Is This Normal Behavior?

I adopted a BP about a month ago. He was being fed once a month. He is supposedly 20 yrs. old, but I just saw a bp yesterday that was 3 yrs old and twice the weight/girth of mine.

Anyhow, I have been feeding him 1 med. rat every 5-7 days since I got him. So four feedings now. I fed him yesterday at 6:30 p.m. and at 10:30 p.m. my daughter was standing in front of his cage, and he struck the side 3-4 times because he was still in hunting mode. That was 4 hours later!!

Last week was the same way, I was doing something else by his cage and he struck at me (must hurt hitting glass), it was so long after his feeding I didn't think that was it and thought maybe he was too hot or something.

I don't have a scale to tell you how much he weighs. But here are some pictures.

http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/...2101715373.jpg

http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/...3136896828.jpg

http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/...3136982273.jpg

It looks like he has alot of stcuk shed so it could be that he just cant see very well. Describe the setup you have him in including the temps/humidity...

He is in a 29 gal. tank with an Under Tank Heater that is on one side and is always on. I have a dome light and bought a 100 watt infrared bulb that I turned on for a couple hours at a time, because I keep my house temp. around 65, but last week when he was striking at me someone told me maybe he was too hot, so I haven't turned the bulb on since.

As for the humidity, I don't have a way to measure. I spray down his tank on occasion, but I have no idea how to bring up the humidity otherwise. He has a large water bowl, but that's it.

I only had a temp. gauge on the side of his tank and have since learned that isn't good. But, I haven't bought a thermometer yet. I am going to a Herp Expo in Omaha on Sunday and hope to find/see/pick minds for everything I need.

When I took the photos, he was just going through a shed, and it was bad. I have since soaked him and removed his shed. So I don't really think my question has anything to do with his shed. The other "dirt" is in cage if from the Rat/box when I dumped the rat in.

I compare his attitude more to a dog I once had that had been starved. He got food aggressive and ate everything and tried to take everyone else's until he learned he would always have enough.

Besides, the only time he is striking the cage is after he has eaten, but SO LONG after he has eaten is my question "Is this normal?". Otherwise he seems to be quite happy and moves around from the hot side to the cool side and climbs the branch, and hides in his hole.

Go grab a acurite gauge from wal mart. It will run you 9 bucks. It will give you a digital read out of the humidity and temp.
Do your homework on this site, there is everything you need to know about BP's and husbandry here.

LOL - I didn't think of Walmart, I went to Earl May yesterday and they didn't have any.

Does the UTH have a thermostat regulating it?

Without a thermostat regulating UTH's the can and will get up to 130 degrees. this is hot enough to kill your snake. combine that with the fact that the thump gage that you are using doesn't tell you the temperature of the substrate in the tank and you have a recipe for disaster.

This is the thermometer that you should get, they cost $12 at Walmart (in the light bulb section *usually)

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...nt/photo-3.jpg

And here are 2 good thermostats. Don't waste your time/money on the crap sold in pet stores.

The hydrofarm thermostat, sold on Amazon for $30 these are ok and will get the job done but lack the accuracy/safety of better thermostats. These should be replaced with a better thermostat when possible

http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR..._bxgy_ol_img_b

The Herpstat is the top of the line thermostat, These cost more but are far more accurate and have built in safety features

http://spyderrobotics.com/

I think you are not far from being wrong on the starvation analogy.

I have adopted two rescues, and both were very aggressive and voracious feeders until they finally learned they would get the food they needed and that gorging wasn't necessary.

I am completely convinced that both of them would have eaten until they burst themselves if I had let them. And yes, the fire female would strike the tub repeatedly any time anything came near it, even a full day after she had eaten a large meal. It took several months for her to calm down, but eventually she became so comfortable with regular feeding, she even went on a little feeding strike for me to let me know she was aware it was breeding season.

Get his husbandry as spot on as you can, and just keep feeding him regularly and he'll come around. It will probably take a long time, but he'll settle down eventually. If you read the caresheets here, there are lots of ideas and help for people with tanks.

Gale