Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have had a male ball for just about a year now. i got him last fall from petco as a rescue, he wouldn't eat for them and was very small and i took him home and he has been eating great for me for the last year. well just in the last week he has started hissing at me (he had never hissed before in the last year, even when i was having to give him oral medications with a syringe for two weeks). the first time i thought maybe because he was sheding, but he had never done it before. so over the last week, about every other day i would peek into his tub to see if he had shed or not, and each time i would open his hide to look at him he would hiss. today he had finally shed and was still hissing at me, even though his eyes weren't occluded. once i picked him up he was fine, but the hissing has me concerned. could something be wrong with him to make him all of a sudden just hiss over the past week. nothing has changed with his cage ect.

is he just being in a bad mood, or is it possible that something is wrong with him??
thanks for any advice in advance!
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~dana~

1.1 ball pythons (hailex and roxy)
1.0 cat (whiskers)

I don't think snakes have attitude problems like alot of people out there do. He/She is doing this possibly from an underlining problem. Just to be on the safe side of things I'd take him to a vet and get a "check-up" for things such as internal parasites. Your snake seems to be defending itself for some reason or another. They don't just act this way for no reason, and is sometimes the only way people can recognize something may be wrong. In my opinion when a perfectly "tame" snake suddenly changes its behavior there must be a reason. The only thing I can think of is a health problem. But who knows I can be wrong...
This did happen to one of mine once, and it ended up being a health related issue in the past though. Good luck.
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1.0 02' Surinam Redtail "Vegas"
0.1 03' Normal BP "Kamaria"
0.1 04' High Yellow Reduced BP "Kanoni"
1.1 03' & 04' 100% Het Albino BP "Cosmo" & "Kalos"
0.1 Tuxedo Cat "Nickie"
0.1 Rescued Mouse
1.0 Betta "Pearl"

"The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm." unknown