Woah! W..T..F?!

Your snake did this because she's a snake, not a puppy, and this is what snakes do. She's not sick or aggressive or mean or at all unusual. That doesn't mean that all snakes strike all the time or that your snake will be like this always, but you have to realize you have a snake. A creature with a very basic reptilian brain that lives by it's instincts and natural drives...to survive, to reproduce, to eat, etc. That little snake has not one clue who you are. You are just some big warm mammal that came at her from above (which is a classic predator position) and she drove you back in order to preserve her existance. Quite normal and understandable if you think about it from the mind set of your snake. Personally I don't believe it's ever possible to "tame" a snake, even a captive born one. They will occasionally hiss, strike, bite, etc. That's just part of what owners have to accept when they choose a snake as a pet. It's up to you to set up an existance for your snake where you minimize the stress that might encourage striking at you, but the simple fact is this stuff just happens when you have a snake.

When my snake was about that big he did the same thing...i stopped messing with him for like a week, but then I messed with him again and he finally bit me, but I acted like it was nothing and since then I have never had a problem (this is been about 6 months). He knows who boss is now. But dont let ur snake feel as if they win or they will now that if they bite you..you will leave them alone.

This morning she was in the same position so I left her alone, she just really seems on edge and really wanting to strike something, so I shrugged it off as her having a rough night/morning and just left her alone. When I get home from work I'll confront her about it and have a talk with her about it all. If she wants to get physical and take it to a low form as biting then thats fine. But at this point in her life, my teeth are bigger. :D :D

What is her set-up like? Does she have two really snug-fitting hides? For a snake that small, they should be really small hides that she can cram herself into. And how big is her enclosure? If it's a huge (relatively speaking) glass tank, that can also add to feelings of insecurity. Not only does she have a large area of "land" she must be constantly aware of...all that glass can leave her feeling extremely exposed.


Some steps to consider that may make for a much more relaxed little baby:

-- Make sure the enclosure is small...for a baby that small, a shoe-box sized tub would be a perfect size. A 10 gallon glass tank at the very largest.

-- If you're using glass...cover three sides of the glass with something opaque...dark paper or cardboard or whatever. And maybe even cover a few inches at the bottom of the front side of glass so she can't see out unless she lifts her head, but you can still see in.

-- Make sure she has at least two very snug little "caves" she can hide and sleep in.

-- Fill the enclosure with loosely crumpled newspaper. This can go a long way toward making her feel more secure and "hidden" in her little world. Leave the paper in there all the time...and whenever she has a successful feed, take out one crumple of paper. Eventually, as the amount of paper gradually decreases over time, she should grow used to the idea of not having it around her all the time and by then should be feeling more secure in her little home and not fearful that a predator is going to jump out at her at any moment.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SnakeEyes

I just fed her a little hopper mouse a few nights ago, and that was a tough task, I had to turn the lights out and everything before she would eat it, hell, lol, the mouse made a bed in the aspen and went to sleep...lol

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:laughing: :8: She treats her guests well!

Sounds like she's just out for a hunt, but there is a possibility that she may be a little stressed. JLC has a great post, I suggest you read it. :)

She usually does :D To answer your points JLC:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u.../100_00361.jpg
((the hides you see in there are no longer then as they were too big so I now have ones in there much much smaller))
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u.../100_00391.jpg
((which is also why I went with much smaller hides))

Thats her tub. You cant see it in that pic but there is a UTH and thermometers to measure the warm and cool side along with humidity.


for her hides, I have two itty bitty plastic plates that would go on the bottom of a plant pot. These suckers are small, in fact, when she goes in them and curls up into her little ball she actually will pick up the bowl off the bedding a little. I am thinking of ways to apply weight to the top of the hides so that when she goes in there and balls up it will push down on her instead of just being pushed up.

The crumbled newspaper idea, you mean to just fill the tub with it or just the floor of it? she also doesnt have any "land" she has to keep an eye out for, as with the hides and her water bowl there isnt much extra space in there for her, she does have plenty to move around however.

The newspaper trick aka crumpled up newspaper is just basically to give them a feeling of cover much like natural leaf litter or taller grasses would. Here's a couple of pictures to illustrate. The deal with this is once they settle in to remove it really slowly, bit by bit until they don't care if it's gone or not. I've done this with both small and large snakes to settle them in and it works very nicely. There is a small bp btw in these pics, tucked up happy in it's hide.

Top View...
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...ickTopView.jpg

Side View...
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...ckSideView.jpg

Same basic setup without the newspaper...
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...MuirnesTub.jpg

I have a trash can full of shredded paper. You think that would work as well or that would be too much cramed into her tub? The shredded newspaper would allow me to remove very little at a time till its ok gone, but would also be alot in there to fill it up. what you suggest?

I think the shredded newspaper would be fine. And so long as its not compressed down into the tub, I don't think you can "cram" too much of anything in there.


The little plastic hides sound fine. I've got the same plastic "plate" in with my snake, as well as some heavy ceramic hides....she still loves the light-weight plastic and often wears it like a little turtle shell. I think with them, so long as they can feel it, they're happy. It doesn't have to be heavy.

Let me clarify something....shredded NEWSpaper would be ok...but personally, I'd be hesitant to use regular shredded paper, as it tends to have rather sharp edges. But that just may be me being paranoid.