Okay so you are all probably going..."ya so what???"
Well Saoirse never hisses. Not in almost a year of owning her and working with her to get her healthy and back to a proper weight (she's getting there....1100 grams and counting!) She's a WC adult female that's been through a few owners before we took her on to see if we could get her to eat. She came to us so fearful that we never saw her out of a tight ball for months. Now she will accept handling even from visitors. Vince (vinnimac) handled her last week when he came over to our place and she's fine other than she's very head shy.
But Saoirse never hisses! She's usually a gentle somewhat fearful snake. The other day I went to change her water and her newspaper substrate and she hissed at me! Three times! Big, loud. long "leave me the heck alone!" hisses! Looked like she might tag me too! I'm so happy! I finally feel like Saoirse is turning the corner...gaining weight, accepting handling but alert and ready to defend her tub and have a bit of an attitude if it suits her! The next day we handled her just fine and she was her usual gentle self.
It was so nice to see her acting more aware and alert of her surroundings and willing to stand me down if I bothered her when she didn't want me around though. For me this is a great sign she's finally okay.