand they are a larger line than many, but 18" at a year is too small.

I almost wonder if it is an early '07 and the person who told her it was a year didn't know or mis-spoke. It could be a very late '06 - as in a december hatching.
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11.14 L. getula californiae (Cal. King)
2.3 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 L. getula floridana (Brooksi)
1.1 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
0.1 Heterodon nasicus nasicus (W Hognose)
4.2.14 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

Molly sounds like a really cute little girl I would highlight the point of sucking it up and handling her untill she figures out you are no threat.

You can either use those really thin latex gloves if the snake is tiny, or use those yellow dishwashing gloves if their teeth are bigger. This will increase your confidence, which will help in calming her down. Just reach down and grab her with the gloves on. Don't hesitate, it makes it worse.
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phflame
kingsnake.com host

Once you've been bitten a dozen times it doesn't phase you.
Especially baby bites - you often don't even feel them.
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11.14 L. getula californiae (Cal. King)
2.3 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 L. getula floridana (Brooksi)
1.1 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
0.1 Heterodon nasicus nasicus (W Hognose)
4.2.14 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

striking of the bite, not the actual bite. Even with tiny hatchlings. Now if I go in there, and don't look as I pick up the snake, a bite/strike won't bother me at all.
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phflame
kingsnake.com host

try feeding her in a seperate container that might help. also none of my corns like fast movements or ones from above. make sure she doesnt have any additional stress. maybe such as your cat trying to eat her lol... and that she has a nice place to hide inside her cage. handle her alot more than once a week and she`ll come around im sure. ive had many of mine nip at me in the beginning. so dont be intimidated at all... she will sense that. several of mine had that attitude at first, and with a little work now they`re all tame as can be. but even my most tamed ones have their off days. im sure she`ll turn out fine so good luck.

JM