Did I do something wrong? (Struck at me.)

Hello! This is my first post here, Figured more mundane questions would be better suited on a forum like this rather than the breeder forum I usually browse.

So, I'm a newbie snake owner! I've got a gorgeous little Firefly, August 2012 I believe, and a Butterbee on hold I'll be picking up soon. However, just a couple weeks ago I picked up something of a rescue. Her name is Luca, her owner couldn't keep her any longer due to financial trouble and she's been a real sweetheart since I got her. Her last owner told me that she's approx. 3 years old she thinks (She got her from someone else about a year ago.) and has never struck at her, always eats well, etc etc. I got her for next to nothing so I didn't ask questions, she's been really gentle with me for the most part and I've really enjoyed getting to know her.

I purchased a rack the day before I got her, I can't remember the model at the moment but it's made for adult balls and she fits in it perfectly. she's got a hide, a large water dish, And I'm sure to check the temps regularly (I've got a Thermostat for it, don't worry.) to be sure they're where they should be. She's always in her hide when I check in on her, and she's seemed pretty happy. she ate and everything, and things were good.

However, this week she's been very hissy with me. Whenever I pull out her tub to socialize with her and remove her hide to see her, she hisses at me right away. The first couple times she did it I backed off, figuring she was in a bad mood and to let her have her peace. A couple times she's hissed and I've gently taken her out for just a moment anyways to make sure she wasn't serious about being angry and she's seemed okay afterwards, but all the same... I had to feed her tonight, and here's where the problem happened.

I opened her tub same as ever, removed her hide so she'd be able to have space to strike properly and see the prey. She hissed at me, same as usual, ducked away from the rat at the beginning when I offered it but she took it finally. After she took it, I started to carefully slide the tub back in again... as I did so, she uncoiled from the rat, hissing as she did so, and then struck at me. I backed away, thinking she thought Iw as trying to take her rat away from her. But even though I was a few steps back from the rack, she struck again, actually trying to jump out of the rack to get at me.

I backed away to the other side of the room, she was still poised to strike and tracking me with her head, so I grabbed an empty box (We're moving soon, so plenty of folded up boxes in that room at the moment.) And gently covered the tub with it so I could get close enough to close it. I'm not even sure if she's taken the rat at the moment, I'll have to go back in to check on her soon but I'm still shaken up, and scared if I open the tub she's going to jump at me right away.

What was my mistake here? Is it the environment, was it me hovering too close when she'd taken the rat? She's been so sweet, I'm scared I've done something wrong and she's going to strike at me like this again.

Thanks for any advice, I appreciate it!

Is it possible that she is going into shed?

What is the temperature of the room that the rack is in?

Has anything else changed at all?

^ I'll bet it's shedding or getting close.

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It's possible that she is going into a shed, when this happens they have a tendency to get rather ill tempered because they are unable to see as clearly. Has she gone milky at all? I have a ball python that hisses as well, he is a yearling and all I do is pick him up even if he hisses at me. His scare tactics do not worry me, he gets over it immediately after I take him out and hold him for a bit, then he becomes very feely and won't sit still. He does this no matter what part of his cycle he is in. He could be freshly shed or about to start sloughing skin and he would do it. Just work with her and I'm sure she will come around though. Good luck!

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

Is it possible that she is going into shed?

What is the temperature of the room that the rack is in?

Has anything else changed at all?

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Thanks everyone for responding firstly, this one had the most questions soooooo..

It is very possible she's going into shed, again these are my first snakes and I've yet to WITNESS a shed in person yet, but she seems to be getting a TINY bit on the milky side. If she is, it's very faint still, she'd JUST be going into it. I expect her to be grumpy around shed time, but the FEROCITY that she struck at me with, she could very clearly sense where I was and she was NOT about letting me get away.
The room she's in is about 20c, but her hot spot is about 90f in the rack.
As for anything else changing, Nope. As I said, I've only had her a couple weeks. First week there were no problems, this week she's been grumpy and now the striking. Honestly I'm still shaking, I'm leaving her rat in there tonight and if she hasn't taken it when I check her tomorrow I'll wiggle it again for her, but for now I'm still a bit too shaken up to open that tub again. I checked in on her a bit after posting this thread and she was still right at the front of her tub, so I wasn't going to risk her bad mood too quickly to open it. I'll let her settle down and then see her again tomorrow after she's chilled out a bit.

My first thought too was that she is heading into shed. Typically with a shed cycle the get a pink belly, a few days later go blue, a day or so later clear up, then shed a day or a few days after clearing up. It's a process, that takes awhile. And one of mine in particular will be grumpy before I can tell a shed is coming. Her mood usually tips me off first.

Also, did you recently move her to the new rack? She could be stressed too.

Don't be afraid of her. Bites are not that bad. It's more the shock of it, than any sort of pain.

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20c is 68F. My understanding is that racks in rooms with ambient temps below 75F will not provide a high enough ambient temp in the tub(you're shooting for upper 70's to low 80's F, ideally). I'd see what you ambient and cold side temps are in the tub.

Don't worry about feeding her until you're sure you've corrected any husbandry issues.

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Originally Posted by dav4

20c is 68F. My understanding is that racks in rooms with ambient temps below 75F will not provide a high enough ambient temp in the tub(you're shooting for upper 70's to low 80's F, ideally). I'd see what you ambient and cold side temps are in the tub.

Don't worry about feeding her until you're sure you've corrected any husbandry issues.

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Thanks, Dave, I'm terrible with conversions! Yes, 68F is about 10 degrees too cool for an ambient temperature. The OP needs to correct this first and foremost. I'm also with the others on the impending shed guess. And as Doolittle said, the bark is way worse than the actual bite with these guys, not that I would deliberately stick my hand in front of a cranky adult female! ;)

Yikes, that is too cold. I hadn't done the conversion either. Get her warmed up!

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My female fire, Nova, is convinced that when she's in her tub that she could eat a bear. And subsequently, my hand. A full grown female is probably a little more intimidating, but if she doesn't calm down with husbandry adjustments and/or shed I'd encourage you to try and get her out of the tub even if she is hissy, just to see if it's just getting out of the tub that stresses her out. Nova turns into an insta puppy dog once she's out, it's just getting her out of the tub that she's nippy and hissy.

Get your ambient's a touch up and maybe bump the humidity for a possible shed, see what happens. I promise, if she does get a bite into you it won't hurt as much as it'll surprise you, and you'll join our bite club here :gj: All of my mammal pets have given me much more painful and curse worthy injuries (my mom's pug won't bite your hands if you can see them, but mess with him and play "what's alive under the towel"? Gave me one of the worst pinch bruises I've had that hurt for weeks! I would take a hundred snake bites over that)