very aggressive

I have had my snake for a month now (since June 6). I gave it a hopper a couple of hours ago. This is the fourth time I have fed it. Everything seems to be ok but its weight is staying the same.

About an hour ago my snake has gotten very aggressive to any movement around his cage. Me and my kids have never had any problems handling this snake since we got it. I don't know if this snake is still very hungry or what is wrong. My son was close to the cage and the snake snapped at the glass picking up a mouthful of substrate while doing it. I would think it had a bad head ache now from slamming its head against the glass.

Now all he does is peak its head out of the cave with fast aggressive movements.

Temperature and humidity is fine. Me and my son held it yesterday and while it is out I check for mites and look him over really good to see if I notice anything. He looks fine to me.

Any ideas to the sudden aggressive behavior? Will the mouthful of substrate that was swallowed hurt it? My son is now scared to go near the cage and now I am a little scared getting its water bowl to change the water.

I would say he is still hungry. I assume the snake is more than a month old and really, hatchlings only eat hoppers for 2-3 meals before moving to small adult mice.

You could try offering another hopper and see where that takes you.

A mouthful of substrate won't hurt him. He will most likely try and spit it out but ingesting some is no big. They can digest bone and hair, a little wood can't hurt.

Also, being as you just fed the little guy hes probably in "food mode" meaning if its hot enough and close enough, hes gonna try to eat it.

And as a general rule, food items should be as big as the widest part of your snake, and I usually round. If my snake is 3 inches wide, and its prey is 3.25 inches, it should be good, just get it as close as you can.

I’m not sure on its exact age but it is approximately 18 inches long and weighs 90.7 grams. I will try to feed it another hopper tomorrow when the pet store opens. The hopper I fed it appears to be as big round as my snake. I brought him into the pet store a couple of weeks ago to make sure to get the appropriate size.

So my snake thought my sons hand was another hopper?

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Originally Posted by casper

So my snake thought my sons hand was another hopper?

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He probably just saw movement and heat and was like "FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD". This doesn't mean that the snake will always think a hand is food.

Are you sure its an aggressive food strike and not a defensive strike? When I first got my pastel BP she struck at me and hissed every time I took her out. Is it striking and trying to bite or just striking? Also the fact that it struck at the cage after feeding is not surprising thats normal. I say continue to handle it a couple times a week and eventually it will be fine being held.

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Originally Posted by casper

I’m not sure on its exact age but it is approximately 18 inches long and weighs 90.7 grams.

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Mine is about 22" and 120g, and the hopper it ate a few days ago looked about right. Perhaps it can move to the next size, but it took awhile to get its mouth around the hopper properly in the first place.

My baby male BP is 19 inches and 109 grams and is eating adult mice..... try larger prey maybe...

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Originally Posted by Patricia

Mine is about 22" and 120g, and the hopper it ate a few days ago looked about right. Perhaps it can move to the next size, but it took awhile to get its mouth around the hopper properly in the first place.

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Trust me, they can eat things bigger than you expect. It might take a while to get it down but thats not a problem. They shouldn't be gulping them down quickly anyway.