Our Dumeril's has lost his mind

I know personally that hungry Dumerils can be pretty aggressive. But that seems a tad extreme, not to mention you say you are feeding large rats. Maybe it’s the old joke, a snake is a snake? They all can’t be docile, good luck. Hopefully a change of scenery will do him good.

Thanks for all the input. We have actually tried many configurations for his habitat. When he was in quarantine we had him in an Iris x-mas tree tub on paper with hides and belly heat. He seemed to do well with this, but when he did make a mess it got so wet and humid so quickly that his RI symptoms would start to come back. He has also been in the big Iris tub on substrate and is now in an AP T8 on cypress mulch with an RHP for heat.

I worry that he still has a latent infection and on our vet's orders we have been keeping his warm side a little warmer at 90 degrees to help him fight it off if it's still there. He's not currently drooling or exhibiting symptoms, but his "bad attitude" has remained in every enclosure configuration since around the time he first had the RI.

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Originally Posted by Sonny1318

I know personally that hungry Dumerils can be pretty aggressive. But that seems a tad extreme, not to mention you say you are feeding large rats. Maybe it’s the old joke, a snake is a snake? They all can’t be docile, good luck. Hopefully a change of scenery will do him good.

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Yeah, I wonder if he just wants more food. We don't know his age at all as he was a rescue, so it's possible he's just undersized and not getting enough food. I have tried giving him a medium rat every week for a month to see if that changed anything, but it was no different. He seems always super defensive, yet it can turn into a feed strike on a whim.

I think we have resigned to him just being a punk.

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Originally Posted by treaux

Yeah, I wonder if he just wants more food. We don't know his age at all as he was a rescue, so it's possible he's just undersized and not getting enough food. I have tried giving him a medium rat every week for a month to see if that changed anything, but it was no different. He seems always super defensive, yet it can turn into a feed strike on a whim.

I think we have resigned to him just being a punk.

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Well I hope he snaps out it for you. Like I previously mentioned, sometimes a snake just wants to be a snake. But who doesn’t love a Dumerils :)

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Originally Posted by treaux

I worry that he still has a latent infection and on our vet's orders we have been keeping his warm side a little warmer at 90 degrees to help him fight it off if it's still there. He's not currently drooling or exhibiting symptoms, but his "bad attitude" has remained in every enclosure configuration since around the time he first had the RI.

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Dums really don't need to be all that warm. Does he have a place to go to cool off? If not that may make him pissy.

Also the higher heat may be boosting his metabolism so he could very well be hungrier than a Dum kept at more typical temperatures.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Dums really don't need to be all that warm. Does he have a place to go to cool off? If not that may make him pissy.

Also the higher heat may be boosting his metabolism so he could very well be hungrier than a Dum kept at more typical temperatures.

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His cool side sits below 80 usually, however he's often on the warm side. It's possible that from heating him higher to fight the RI his appetite increased. Just fed him another large rat today and he managed to strike in a most ridiculous way (hit the tongs first, then wrapped the rat, so I had to leave the tongs in there with him until he released). His aim while striking seems pretty terrible. He just swings his head around till he gets something in his mouth (often not his actual prey).

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach..._135851-X2.jpg

Well at least he has personality in spades.:P Good luck hopefully he'll knock it off and as long as you guys can put up with the striking and he doesn't hurt him self i guess the situation could be worse.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Dums really don't need to be all that warm. Does he have a place to go to cool off? If not that may make him pissy.

Also the higher heat may be boosting his metabolism so he could very well be hungrier than a Dum kept at more typical temperatures.

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I was thinking that very same thing as I get real cranky when I get too warm .....

To the op - what kind of device you're using to take the temps on the warm spot and the cooler side ??

Is it one of those stick on the side plastic thermometers ?

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Originally Posted by treaux

His cool side sits below 80 usually, however he's often on the warm side. It's possible that from heating him higher to fight the RI his appetite increased. Just fed him another large rat today and he managed to strike in a most ridiculous way (hit the tongs first, then wrapped the rat, so I had to leave the tongs in there with him until he released). His aim while striking seems pretty terrible. He just swings his head around till he gets something in his mouth (often not his actual prey).

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LOL mine do the same thing. There's a lot of ready-fire-aim in them!

I read about snakes getting snippy and weird when temps are too hot sometimes. I keep my dum at 84 hot spot, and the cool end can go down to 75. Not that 90 is necessarily too hot to make all dum's weird, but maybe it would help yours? They're a chillier species than ball pythons! I'm just guessing around things I might try if he were mine, because that sounds wild LOL