is my snake sick :(

ok well we have had our snake for about 2-3 months now.. and he has always been sweet and clam.. but last sunday he changed... he became aggressive... we tried to take him out to feed him sunday..when we first tried to take him out he went to bite my hubbys hand..hes never done that before..and then hes been actin very odd... everytime we try to get him he comes out of his rock as if hes gonna bite our hands..even if we walk by his cage he comes out very fast.... and then this afternoon i went to change his water bowl and noitced that there were very little brown worms in his water bowl..they were only in his water dish.. and so i took it out and his tree and they are sittin in bleach..changed his newspaper.... but hes still actin odd...hes feed and doesnt seem to have any problems eatin.. any suggestion ??? :(

little brown worms doesnt sound good, I would get him to the vet immediately!!!

Take him to the vet to look into the worms, check your temperatures in case the cage is too hot, and if it's not, consider changing your feeding routine. You might consider feeding in a seperate bin, for example. The snake might be expecting food when the cage is opened, and thus striking at movement because it thinks food is coming.

we do.. we always feed him in a different box..we never feed him in the cage.. the temp and everything is fine :(

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

Take him to the vet to look into the worms, check your temperatures in case the cage is too hot, and if it's not, consider changing your feeding routine. You might consider feeding in a seperate bin, for example. The snake might be expecting food when the cage is opened, and thus striking at movement because it thinks food is coming.

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Actually, she is feeding out of the enclosure - it's more likely that the snake is associating coming OUT of it's enclosure with feeding time. That's why I like to feed in the enclosure, and I don't have to stress the animal out by moving it after it's eaten.

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we tried to take him out to feed him sunday

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Actually, she is feeding out of the enclosure - it's more likely that the snake is associating coming OUT of it's enclosure with feeding time. That's why I like to feed in the enclosure, and I don't have to stress the animal out by moving it after it's eaten.

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lol i agree. this is one of those million discussions "to feed in or out" i personally feed mine in their tanks. yes, honestly they are kinda ... lets say curious when i open their lids but all i do is put my hand in the opposite side for about a minute till they taste no food in the air and just me and then they usually calm down. the burm hiss's alot and really loud but for her i just grab her pink bath towel and set it over her head, then i grab her gently and start to pick her up and eventually the towel falls off her head and then she's like "OHHH look at all the scenery and places to go" and then she's just curious and chilln after that. i tried that whole feed out of tub thing and i ran into the same problem. aggressive when tank is open and out. everyone has their style just my :2cent:

maybe he's just really gotten settled in and is showing some spirit now that he's feeling well and comfortable. and as far as the worm things are concerned, are you sure that they aren't maggot's? this time of year it doesen't take too much for those nats to lay eggs on about anything. too bad you don't have a pic of them.

HABU

If they smell dinner, are hungry and you put your hand in there they may strike. If he has worms he is probably not getting enough nutrition. You need to do a fecal and check up.

Sounds like a vet visit.

Can you please explain what you mean by his cage is "fine"?

What are the temps hot and cold side? Humidity? And where in the house is his little home at?

is he breeding size? it could be he's hormonal

I would recomend you to make an appointment with an herp vet here is how to find one http://www.arav.org/USMembers.htm

While a possible health problem could explain the change in behavior there could also be other factors.

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Originally Posted by babygerl3094

the temp and everything is fine :(

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Could you also elaborate.

How big is your snake (length, weight)?
What type of enclosure do you use?
How big is your enclosure?
Is your enclosure in a low traffic area?
What are your temps (cool & warm side)?
What is your humidity?
What type of thermometer/hygrometer do you use (dial,stick,or digital)?
What kind of hides do you provide (log, homemade, cubbyholes etc) and how many do you have?
Are your hides tight (all side touching your BP's body) and identical?

Do you not take your snake out to play with it? If it is associating being taken out of the cage with feeding time, then there is obviously no other interaction with the snake. How sad! :(

hes about 20 inc. long now he lives in a 20 gal tank.. he has a heatin pad under his tank so it stays between 85-90...cold side 75-80..humidity is like 50..and we have the stick on thermometer... he has a tree on his cool side and he has an rock he hinds in...he only has one

i wish that i did take a pic of them... but they were very very small... and brown... so im not to sure what maggots look like besides the white ones

and we have always taken him out durin the evenin..everyday... so please dont judge..and make sure u read the whole thing before u make a comment like that..

Definitely worth a vet visit. Were you able to save any of the worms for the vet to check out?

There was another thread somewhere about a snake that had gotten a burn and went from calm and docile to aggressive and bitey. It could be that the worms are putting him out of sorts and he doesn't want to be handled until he feels better. Or there could be something else - a burn, an upcoming shed, hunger, etc. that is making him feel off.

What do you feed him and how often?

Good luck!!

we feed him twice a week... we feed him pups on sundays and hoppers on weds... we just started to feed him the pups on sunday... but before we normally gave him 2 hopers on sunday and one on weds... so i dont think he could be hungry....

Last night, after I got into bed, I started thinking about this and how it sounds so much like the other thread I mentioned. Then I remembered that you said you have newspaper as substrate. Also, I am not sure where you live, but it's been warmer here recently, meaning heat won't get pulled as fast from the tank. I also saw a thread about UTH's being vulnerable to spikes in electricity - one even got so hot it cracked the glass on the bottom of one person's tank.

I am very concerned that he actually could have a burn. Newspaper is very thin and UTH's get hotter than we think. When we got Mr. Snake, we found that his substrate (fir bark) got very warm and the glass underneath got hot from the UTH. The package also said to turn the UTH off if the household temperature gets to be 85 degrees. My husband is handy with electrical work and spliced in a dimmer so we could turn the UTH down. We were worried about burns, especially if the fir bark got moved.

Do you think that is possible to get a dimmer for the UTH? Do you think he might have a burn? That might explain his sudden change in behavior. It's no fun to be in pain.

Either way, it's still worth a very good reptile vet visit. Good luck!

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Originally Posted by brelea79

Do you not take your snake out to play with it? If it is associating being taken out of the cage with feeding time, then there is obviously no other interaction with the snake. How sad! :(

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I'm not sure what's sad with minimal interaction? Handling is for our pleasure, not theirs.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

I'm not sure what's sad with minimal interaction? Handling is for our pleasure, not theirs.

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Agreed. Were you able to save the worms to take to the vet?

no i didnt save them.. i never thought about savin them

You're feeding him way too much, way too often. He only needs one prey item about as big around as his widest point every 5 to 7 days. And he should not be handled for 24 to 48 hours after eating.

Is his skin looking dull? Are his eyes cloudy? He could be going into a shed cycle. They often become aggressive and want to avoid being handled when they're ready to shed, because they can't see well. (Plus, handling them at this time could damage the underlying skin, so should be avoided).

i didnt think that i was... i know that ive read that u can feed them twice a week... so thats what we were doin... when we changed his feedings it seemed as if thats when he got aggressive

While I still believe there is a need of a vet there are also issues that need to be addressed and could cause his behavior even though your BP has been house in the same environment since the beginning.

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we have the stick on thermometer

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Stick thermometer are not accurate and your temps could even be lower than what you thing they are.
I would recommend you to go to Walmart and pick-up this thermometer/hygrometer http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...Acu-Rite_T.jpg(12$) to help you get an accurate reading.

Your temps should be 80-84 on the cool side and 90-94 on the warm side.

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he has a tree on his cool side and he has an rock he hinds in...he only has one

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You need to make sure to provide 2 tight (with all sides touching his body) and identical (so he does not chose security over thermoregulation) hides.

ok i deff will pick one of those up.. and get another rock... thank u :)