Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 2 year old male western and he`s the strangest tempered snake i have ever seen!

When i bring him out he`s ok then sometimes he flattens his neck and hisses at me! He doesn`t do this all the time and as yet has never actually bitten me but he does strike!

Sometime he seems to enjoy being handled without any problems then sometimes he play`s dead when i go in the tank to get him.

I just wanted to see if anyone else has had this problem.

All five of my western hognose snakes have that same behavior. It is their defense mechanism. When they strike you may notice that their mouth is closed. They are neat little animals and I doubt that it would ever really bite you. At least most don’t. Have fun with him and don’t be afraid to handle him.
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James

It's not a problem, it is normal. It also does not defend itself for no reason, pay close attention to what you do that elicits that response. Most of the times, moving your hand too fast, staring at it, or strong vibrations will start them up. Mine used to always "freak out" whenever he saw me typing. The reason? Most small animals respond to up to down movements with defense, because it is how most predators move. Objects moving from side to side elicit the feeding behavior.

I suggest doing some more reading on hognoses and their behavior, they are complex animals that require lots of research.
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*Humans aren't the only species on earth... we just act like it.

".the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without
spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

Mine does that a lot. He hates being looked at. He also freaks out when he's being fed, until he realizes it's food. I've never seen a snake so scared of an f/t fuzzy. But once I pick him up he stops completely. For some reason it seems seasonal and he's much calmer now that it's summer.

Mine is the same. Sometimes he charges at me with his mouth wide open when I draw open the glass front of his vivarium, other times he ignores me completely and sometimes he hides! He's completely nuts in the head. Occassionally he goes berserk and charges round his viv hissing at nothing with his mouth open if he smells mouse neaarby. When I pick him up he usually becomes very docile. He hasn't bitten me yet in the past year that I've had him and compared to my ball python and cornsnake he's completely nuts.

I forgot to mention that mine also has a habit of getting overexcited and even starts to chase his own tail and starts biting himself and rolling around like a croc's death roll.