Hello,

I am new to the reptile world and I purchased my first snake not to long ago. She is a beautiful 3 month old Lesser, and I purchased her from a reptile show last Saturday, Jan 5. She was looking pretty hungry, and it had been nearly 2 weeks since they last feed her, so I offered her a live mouse. That was on Monday, two days after I got her, and she readily ate it. My friend who has had snakes in the past was impressed by how quickly she ate it. Anyways I have held her a few times since then, and she has been perfectly fine. However, last night she started striking out of no where. There was no rodent scents in the air or anything food relate. This seems more like a nervous/fearful striking behaviour. I put her back into her tank and she was still trying to strike at anything that moved by. This morning she was acting the same way. However, if you continue to hold her she eventually stops and acts like nothing is wrong and starts climbing all over me. I have noticed that any "sudden" movement startles her back into a defensive position. By that I mean me moving my hand to react for something, even if my hand is several inches to a foot away from her head. From what I have read, and heard from friends, this is really odd behaviour.

Does anyone have any advice to curb this behaviour? Although she is just a baby and it doesn't hurt, I know she will grow to be a big girl. I don't want to keep handling her if that is making things worse, but I also don't want to leave her alone in the tank and have it amplify the problem.

Thanks