Grumpy BP.. Any suggestions?

First off, Hey all! It has been forever since I've been on here.

So my male ball has been acting super strange lately and I was wondering if anyone could think of what his deal might be or if maybe he is just grouchy for no reason at all.

First I know everyone asks temps and such. ATM his warm is around 85 (it is normally warmer around 90 the outside temp has been fluctuating a lot here in TN so I think this is causing some of my temp differences) and his cool side is 78 (like the warm side, it is normally warmer and closer to 83ish). These low temps have only been since this morning. Until then they were where I said they normally are. Humidity is 54ish.

So the past 3 or 4 days I have noticed he has been extremely grouchy/feisty whatever you want to call it. He hasn't been in either of his hides very much and has been all over the tank. Also he looks like he is holding his body in that hoovering position they do before they strike. Last night when I opened the tank to reposition a hide, he struck. Thankfully I didn't even have my hand in or near the tank yet, it was as if he was striking at nothing at all. Now some of you may say "big deal" but my guy is 4 yrs old and has NEVER struck at anything. He normally doesn't even attack his f/t food. I have to warm it up and leave it in the tank.

I know he isn't going in to shed because he literally finished shedding a week ago today, and I haven't changed anything on his feeding schedule (which is usually ever 10-14 days, he ate 5 days ago. I was going to try up-ing the size of his rat b/c maybe he isn't getting full enough? I've also read that maybe I need to up his tank size? He is in a 20L but he is really small for his age, the woman I got him from didn't take proper care of him and he was so skinny you could see his spine! He is fattening up slowly. Does anyone think a bigger tank is vital right now?

I'm just kinda confused as to why he would suddenly be so moody.

Thanks for reading and I'll try to update everyone on his behavior and any changes I make.

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...14687070_n.jpg

Usually they're either hungry, or going into shed. Given he's not in his hide, I'm going to guess hungry, plus a possible dose of old-fashioned cage aggression. Do you feed him in the tank?

You can also just start throwing a blanket over the tank if people walking by are irking him.

Sounds hungry to me how much and how often do you feed?

My puppy dog, I mean, my male normal ball python has always been such a peach. He went through a "phase" for like 3 days where he was just mean for no reason (read about it here lol). He has since snapped out of it. No reason why he acted like such a turd, but I guess everyone (even snakes) are entitled to have bad days. He eats like a pig, so the fact that he's seemingly ALWAYS hungry, even on medium rats, probably didn't help. :rolleyes: :D

Thanks for all the replies.

I'm going to try to feed Kaa again tonight and maybe it will resolve itself.

I am feeding him in his tank because it's never been a problem but I guess I will switch to a different place for feeding so as to avoid this from now on.

I'll let you all know how it goes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by astoudt

I am feeding him in his tank because it's never been a problem but I guess I will switch to a different place for feeding so as to avoid this from now on.

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I think that could be more stressful honestly. It's just a phase, and I've never seen any signs of cage aggression in any of my snakes (except for that one instance) and that includes my boa. They all eat in their enclosures.