Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 3 foot corn who is normally very docile and very friendly. However, twice in the past year, the p[etstore was out of mice and I resorted to buying equivalent sized rat pups instead. Both times that I fed the rat pups, she became insanely violent and remained in striking position for over an hour each time, striking full force at the glass anytime I walked anywhere near the tank. She struck at the rat pups a few times too, but didn't seem too interested in them and didn't eat any of them either. Has anyone ever seen or heard of anything like this before??? These 2 isolated incidents are the only time she hasn't been tame. Any info would be appreciated.

Sounds to me like the snake was terrified of the rat...even if it was a pup. Maybe the snake recognized the scent of an animal that would be big enough to hurt it severely? Who knows.

My gopher acted the same way once when I had to resort to a live mouse after running out of frozen ones. I thought he was gonna have a little snakey heart-attack! (After that, I just waited until a new shipment of frozen feeders arrived.)
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1.0 red cape gopher (Caesar)

I think you might be right about him recognizing the scent of a aniumal large enough to hurt it. The rat pup was actually more of a pink and it's eyes weren't even open so I don't know if the appearance of it was percieved as a threat.

JJ