Snek Bad Mood Advice?

So i just got some new upgrades for her tank (thermometer and humidity thingy most importantly since it gave out after one day of use) and she JUMPS at me when i go to lift the lid. She's been like this since i weighed her yesterday. I also got her a box hidey thingy, because she HATES the log....but i cant even get in there without her snapping at me, and i dont want to traumatize her. Being at petsmart was prolly traumatizing enough. Any advice on how to work this? Temps kinda important....

Just wanted to add, shes bitten me 3 times since i weighed her (twice during the process, and once when she escaped again)

Is she biting defensively or could she be hungry? If it's defensive biting I say put on a pair of gloves and let her bite until she sees it's pointless and eventually stops. They usually calm down after a few minutes. Once she's calm then you can remove the gloves and freely handle her. If she's hungry, just feed her. My male bull snake was a little hissy and nippy as a hatchling. After a few meals we were BFFs.

I think your snake needs a good week of rest and no handling. I wouldn't even look him/her in the eyes for the duration.

I don't really know, the store said she was fed wednesday, but shes soooo underweight....am i supposed to feed her at night?

- - - Updated - - -

i gotta get that thermometer in there though

I would follow ziggy's and rock's advise , just not in that order. Make sure everything is right as per the caresheet, let it chill, let it eat on its next scheduled feeding. If it still has an attitude after all that, take ziggy's advice.

I did pick up a bunch of mice, should i try to feed her? if so tonight, or during the day? >~< im sorry, this is only my 3rd day with her

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by m3gz

I don't really know, the store said she was fed wednesday, but shes soooo underweight....am i supposed to feed her at night?

- - - Updated - - -

i gotta get that thermometer in there though

---

Young under weight balls can be fed the proper sized item every four days. Once they start looking good you can back it off to once a week.

I have a mystic that was cool for the 1st couple days. After day 3 he started to nip n strike at me. Justin Kylboka (wrong spelling on last name) has some good vids on YouTube. They helped me out a lot about aggressive/nippy kids

Sent from my LGLS775 using Tapatalk

in other words yes? ._.

Well its not so much her biting me im afraid of, its her getting hurt in the process, she doesnt seem to care what she hits while shes trying to bite me. i've had rats for years, and they all bit the crap outta me, so im used to it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by m3gz

I did pick up a bunch of mice, should i try to feed her? if so tonight, or during the day? >~< im sorry, this is only my 3rd day with her

---

Ok, this is not the "rule" but in this case I would try to feed the snake if you are sure your temps are right. It is not going to get any more stressed than it is. If it refuses you can take hungry out of the scenario. Just do not try real hard. If it doesn't show interest in the prey, leave the animal alone for a week. If it strikes and drops it, cover the cage and leave it alone for ten minutes. If the prey is not gone take it out and leave the animal alone.

Alright, thank you!!!!!

I think both of the above pieces of advice are correct, but for different time periods. Right now, Hecate has gone through a LOT of disruptive changes in a very short period of time, so she is probably stressed and defensive. You still have some necessary upgrades to make to her enclosure, so you will likely have to just brave it for that, but then try to give her AT LEAST a week to herself with no handling or fussing so she has some time to settle. At that point you can come back and start trying to handle her. Keep sessions short until she mellows out a bit so as not to raise her stress back up. If she's still snappy at that point, you will do best to brave to biting (seriously, it doesn't hurt, Bean has tagged me at least a dozen times by now and it's hardly even noticeable) and pick her up anyway. She'll learn eventually that biting does not make the big scary hand go away, but also the the hand is maybe not so scary.

As to whether or not she's striking out of hunger or fear, I'd say the latter is more likely given the timing (recent-ish-ly fed already and under stress) but you can learn the difference. A hungry snake zeros in on potential prey and deliberately moves forward toward it, often with LOT of tongue flicking. A fearful snake locks onto you and recoils back or otherwise tries to retreat. It may also puff up and hiss.

she doesnt really hiss she just jumps at me...i havent been trying to handle her other than to weigh her because we didnt know what to feed her. managed to get the temp and humidity thingies in there, but she did not like it. Come to think of it, this started after i wouldnt let her into my plants while trying to weigh her.

and i really am not afraid of getting bit, its no worse than a rat.

I notice you said you have lots of rats, silly question but could she be picking up on the scent of them and perhaps associating that smell with constant food?

My female normal is a bit psychotic and literally rushes at me every time I go in her viv xxx


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'd definitely be inclined to give her the week of rest before feeding, they do need to settle in.
I'd put in the thermometer as quickly as possible (maybe pop her in a separate secure tub while you do it so she doesn't have to put up with the bustle and intrusion of the actual installation?) and leave well alone from then if it were me.

My newbie didn't seem interested in eating until I fed him late, so maybe that will work for you when the time comes. I just got him to eat his first rat pup (after an initial refusal) when I woke up in the middle of the night at 2.30am and just thought I'd give it another try. Hopefully he won't make me do that every time though. :rolleyes: I like sleep.

Another box hide at the other end of the tank might also help, so she can choose her temperature without being in the open or going near the dreaded log haha. :P They really appreciate security as hatchlings- I just switched out my hides for smaller ones because the snake I got was smaller than I expected (first BP and I ordered online, I didn't quite get the correlation between weight and length right) and I've seen an immediate difference in his behaviour- much calmer snake!

I'd say MUCH less worse than a rat! Rat bites hurt, ball python bites are laughable. Of the many, many animals that I have been bit pecked and scratched by, I will take a beep any day.

Jumping, startling or flinching when touched is definitely a "I don't like this, stop touching me" signal.

Knowing the weight helps but if you can't get it you can go by the old rule of thumb of something no larger than the largest part of her. That will keep you at a safe portion size.

I've HAD lots of rats, unfortunately i kept finding bad breeders. a few got kidney failure as a genetic defect, and then there were tumors, and it was just bad, i will never own rats again because of the issue of horrible people massbreeding for profit. and two were poisoned by some old hag my mother rented to, ironically the two that we searched hi and lo for a good breeder were the ones she poisoned. Hecate sniffed the rodent, and i can hear her moving around...maybe she really was hungry. I think you guys are right, and she just wants alone time, i got the thermometers set, and she DID want her new hideout, so thats at least set, the temps are right, and i covered her tank... she was an absolute sweetheart when i set up her tank before i tried to weigh her o-0;; I think thats what bothers me, its like what did i do wrong ;~;

lol rat bites stop hurting as bad once you get bitten hundreds of times by a blind one. shed always apologize with a little lick afterward tho. ok as im typing this i swear to god i hear Hecate squeaking is she ok????

really worried, it sounds almost like chirping

Squeaking? Chirping??

Yes, squeaking and chirping and i just confirmed its coming from her, what the hell is going on is she ok?!??!!?

This is not to be confused with wheezing, correct?

.....i dont even know what wheezing would sound like in a snake

Well, like a person I suppose. Chirping seems to be something totally different that I have not encountered. Hopefully someone else will chime in. I really believe your snake needs some time to de-stress. They are really quite happy being left alone.

Couldit be the soap smell from the towel???

- - - Updated - - -

Im leaving her alone id just reallllllly like to know shes ok T~T

No. If she were to have a respiratory infection it is due to improper humidity and temps. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

I've made sure to keep her at 70% humid and 85F though O_O well, i have tried to get the humidity a bit lower but its fighting me on it D=


Could she possibly be smelling my dog?

Google is useless T~T its just saying keep the temps stable and they have been since i got her

She could be smelling everything. It's a brave new world for her. Let her settle in. She will be right as rain in no time. As in a week. Don't bother her until Wednesday feeding!

I won't @~@ that chirping though is scaring me. its not continuous, she just starts for a min and then stops

Is the chirping possibly a small bubble pop? If it does have a RI it most likely was brewing from the cold transfer to the Petco and I'd take it back so they pay for the vet treatment.

nooo....it sounded like when cats do that thing i dont even know what to call it, when they watch birds through a window

So it sounded like Hecate was chattering? Has this continued?

Im just stopping bye to listen in.. Very interesting lol.. Id like to hear this chirping.. I think we are having a problem understanding & discribing sounds. When my burm gets ready (a week before) to shed it whistles.. It is a very loud & drawn out sound. Especially when it releases air & hiss's...its loud enough to get the dogs going in another room. Normally he doesnt whistle, thats only prior to shedding week. Thats all I can think of because snakes dont Chirp.

No,it's not constant.I think she dislikes my dog because its whenever lily walks by her tank.

If you can't close the door to the room the snake is in I think you should temporarily cover every side of the enclosure, including the front glass, with at least cardboard paper.

That's the odd thing, it IS covered, I wanted to give her some space on you guys' advice because of her mood. Idk if she hears her or just smells her but she doesn't like it. Seriously didn't know snakes made such a weird noise.

Im glad it's covered. Best thing you could do for any advice from this forum would be to post a video clip with the noise.

I did actually try to record it but its so quiet that my crappy mic cant catch it

Might be she's hissing (it's just sounds like a whuff of air really, not like a cat hiss or anything) and there is loose shed or substrate around the nose that makes it sound broken up and chirpy or "chattery". The other option is mucus in the airway if they have an RI. They don't have vocal cords or any other kind of body structure that could make a sound like how you are describing normally.

I guess it could be a hiss, i am half deaf so it might just sound different to me

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by m3gz

I guess it could be a hiss, i am half deaf so it might just sound different to me

---

Well why didn't you say that to begin with hahahahahaha lmbo


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Because i tend to forget im half deaf o-o;;