Unusually Agressive

[Candy-Frill]

Hi, so my bp Nagini has been acting strangely for about a month now and I'm not sure what could be causing it. It happened roughly over night when I went to take her out for feeding and she snapped at my hand.
I've owned her second hand for a little over a year now and she has always had a sweet demeanour. Though the previous owner didn't know how old she was she was fully grown when I got her. I handled her regularly and kept her social with family. She originally feed on large mice every 7-8 days, usually refusing to eat any time before then, and went on a three-four month fast last winter. But now seems almost ravenous on large weaner rats and seems really thirsty.

Every time I go near her viv she gets really defensive and will try to get at me through the glass. She will let me put my snake hook in the viv and gently nudge her but will hiss if I try to hook her and quickly tries to escape. Cleaning the viv was a nightmare as I had to clean half, move her hide over, then clean the other half and move her hide back over again. lol

I haven't tried to handle her yet since I want to get some thick gloves in case she does bite me.
Her breathing is normal and she doesn't have mites. Her weight hasn't fluctuated much either, though she does seem to slowly be gaining.
I'm considering scheduling her a doctors appointment.

I've seen somewhere that this could be do to some type of defensive mating behaviour? Or that she could be reverting back to a sort of "wild state" of mind?
I'm just really at a lose and worried for her ):
She's my first snake and third reptile so any advice would be grand.
Thanks!

[mcamnl]

Sounds like she may be stressed? In my experience, if things are off with husbandry, they can have an attitude or go off food.
You mentioned moving to feed? You don't need to do that. Feeding right where they are is fine. Moving them to feed can stress them.
What is the setup like?
Temps, humidity, type and size of enclosure?

[CloudtheBoa]

My ball python did the same thing the last two fasts he had, he would strike at any movement until I guess he felt like he was eating enough. Then he'd calm down and stop striking. He never hissed, though, it was all feeding response no defense.

I would advise just to wait it out, with my ball python it took a few months for him to calm down each time. Just focus on making sure she's eating enough and give her time. If anything else unusual pops up then I'd go to the vet, but going to the vet causes more harm than good if you're taking an otherwise healthy snake in. Most vets are not specialized in reptiles, less are specialized in snakes, and I've seen some vets give some terrible advice to keepers on here...I would only take one to a vet if it was actually sick and I trusted the vet to know at least the basics of snake health.

How big is she? A weaned rat for what you're saying is a fully grown bp seems to be an awfully small meal. I would suggest moving her up to small rats.

[Yzmasmom]

Agreed with the above - as soon as you said adult and weaned rats the bells and whistles went. Nagini is hungry.

My 202g, 4.5 month old hatchling female eats a weaned rat pup once every 7 days.

My 1,626g, 3.5 year old female eats a small medium (or large small, depending on availability,) every 7 days.