Randomly Aggressive?

Hey, just a quick question about my BP. I've had her for about 3 months now, and shes been great, didnt eat for the first month, but after, shes been great at eating, very docile and just no problems at all. But within the last week or so, it seems like shes been very aggressive, she struck at me for the first time when I went to clean her cage out (at night, while she was awake), she seems like she follows me around (you know that fast kind of motions right before they eat) almost like she'd eat me if I was smaller (lol). But there have been no changes in anything, not picking her up any more than I usually do, no excess noise, no feeding changes, but she just seems more aggressive. Is this normal, or is there a certain time of year it might happen, or might there be something deeper bothering her?

Thanks for the help.

Is she in shed? Does her belly look pink, or maybe cloudy blue eyes? Also, some information about your husbandry might help. What are her temps and humidity? Is she getting enough to eat? Are you waiting 48 hrs after feeding her before handling? Make sure you are washing your hands before and after each handling session.

It could be a few things. The first is that you could have the scent of something on you that she wants to eat; for example, a rat or cat. The second is that she may be stress out. This may be because of the enclosure that you have her in, she may not like her hide, or your temps / humidity may not be in the correct range. A third is that she may be in shed.

Do you wash your hands before holding her? What are you keeping her in? What type of hide(s) are you using? What are you using to heat? What are you using to control heat? How is your humidity?

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Originally Posted by stratus_020202

Is she in shed? Does her belly look pink, or maybe cloudy blue eyes? Also, some information about your husbandry might help. What are her temps and humidity? Is she getting enough to eat? Are you waiting 48 hrs after feeding her before handling? Make sure you are washing your hands before and after each handling session.

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I haven't noticed any signs of shedding yet, but I kind of backed off the past few days to make sure I didn't upset her at all. The temps stay a consistant 90-93 on the hot side, and 83-85 on the cooler side, with a humidity of around 45-55. I play it safe and wait about 2-3 days after feeding to handle, and I'm really safe about washing my hands (clean freak). For the cage, I've got reptibark, 2 hides, and some tree branch thing I got from petsmart for her to climb on. I keep feeding consistant as possible.

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Originally Posted by xKxLxHx

I haven't noticed any signs of shedding yet, but I kind of backed off the past few days to make sure I didn't upset her at all. The temps stay a consistant 90-93 on the hot side, and 83-85 on the cooler side, with a humidity of around 45-55. I play it safe and wait about 2-3 days after feeding to handle, and I'm really safe about washing my hands (clean freak). For the cage, I've got reptibark, 2 hides, and some tree branch thing I got from petsmart for her to climb on. I keep feeding consistant as possible.

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Is she in a glass aquarium?

Maybe she's hungry.
Is she getting the appropriate sized prey item for her size?

Yep, shes in a 20G long glass container. Shes still less than a year old, I believe she turns 1 in July. And the strike first happened about 3 days after she ate, so I ruled out being hungry, but even still she's never done that before.

Are the sides and back covered? Maybe she's just feeling insecure. Or, she could have fallen off one of the branches at night, and made her a little grumpy. Do you clean her cage frequently? Maybe its lingering smell of a mouser.

Well, what sized prey items are you feeding her? They can down a lot more food than you think.

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Originally Posted by stratus_020202

Are the sides and back covered? Maybe she's just feeling insecure.

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I agree, covering the sides and back may help to make her feel more secure.

How often are you feeding her, what sized prey item and how big is she?

It sounds to me like she is not full and still hunting around for more.

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

Well, what sized prey items are you feeding her? They can down a lot more food than you think.

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i dont say this much but i agree with her here, looking at them you wouldnt think that they can eat something but they will shock you.

did she only strike at you the once? if she it could of just been a fluke and your over thinking it, seems almost everyone gets bit at least once (knock on wood)

She's a snake, snake's strike. :)

Like everybody's said, assess her living conditions, her feeding routines, etc. It may be just that she's a snake and sometimes they just cannot be bothered with us. It happens. If all is good in her world and you cannot find a definitive reason for the strikes just go about your business with her. Don't let her striking at you change your routines, you're in control here so just stay calm, do your thing with her and see if she settles down. Sometimes it's more about watching for a pattern than it is about an incident here or there. :)

Sorry for taking so long to respond, just got home from work not too long ago. But I'm feeding her twice a week if she'll eat them both, and they're about the side of her width wise, maybe a little bigger. I don't have the aquarium covered on the sides, is there anything in particular I should use, or would it get upset looking at 4 pieces of paper? Like I said, I'm a clean freak so I clean it out about once a week. And I saw one post asking how many times, it was 3 times really fast. I never saw her move so fast, honestly.

Would it be overdoing it to get a picture of like a jungle to put around the sides, like in some fish tanks people put underwater decals and such?

Could she be upset you named her Steak? :rofl:

There's some nice aquarium backgrounds you can buy or even print out from online if you have access to a photo grade copier. The snake really won't care what the picture background is, she's just interested in feeling secure and not exposed.

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Originally Posted by xKxLxHx

And I saw one post asking how many times, it was 3 times really fast. I never saw her move so fast, honestly.

Would it be overdoing it to get a picture of like a jungle to put around the sides, like in some fish tanks people put underwater decals and such?

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If she struck three times, then it is a defensive strike. She is stressed out. No, a picture of a jungle would not be overdoing it. I think that it would look nice, and serve it's purpose at the same time.

Keep us updated.

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Originally Posted by xKxLxHx

Yep, shes in a 20G long glass container. Shes still less than a year old, I believe she turns 1 in July. And the strike first happened about 3 days after she ate, so I ruled out being hungry, but even still she's never done that before.

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What size prey are you offering her?

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Originally Posted by xKxLxHx

Sorry for taking so long to respond, just got home from work not too long ago. But I'm feeding her twice a week if she'll eat them both, and they're about the side of her width wise, maybe a little bigger. I don't have the aquarium covered on the sides, is there anything in particular I should use, or would it get upset looking at 4 pieces of paper? Like I said, I'm a clean freak so I clean it out about once a week. And I saw one post asking how many times, it was 3 times really fast. I never saw her move so fast, honestly.

Would it be overdoing it to get a picture of like a jungle to put around the sides, like in some fish tanks people put underwater decals and such?

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Twice a week is too often. My quess is that she was a bit stressed and did not eat, and now she's making up for lost time. If you are sticking food in front of her twice a week she probably thinks every time the top opens it's time to bite something.

Also, when you say you clean out her enclosure once a week do you mean a complete (empty everything out) cleaning, or just spot cleaning? If you are breaking down the entire set-up once a week to clean you will have a sad snake on your hands.