My friend is a middle school teacher, and at the beginning of the school year, he bought a Desert King as a classroom pet. I also have a Desert King that is thriving, so I helped him pick out a healthy, tame, approx 6 mo old female. I set up the cage to match mine, and he let her get acclimated and used to be handled for about 3 weeks before school started.



For the first semester, everything went well. He let the kids handle her for about 15 minutes once a week. He fed her once a week or so, kept the cage clean, and everything was fine. She was tame and growing steadily.



At winter break, he brought her home and put her in a slightly smaller (not by much) cage that was not as elaborately decorated as hers, but had all the necessities. She was there for about 1 month. Right before he was going to take her back to school, he was cleaning her cage, and she bit him. Figuring she was disturbed, he returned her to school (and her regular cage) a few days before the kids came back to let her settle down. Ever since then, she has been aggressive, and bites every time he reaches into the cage. And when she bites, she holds on; she doesn't just strike and release. He tried increasing her feedings. He tried leaving her alone and only entering her cage to clean it, feed her, and change the water. Then he tried handling her for about 5 minutes 3 times a week, but nothing has made any difference. He now wears gloves when he works with her cage, and of course the kids haven't touched her since winter break.



What else can he do to get his snake to settle down? He's ready to get rid of it, which I think would be a shame. And the snake is still thriving. The conditions in her tank are perfect, and she keeps growing and shedding. I've looked at her, and she's the picture of snake health. Any advice?

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