Strange behavior change

In the last few days my daughters corn snake has got very aggressive. Not sure what sex but it's pretty much adult about 4ft long. She tried taking him out of his T8 enclosure and it coiled up with head raised shaking it's tail like a rattlesnake. It has always been a great feeder and when I went to feed him last night I had f/t mouse on tongs like always he came charging out of his log and attacked the mouse then dropped it and sat over it coiled like a cobra shaking his tail all mean like. Just wired how he charged out like that with such an attitude, we've had him/her quite a while and it's never acted like that before.

http://i.imgur.com/HXMZn83l.jpg

my baby Corn used to do that - the tail rattle thing (and it used to strike constantly also), still does rattle sometimes. i understand why my baby Corn does it (it's a baby and it thinks i'm a huge predator) and they grow out of it.

why would an adult Corn do it? not sure. did your temps change? it is winter/colder and maybe the lower ambient air has caused it to go into brumation? and your attempt to feed it, disturbed it and it struck out.

My corn snake isn't necessarily aggressive, just always wants food. Snake hooks are wonderful tools that I use for most of my snakes. My corn will snap at me if I reach for her in her enclosure. I have to use the snake hook and lift her out. Once she is out she knows that its not feeding time and we can handler her without any issues. Maybe you could give it a try. Otherwise just leave your corn snake alone for while. I agree on the brumation thing. Corn snakes do go through it if temperatures have dropped. Signals of brumation include aggressiveness, slow movements (especially in their tongue), and sometimes depending one the morph you will notice them go a little pale.

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Originally Posted by Ax01

http://i.imgur.com/HXMZn83l.jpg

my baby Corn used to do that - the tail rattle thing (and it used to strike constantly also), still does rattle sometimes. i understand why my baby Corn does it (it's a baby and it thinks i'm a huge predator) and they grow out of it.

why would an adult Corn do it? not sure. did your temps change? it is winter/colder and maybe the lower ambient air has caused it to go into brumation? and your attempt to feed it, disturbed it and it struck out.

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Only thing I can think is I just startled it. Our snakes are in my den in basement which winter or summer is a constant 70F. I check my temps daily in the T8's and that stays right on although I may have had them a bit high and I did bump the herpstat down a degree.
He/she was snappy as a baby and bit me more than a few times but hasn't been like that in a very long time. Thanks for the reply!!

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Originally Posted by BCS

My corn snake isn't necessarily aggressive, just always wants food. Snake hooks are wonderful tools that I use for most of my snakes. My corn will snap at me if I reach for her in her enclosure. I have to use the snake hook and lift her out. Once she is out she knows that its not feeding time and we can handler her without any issues. Maybe you could give it a try. Otherwise just leave your corn snake alone for while. I agree on the brumation thing. Corn snakes do go through it if temperatures have dropped. Signals of brumation include aggressiveness, slow movements (especially in their tongue), and sometimes depending one the morph you will notice them go a little pale.

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Yea this one is a garbage disposal as well. I swear it would eat a hot dog if I fed it one. As a baby it tried to actually eat my finger once. As in your case I get it out of its cage it's very docile and tame. I'm leaning maybe I just startled it sleeping in it log. Thanks for the info !!

my colubrids - 1 Corn, 2 Milk Snakes - are garbage disposals. they're just babies on fuzzies tho. did your Corn constrict as a baby? my Corn and Milks does not. thank goodness they eat f/t. i hope they start to constrict when they get to hoppers.

anyway did your 4 yr old Corn eventually eat the mouse after knocking it down and standing over it like a Cobra? i've had BP's who are picky eaters do this. they would defensively strike the rodent, instead of striking, coiling and eating.

when do u plan on feeding it again? i would chalk this up as a 1 time thing if all goes well next time or as a case of temps-season/brumation if behavior continues.

anyway i hope others peep in with their thoughts.

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Originally Posted by Ax01

my colubrids - 1 Corn, 2 Milk Snakes - are garbage disposals. they're just babies on fuzzies tho. did your Corn constrict as a baby? my Corn and Milks does not. thank goodness they eat f/t. i hope they start to constrict when they get to hoppers.

anyway did your 4 yr old Corn eventually eat the mouse after knocking it down and standing over it like a Cobra? i've had BP's who are picky eaters do this. they would defensively strike the rodent, instead of striking, coiling and eating.

when do u plan on feeding it again? i would chalk this up as a 1 time thing if all goes well next time or as a case of temps-season/brumation if behavior continues.

anyway i hope others peep in with their thoughts.

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No he didn't constrict as a baby but he sure does now. He's been on f/t all that we've had him and never refused a mouse even if he's deep in blue. Just an absolute garbage disposal.
I did feed him this time two smaller mice left over from my daughters hatchling mojave that she's outgrown. The first one is when he charged out and coiled it big time then went right to the cobra imitation. The second one I offered he struck and coiled pretty normal then when he finished I reofferd the first and again pretty normal strike and ate it.
I feed every Saturday evening, hoping I can feed him about 4 or 5 fuzzy mice as I got a big bag of them daughters mojave has outgrown and I hate to just waste them. I buy all my f/t rodents in bulk from dealer at local expo.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL135.../411994557.jpg

Just an update. 2 days after feeding I got him out last night to see how he'd be and he was perfectly fine.

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Originally Posted by Smitty33

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL135.../411994557.jpg

Just an update. 2 days after feeding I got him out last night to see how he'd be and he was perfectly fine.

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He was having a bad day 😂

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I have a beautiful 4ft snow corn snake named Blizzard, I've had him for a while now. When I 1st got him he was the sweetest most calm snake I had ever met, but now he never seems to stay still and he hisses A lot. Does anyone know how I can fix this my family is getting scared of him :(