Aggressive Snake, Bad Shed

Thriller, our male pastel is experiencing a bad shed. We opened up his tank today to move him into a temporary tub while we moved the rack and other tanks over to the new apartment. We were horrified to see that he had pieces of shed everywhere. Our two normals have always shed perfectly. Humidity is fine as far as we know. Its always around 50-60% and sometimes shoots up to 70-80% if we put the water bowl too close to the heat.

We want to help him with his shed, but he has a tendancy to bite. If you disturb him from his hide in anyway, he assumes the attack position and gets ready to strike you. His head literally follows your every movement. We have to use a snake hook to move him.

Any ideas? I know there are a lot of bad shed threads but I figured this one was a little different since the snake is so aggressive.

some snakes are super aggresive by nature, some may be hungry. is he feeding regularly?

When I first got my clown a couple weeks ago she was in shed and i didnt know... Everytime I went to get her out she would strike multiple times... Once my hand touched her she would search for whatever was touching her... Pretty intimidating to me... Anyways once she finished shed she became a sweet girl... My guess is hes pissy bc of the shed... give him a couple days... let him come out... then assist is my advice.... or wear gloves and take it like a champ:)

I would get him out of the tank using the hook and try to get him into a pillow. If you can't go from the tub to the pillow bag first shot because he's too aggressive, try getting him to slither into the pillow on the floor. Once you have him in there, throw in a wash cloth and submerge the pillow in safe amount of luke warm water. I'd say 15-20 minutes, when you go back to check on him he should hopefully be done shedding and in a better mood.

Good Luck :)

Edit: Just make sure the pillow is a lower thread count and can still allow air to pass when wet.

I've always just used a damp pillowcase. Since you need to bag him anyhow, get the case damp with pretty warm water since it will cool quickly. Put the snake in the pillowcase and tie the end closed. Then put it in a tub that you can close the lid on.

Move your racks, get his tub ready and when you open the pillowcase to put him back in he should have taken care of the retained shed. The friction of the cloth against his scales and the dampness of the pillowcase work wonders.

He feeds like you wouldn't believe. I barely have enough time to put the mouse in the tub. The prey items literally take like two steps and CHOMP! I will try the pillowcase thing tonight.

Oh that is another thing. Since we are moving should we wait to assist him tomorrow after the hub bub has died down or will the move not stress him out too much?

Just as an update. Checked on Thriller last night and he's all shed and looking beautiful. Might snap a few pictures before feeding time today. :D

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

Just as an update. Checked on Thriller last night and he's all shed and looking beautiful. Might snap a few pictures before feeding time today. :D

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Very nice :)

How did you end up dealing with the problem shed and the angry snakie?

We got a warm damp towel and attempted to ease some of the shed off but he kept trying to bite us so we ended up putting him back in his tub, put the water dish on the warm side to increase humidity and added in a rough hide for him to rub on. It took him a few days but he got it all off on his own. And as a note, Sadis, our only normal female just shed all in one piece for us. :) And left a giant suprise in the back of her tub.

:weirdface Come to think of it. ALL of the snakes left huge suprises in their tubs. Looks like we gots cleanin' to do. :snake: Now that I've unpacked my camera, its massive picture time.

That's strange that he tries to bite you constantly. He seems like a very stressed out BP. I think for problems like that you may have to learn how to hold his head or handle him more often. :/

The moment you open his enclosure (temps and humidity are always fine) he follows your every movement. We are thinking of investing in a snake hook. Our other snakes are fine with handling but Thriller is just very aggressive.

Would feeding in a seperate container help with his aggression? We do feed in tank/tub for all of our snakes.

He may be aggressive, in that he is expecting to be fed when you come in the cage. You said he eats well so that may be it?

Or, he's being defensive, in which case using a snake hook or not handling him at all isn't going to get him to trust you.

Sometimes it means taking a few bites to "teach" the snake that behavior doesn't get them left alone. You have to build trust with them, and really, it's not like you're dealing with a 12 foot retic here, he won't hurt you even if he does nail you 10 times.

The number of times I've been bitten I can count on one hand. I'm still getting over the shock phase of getting bitten by snakes. Would a pair of thick gloves help?

He eats like a pig. With all of our ball pythons, the mice barely take a few steps before they are struck. We weighed our biggest and she's over 150g now. Thriller comes in a close second at around 130g. I'll get more accurate weights tonight before they are fed since all of them have pooped.

Gloves would help if you don't want him getting your hands. You wouldn't need thick gloves, just something made from a material that he won't get his teeth caught on if he does strike.

I'll look for some gloves. None of our other snakes are as aggressive as he is. He will actually follow your every movement when you open his enclosure. I think we'll try feeding him in a different container for a while and see if that helps his attitude. If not then we know its more of a handling issue.

It reminds me of our WC female, whenever we move around her tub, she comes right out expecting us to drop a rat in. She follows our heat signature and just acts really interested in eating. She does not strike or bite us though...

That's mostly our fault from trying to just get her to eat, now she eats like a champ. But we have no problem handling her when we pull her whole tub out to work with. She balls up and knows she's not getting any food. We are slowly trying to work with her to get her used to the idea that whenever we open the tub is not a guarantee for food to be dropping in.

This may sound kinda silly, but why not try to tap twice on the enclosure to signal that it's feeding time. Maybe over time Thriller will recognize those certain vibrations as food day.

Just trying to think outta the box. :c)

Thats a very good idea. Snakes should be able to learn simple patterns, and i have heard of some people that will stroke their snake on the back before they pick them up. :gj:

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

I'll look for some gloves. None of our other snakes are as aggressive as he is. He will actually follow your every movement when you open his enclosure. I think we'll try feeding him in a different container for a while and see if that helps his attitude. If not then we know its more of a handling issue.

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I'm telling you, it has nothing to do with feeding him in his cage. That's a myth...think about it...if feeding him in his cage makes him expect to be fed every time you open his tank, wouldn't it also make sense to say that if you fed him in a seperate tank, he'd also expect to get fed every time he was removed from his own enclosure for handling as well?

They grow out of this stage. Be patient, don't let him get the best of you when he strikes. Show him who is boss and he'll calm down as he grows.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

I'll look for some gloves. None of our other snakes are as aggressive as he is. He will actually follow your every movement when you open his enclosure. I think we'll try feeding him in a different container for a while and see if that helps his attitude. If not then we know its more of a handling issue.

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sounds like you havent been bit...you should just get bit and do what you do and you will be fine.

My female has ALWAYS had problems shedding- shes never had a good one in all her years.. But all of my other reptiles have shed great- even another snake that was housed with her shed great... So what I always do is soak her in a tub with warm water, a wash-cloth, and a lid on top with some air holes. I do this for about 20min, then I use a wash-cloth to loosen the skin and/or get it off, then if I have to (on places that it wont hurt her), Ill just help her by peeling some off.
If hes agressive I wouldent worry about it too much- their bites arnt bad- but its still not fun. lol. Try soaking him for 20-30 min, put in back in the enclosure, and boost the humidity a bit. Also make sure he has stuff in there that he can rub againced if you need to.
Hope it helps!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

The moment you open his enclosure (temps and humidity are always fine) he follows your every movement. We are thinking of investing in a snake hook. Our other snakes are fine with handling but Thriller is just very aggressive.

Would feeding in a seperate container help with his aggression? We do feed in tank/tub for all of our snakes.

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Personaly I do, because the one time I fed in her tank she bit me the next time I went to change her water (and it was only a day later!!), and she was like that for a bit, but now she knows that it was a once time deal.. But every snake is differnt :oops: