Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am in desperate need of some advice and I would greatly appreciate it if you could help me out. I am scared to death that something major is wrong with one of my snakes. I have two red tail boas and I have had them for a little over three years now. They are both sweet hearts and I've been bitten only once by each of them and each time it was my fault. Other than that they have never hissed or even struck at me for that matter. When I got home today my sister informed me that one of them had struck at the glass of the aquarium when she walked into the room. She did not taunt him of even get very close to the aquarium she just walked in the room to put something up. When she told me this I was very shocked cause he has never done that before and I was finding it quite hard to believe. As soon as I stepped foot into the room he struck at the glass again and I was being extremely cautious not to make any rapid movements at all. As soon as he struck he went right back to the tensed up strike position and never left it. When I looked into the tank I noticed that his mouth was pretty swollen but my sister said she couldn't remember if it was like that before or after he struck the glass and I'm positive it wasn't swollen the day before because I had him out and was playing with him. I decided just to leave the room for awhile and give him some time by himself with nobody walking in or out. Around two and a half hours later I walked back in and he seemed perfectly fine again and was just curled up with the other red tail in the tank. I was thinking about picking him up but as soon as I went to open the lid I got this feeling that something wasn't right and I shouldn't touch him, so I just left the room again. Then another few hours later when I went back in he was striking at the tank again and hissing extremely loud. I've had him since he was a little baby and he has always just been so calm and docile. He'll just curl up on my shoulders and stay for hours at a time and I've never been hesitant to pick him up. He ate 4 days prior to this and the day after he ate I went to pick him up out of the aquarium and something felt a little off I can't really explain it but its the first time ever I've used gloves to pick him up but something was telling me to use them this time. Once I had him out for a few minutes the feeling went away and he just chilled out on my arm for a while before I put him back up. I feed him in a different tank than he lives in so there's no reason for him to think I was a mouse or prey or something. The other red tail in the tank still seems perfectly fine but I'm extremely worried about her being in the same tank as the other one now. I'm sometimes over protective of them because they are my babies and nobody ever taunts them through the glass or anything, they've never been dropped, and they've always been extremely sweet. This really has me freaked out cause I have no clue what is wrong with him. Please, please, please if you can help me at all with this I'd greatly appreciate it. I would be heart broken if anything were to happen to him.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me,
Katy

It doesn't sound like anything is necessarily medically wrong with your snake if that's what you are worried about. Snakes strike or act defensively if they feel they are threatened for some reason. Have you changed anything recently regarding his caging or cage furnishings or anything like that that would make him feel less secure? If so, it make take him some time to become accustomed to and comfortable with the change in surroundings. If he is in shed or getting ready to go into shed, this could make him act this way for a while, too. Most snakes are much more skittish and shy when they are in a shed period.

The snake could also be a bit cranky due to breeding cycles. Perhaps a bit sexually frustrated?

Cheers
B
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Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry
Deputy Director
Australian Venom Research Unit
University of Melbourne

www.venomdoc.com

The only other thing I can add is to make sure you're feeding him enough. Hungry snakes will sometimes strike at movement too. I'm going through this with an overzealous beauty snake- I thought I was feeding him enough, his opinion seems to differ.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

I think the clue here is that the other boa shows no signs of similar behavioral changes. That makes me think it's not due to a change in the environment or the enclosure, but something definitely particular to that snake. I agree that it could be a reaction to some breeding impulse, although that level of aggression seems a bit much for a horny snake. It also could be a hunger reaction. Try feeding it, and see what happens.

With all due respect to Oldherper, who's advice I consider as reliable as anyone's on these forums, I will suggest that this could indeed be a medical problem. There's something about the swollen mouth that suggests to me that the snake may have an infection or other physiological condition that is causing pain or discomfort. That in turn could produce enough stress, or disorientation, to cause the aggression. So if feeding doesn't work, or the snake otherwise does not return to more typical behavior, a trip to the herp vet might be in order.
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MichaelB

Yeah Michael, you are right. I read that it wasn't swollen the night before, and then after striking the glass a couple of times it was and just dismissed it as that. Usually something like stomatitis doesn't just crop up overnight to the point of visible swelling, but it's certainly possible that's what it is. Normally though, they seem less inclined to strike if they have a sore mouth in my experience...although I did have one once that would strike the glass until he knocked himself silly every time I walked into the room..I just chalked it up to a psycho snake.

If the swelling is still present, you should probably consider taking the snake to the vet and have it checked as Michael said.

The others have points too...all things to consider.

The only time my docile bci hissed and struck was when she was in pain (she had fallen off of a branch in the enclosure and broken a rib). From what you've said your animals receive excellent care, and pain might be a new, frightening experience for him, making him defensive. I suggest checking out the enclosure and heat sources for possible sources of burns, scratches, etc.. If all checks out, it could very well be the pain of his swollen mouth. Good luck and let us know how things turn out.
Regards,
althea