random aggression

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Originally Posted by Big Wayne

first off, thank you for all the advise.

His hiding spots seemed to be pretty snug. He used to have this hollowed out skull that was ment to go in aquariums thy we just put in for decoration and he LOVED hiding in there. We took it out because we were actually scared he would get stuck in there, and we couldn't get him out of it if we wanted to. We had to wait for him to come out.

I am using the stick on round thermostat/ hygrometer. I'll definately get a wired one from home deep. I had a feeling 3 heat sources was a bit extreme. It's wierd though, the UTH never seemed to give off any ambient heat. All it seemed to do was make the ground warm. It seemed to be alot harder to heat the tank than I read in books and on the net.

I just bumped up to feeding him an Arctic Mice brand "small mouse" (the one that is a step up from fuzzies) every 5 days instead of once a week. It does make the most sense that he is hungry. Is there a good rule of thumb on snake to prey size proportion or something? Or should I just give him bigger prey and see if he'll eat it? Would he try to eat something too big for him to handle? I do refrain from handling him on or after feeding day.

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i read some of the posts.. but didn't see this anywhere.. what kind of top/lid do you have on you tanks???

i had the same prob with keeping the heat and humidity up.. but after talking to a lot of people on here and trying diff things.. i finally found something that works... well for me..

i should note i have screen tops on my tanks.. what i did was 1st i stopped using heat lamps.. due to the fact that they leave too much of the screen top open so the humidity just goes right out the top.. then i took some cardboard almost the same size of the screen... i tapped tinfoil to the bottom of it and put that on the screen.. that helped a lot... but then i put news paper on top of the cardboard and for some reason that helped even more.. and all i use for a heat source is one UTH under each tank.. that gets my humidity up to 60-70% and heat is around 76 at night and 80-85 during the day...

also if you plan on getting more snakes i would say get a rack.. it is a lot more simple to keep the temp and humidity up in those.. and as soon as i have the money i will be upgrading to a rack...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Big Wayne

His hiding spots seemed to be pretty snug. He used to have this hollowed out skull that was ment to go in aquariums thy we just put in for decoration and he LOVED hiding in there. We took it out because we were actually scared he would get stuck in there, and we couldn't get him out of it if we wanted to. We had to wait for him to come out.

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I use Tupperware bowls for mine, and just cut a small hole in one side. If he's not using them then they aren't snug enough. A half log provides insecurity, because it is opened on both ends, and the openings are huge. Ball pythons don't like to be bothered while they are sleeping and mine go into their hides and plug the doorways with their butts to prevent me from peeking on them. Lol.

Hi,

You've gotten a lot of good advice so I will stick to a few thoughts I had when reading your initial post;

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Originally Posted by Big Wayne

I feed him in his tank. I know I need a separate feeding tank but I haven't gotten around to it.

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I would stick to feeding in his tank. :gj:

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Originally Posted by Big Wayne

I waived my hand in front of the tank and he struck at it.

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Don't wave your hand in front of his tank. :gj:

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Originally Posted by Big Wayne

I dropped the mouse in pretty quickly because he was trying to jump out of the cage as I opened it. After I dropped it in he moved all around the tank, almost as if he was making sure it was safe. After about 30 minutes of odd behavior he snagged the mouse and ate it. I understand that aggressive behavior during feeding isn't very unusual and this isn't what has me concerned.

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I would suggest using tongs - I use 18" ones and can pick the mouse back up without having to dodge overly much. :)

Plus it gives me something to fend off my more enthusiastic feeders with if they miss. :rofl:

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Originally Posted by Big Wayne

The following day (today) he slept most of the day. Later in the evening I noticed he had his head poked out of his hiding bushes (which is unusual being that he always hides all day). I walked over to look at him and noticed he was in the same aggressive coil position as the night before, head following my every movement. He never struck at me through the glass like he did the night before, but it doesn't take an expert to know if I would have stuck my hand in there he would have bit me. Every time I even started to approach the tank he would coil tighter poising for a strike, he was pissed off! He is still like that right now at 3:00 AM

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I think he is telling you he needs more food next time - I would try two mice. Wait until he has finished the first one and got his jaws realigned then offer the second one.


dr del

Thanks everyone for your good advice. He has been back to normal today. I guess his behavior just kinda freaked me out cause I'd never seen him like that before. I do believe he is still hungry. I'm going to bump him up to full size mice and see if that does the trick. I now also realize I have a fer husbandry issues to address. I'll keep everyone posted on Noose's progress. You seem like a good bunch of peeps. Thanks again.

at 2 feet he will need to eat the large size arctic mice, it says large right on the box, I know the ones your talking about, blue box with a white mouse picture on it, "Arctic Mice" just make sure you get the large ones. He will eat those no sweat at that size, a good rule of thumb is to feed a mouse or rat that is the same or even a little bigger than the diameter of your snakes widest section. at that size though I recommend the large arctic mice for sure. They can open their mouth to 3 times the size of their skull, so they can swallow stuff you wouldnt believe, when I first got a ball python I looked at their scrawny neck and said no way he can eat a large mouse! than i fed him one... it was like stretching a tube sock over a watermelon, they are extremely stretchy animals, just use the widest part of the body rule for food and you will be fine!

Also I would probably have just stuck my hand in the cage and grabbed him, even if hes giving you the stink eye. Just make sure you dont smell like mouse or rat on yer hands... I have noticed the trick with snakes that look a little agitated is to not approach them from directly above or in front of their faces, just come up gently and confidently from behind and touch them and move them a little, as soon as they know its a person and not a prey item they usually calm down, the touching is a sign to the snake that you are not dinner, also a snake is almost always calmer and less defensive once they leave the cage and are in your hands, some snakes just dont like being cornered in the cage and approached. Now I cannot guarantee this will always be the case, but this is something I have experienced over time handling a number of snakes, I might be more cautious with larger species of snakes as a ball python bite is nothing compared to a red tail or burmese bite... Also remember that if you are bit, its not really that bad from a ball python, just remain calm dont jerk your hand around , you dont want to hurt your snake!