I can't feed my BP!

I have a Black Pewter who has become slightly aggressive for the last few weeks. The second you open his cage he comes after you. Cleaning his cage has become full of drama. This little guy is just over a year old and when I first got him he was very shy and "talkative" but he never stuck or bit. But now he seems to have found some determination to get me. Two weeks ago the only way I got to feed him was by opening the tub just a smidge to get the snake hook through and push him all the way to the back of the 32q tub and then hold him there. Opening the tub just enough to fit the live mouse through then closing it as quickly as possible. I know it sounds harsh but he needs to eat and I need to do it safely.

Last week I tried to do the same but he kept slithering around the hook and bashing his face against EVERYTHING. I wasn't able to feed him. I tried every couple of days but it was the same story.

Today I tried to ignore his aggression and opened his cage, armed with the snake hook I tried to block his crazed attacks and dropped the mouse in. I tried to close the tub but he was raised and I couldn't close it. I tried pushing him back with the hook which didn't work. He was practically out of the tub at this point. I grabbed a thick roll of paper towel and was able to push him back with that and closed the tub. And hardly a second later I heard that smash of him grabbing the mouse.

This cannot keep happening. It was not like this when I first got him in June last year. And it seems to slowly be getting worse. Luckily he hasn't tagged me yet. It might not sound serious and I know he couldn't do serious damage, but I do not like getting bit and it is hard to enjoy owning a pet that wants to do everything he can to harm you. Anyone have any ideas of what I can do?

Check your environment. Are you sure the temps are correct?

Does he have enough places to hide and feel secure?

This type of behavior is either related to husbandry, the animal is stressed because your husbandry is not meeting it's needs, or it is feeding related, the animal is not fed enough.

How much does he weigh compared to the mice? If he's a year old and only getting mice, maybe is just overly food motivated? My little guy is about 6 months, 300g and eating 30 gram rat pups, that's about the size of a large mouse. So, if yours is larger, maybe increasing prey size will calm him down in a few weeks.

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Originally Posted by 200xth

Check your environment. Are you sure the temps are correct?

Does he have enough places to hide and feel secure?

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He does have a hide yes. All my racks are run off of a herpstat. All racks hot spots are set to 92F. I couldn't check his hot spot but the one above him is reading 91.1F. Ambient temperatures are 72-78F at night and the during the day it can get to 81F. (my snake room directly faces the sun which heats up the room. My windows in there are huge). This is winter temperatures though. In the summer it gets way hotter. A little cold right but I do not have the luxury of heating the whole room. (Tried that and blew the circuit in the snake rook and kitchen). Humidity is super easy for me. I again cannot get a read of his at the moment but usually it is 60-70%. I don't even have to raise the humidity when they are shedding unless I clean tubs in the middle of it. He is not shedding currently.

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Originally Posted by Crowfingers

How much does he weigh compared to the mice? If he's a year old and only getting mice, maybe is just overly food motivated? My little guy is about 6 months, 300g and eating 30 gram rat pups, that's about the size of a large mouse. So, if yours is larger, maybe increasing prey size will calm him down in a few weeks.

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I am not sure how much the mice weigh and usually he is fed ASFs but I do not have any big enough for him at the moment... but my snake weighs in at 592g.

Well, hopefully someone has advice that can help. I'm still relativity new to the snake hobby. good luck

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Originally Posted by lunasjy

I am not sure how much the mice weigh and usually he is fed ASFs but I do not have any big enough for him at the moment... but my snake weighs in at 592g.

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At 592g he is definitely being underfed unless you are giving him two XL mice. This may be a hunger issue. He should be getting at least 59g prey item. A mouse every two weeks at the size he is, is way too little.

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Originally Posted by lunasjy

He does have a hide yes. All my racks are run off of a herpstat. All racks hot spots are set to 92F. I couldn't check his hot spot but the one above him is reading 91.1F. Ambient temperatures are 72-78F at night and the during the day it can get to 81F. (my snake room directly faces the sun which heats up the room. My windows in there are huge). This is winter temperatures though. In the summer it gets way hotter. A little cold right but I do not have the luxury of heating the whole room. (Tried that and blew the circuit in the snake rook and kitchen). Humidity is super easy for me. I again cannot get a read of his at the moment but usually it is 60-70%. I don't even have to raise the humidity when they are shedding unless I clean tubs in the middle of it. He is not shedding currently.

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Does he use the hide? If he has a hide, but never uses it, something is wrong with the setup and it's not doing him any good.

How are you measuring the temps? Are you sure you are accurately reading the temperature of the environment? I've seen people say their temps are good because they're using a thermometer of some kind but when they finally check the substrate with a laser thermometer they find out the hotspot is way too hot (not saying this is you, just an example).

I wouldn't worry about it being too cold. If it's too cold he generally won't be slithering all the place, smashing his head into things and trying to escape the enclosure as soon as you open it.

What's your feeding schedule / prey size look like? How big are the mice you feed him? Depending on how big your snake is, it's possible you're underfeeding him. Get a weight of the snake, and the food.

For now, I would quit trying to feed him every couple of days. Whatever is wrong with him, you're just adding to his stress by doing that at this point.

It sounds like you have multiple snakes and enclosures. If you really can't find anything wrong with the environment or feeding, switch him with another snake and see what happens. If this snake continues with problems, it's something you're doing with him specifically. If he calms down and the new snake starts having problems, it's a problem with the enclosure.

Sounds like your guy is hungry, even one jumbo mouse a week isn't really enough. I bet he's striking because he can smell the feeder. I would switch him over to two f/t mice and then a f/t small rat each week - you may have to scent the rat with a mouse for a while to get him to take the rat.

You also need to interact with him on more than just feeding days, or he will associate the tub opening with being fed.

Okay... I will try to give you all the info I can...

First with the food. He is fed weekly, not every two weeks... not sure where that came from. But anywho, he is usually fed an ASF once a week. When I first bought him he was fed F/T pup rats but was a horrible eater. He would skip meals, so he was growing slowly. In September he weighed 304g, I started offering him live ASFs as I breed ASFs. From that point he ate consistently once every week on live ASFs and sometimes mice. I only have three colonies of ASFs right now as two of my colonies stopped producing litters. I have two new colonies to replace them but they are still too young to produce babies. Two weeks ago was the first time he was offered a mouse in two months.

For husbandry, I use a temp gun for direct heat and for ambient temperatures, I am not sure of the brand but I believe it is exoterra???... but it is digital and has a probe. I have four of them and they besides being one or two degrees off from each other the seem to work well. Some thing with humidity. I am not sure of the brand but it is digital and cost me more then the four thermometers combined. I only have the one...

All my snakes have a hide in their tub except for my huge females. Yes, my black pewter uses the hide.

Yes, he is in one of my snake racks and each rack uses it's own herpstat, except for my two smaller ones which share a herpstat two. This is the one he is in, at the bottom. None of my other snakes are behaving this way at all... so it doesn't make sense for me to not know if there was something wrong husbandry wise.

I like the idea of switching him with another snake and see if maybe location could be wrong. Who knows... I fought with my step sister for the bottom bunk for years, maybe it's the same idea... hahaha. Okay I am joking but its worth a shot.

Have you tried switching him with another snake? I would put on a sweater and a heavy pair of gloves and fish him out, scrub the tub, and switch him with someone else. I would also offer him a second feeder. If I don't have the right size I would consider giving two of what I do have. In your case I would assume it's hunger related and def offer a second. With tongs.

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Originally Posted by ItsAllNew2Me!

At 592g he is definitely being underfed unless you are giving him two XL mice. This may be a hunger issue. He should be getting at least 59g prey item. A mouse every two weeks at the size he is, is way too little.

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This. If you go by the 10 - 15% guideline, even a 59g prey item would be on the low end, but it would be a start.

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Seems a little odd... Do you handle the snake very much, or only get him out for feeding and cleaning? I handle mine every day, but she spends 99% of her time in her hide. It just surprises me that a BP would be out of the hide that much, and on top of that, come out striking at you unless you really smelled like food, or it was just angry about something else...


As the others have said, I think I'd up the amout of food he gets each meal. Something else I'd try, which has worked for me (and makes sense to me)... Get some hand sanitizer. Anytime you are going to open his cage, user the hand sanitizer on your hands. On feeding days, only put the prey in there with long tongs. Though I haven't gotten a snake to confirm it with me 100%, my theory is that they will learn the scent of the hand sanitizer and associate it with safety, and not prey.

Besides husbandry and feeding I would suggest holding him. Both to get him more accustom to you and so you can become more comfortable with him. Use gloves if you are really don't want to be bit, but I'd almost recommend getting bit once.

He is almost certainly hungry. This sounds like pretty much every food related problem snake I've had. If possible, offer him two or more mice until your ASF's begin producing. Or if you can find them, maybe even try a small regular rat. If it is food related, it can be trying. Goodness knows in my years of rescuing, I've seen it more times than you want to know about. I hope the little guy gets easier for you to deal with.

Gale

My little girl was a beast as a baby too and would eat a weanling rat every 3 days like clockwork. The minute the cage was opened, she was out there standing up like a cobra rdy for food. My vote is you are underfeeding him. I fed my gal every 3 days until 500g. Then she got a small rat every week. now she is a 4' and easily over 1000g but my scales battery died and I haven't replaced it yet :( and she gets a small to medium rat every 2 weeks except she is on hunger strike atm and would rather explore at night than eat during the day. Anyways, try feeding him every 3-4 days on something about as thick as his thickest part and see if he mellows out in a week or 2.

He is hungry, feed him and don't baby about getting tagged. A bite from a snake that size would hardly bleed at all and after a few meals he would be back to being lazy. I personally would take this opportunity to feed your guy a rat weanling -->get him off the mice all together he is to big for that. ASF are okay for picky eaters but rats are the way to go with ball pythons. All my snakes and their babies have never been offered anything but rats.

I have a very aggressive feeder, he never strikes except on feeding day. At 550g he was eating ft rats between 55 &75g every 5-6 days, now he is 900 g and eats a small rat every 7 days. He just loves to eat. I handle him 2 or 3 days a week so he knows that, just because i open his viv there isn't always food. You can always get a pair of bite gloves to start handling him, i have a pair but never use them on him, cause he is really a sweetie, he just really loves his meals.