My JCP has reverted back to evil queen!!

[Sauzo]

Ok so my yearling JCP was a terror when I got her. After a month of working with her, I got her more or less tamed down where I could pick her up from underneath and she would crawl on me and perch on my shoulders and relax. But the past few days, she had reverted back to her terror ways. I went in to pick her up and she head butted my hand. I kept going and she jumped off her perch and went to ground. I kept going as I didn't want reinforce bad behavior meant I wou...ld leave her alone. She then had enough and bit me like the old days. I kept going, got her out of the cage and she wanted nothing to do with me. She stretched out for her cage and like a coiled spring, sprung into her cage and sat on the floor looking up at me. I figured ok fine, after all this i'll leave you alone. This was yesterday. Today I went to change her water and she struck at the cage twice, she was really pissed off. After I changed the water and left her alone, she relaxed and stretched out on her perch like nothing happened. Anyone have any idea what is going on? Is this common with them? Only new thing added from when she was "tame" to now was I got the SD/D male retic. She is a female btw if you didn't catch that. And I've washed my hands inbetween dealing anyone as to not have the smell of another snake on me when handling another snake.

[AriSilvermoon]

Mine is a complete sweetheart, unless he's going into shed and then he becomes a hissing, huffing, biting, 'leave me alone' jerk. Could she be going into shed? The first time mine did this was before he went blue but he went blue a couple days later and I left him alone until after he shed and he was back to his sweetheart self.

[Gio]

Sorry bud,

Just one of those days or weeks. It's not your retic, there is no way he is giving off any pheromonal signals at that age, plus even at age that would be a hybrid situation and I doubt they'd recognize the opportunity without effort on your part.

I've never had any issues with my coastal mix since she settled. She's close to 7 feet now and still lean. I've had food around, tried to feed her and she'll refuse and then crawl up the tongs to my arm and want, to explore.

There are some seasonal changes going on now so there could be some subtle recognition on the part of your snake. My boa is nuts right now, roaming the cage, pushing, refusing food. Males with "ideas" start to behave differently. I've got 2 and 2 here and the females are consistent. The other male is obviously so young at 4.5 months old nothing will change with him for a few years.

In my experience with carpets, my ONLY ONE LOL! The shed process comes on slightly more subtle than with other snakes. It is harder to see because they are so vividly colored and my girl has grey eyes so the blue is not easy to spot until she's really there. Sorry I can't help you out.

Have her come out on a perch if you can and see if she'll settle.

Good luck.

[Sauzo]

Hmm maybe she is shedding. She does seem duller in color and yeah he eyes are grey too so I can never tell lol. Last time she shed, I had no idea she even went into blue except like I said, she does get pretty dull looking as far as the yellows go.

[Gio]

Hmm maybe she is shedding. She does seem duller in color and yeah he eyes are grey too so I can never tell lol. Last time she shed, I had no idea she even went into blue except like I said, she does get pretty dull looking as far as the yellows go.

I think you are onto something. We boa folks and royal python folks get a lot of signs pre-shed, but it is much harder for me to tell with the carpet because of eye color and the overall pattern. A lot of the time I think my girl is dull just because she is a coastal mutt and expect her to eventually brown/grey out. Just when I think that is happening she sheds and looks like a million bucks.

I'll bet your's is just a might bit salty because she's shed bound. If you haven't changed anything and she's not showing signs of illness then I think she'll snap back after the shed cycle.

Now get yourself a cheap camera!! You have all these great snakes and I've not seen a single one.

[DennisM]

I've found this to be somewhat common behavior with JCP. Though they rarely take a shot, I always approach mine as if today is the day they will. She's just having a little fun and reminding you who's boss.

[Sauzo]

Well I found a big poopie this morning down on the floor. After cleaning it, I went to see if maybe she was up to hang out. Nope she was pissy, didn't bite but definitely didn't want to come out for fun. She smelled my arm and hand and turned around and went to the corner of her perch and sat there. Guess i'll leave her alone a few days. Good thing I got 6 other critters to pest during that time mwahahaha.

[Sauzo]

I've found this to be somewhat common behavior with JCP. Though they rarely take a shot, I always approach mine as if today is the day they will. She's just having a little fun and reminding you who's boss.

Oh my girl will take a shot....or 3. She is the only snake I've had that will stand her ground and fight rather than flight lol. When I first got her, she bit all the time and didn't run lol. Now after I got her tamed down, this time she seems to rather run than fight. So maybe I had a breakthrough. This is weird though as she has never acted this way except when I first got her and then it's understandable as she didn't know me. But now is weird because she was pretty mellow and would crawl around on me and perch on my shoulders. I think the other guys' are right and she must be getting ready to shed as she is really antisocial even when I did get her on me last night. She has never been that antisocial, even when new. She would sit on your hands or arm as long as you didn't touch her when she was new, now she wants nothing to do with me at all lol.

[Reinz]

I agree with Gio about shedding coming on slowly and mild, and progressively getting darker.

If I'm not looking closely or handling my Carpets, sheds are a surprise to me. Especially my Jungle girl. She just shed on Saturday and I had her out for play day the previous day. I was holding her a lot and had no idea that she was in the blue. I was actually a little shocked to find the shed the next morning.

Fortunately she is a sweetheart even in the blue.



Esmarelda, 2 yr old JCP

[Gio]

I agree with Gio about shedding coming on slowly and mild, and progressively getting darker.

If I'm not looking closely or handling my Carpets, sheds are a surprise to me. Especially my Jungle girl. She just shed on Saturday and I had her out for play day the previous day. I was holding her a lot and had no idea that she was in the blue. I was actually a little shocked to find the shed the next morning.

Fortunately she is a sweetheart even in the blue.



Esmarelda, 2 yr old JCP

Funny you said that because now I'm closely looking at my coastal. She was out last night, but looks darker today. She just shed not long ago, but she seems to be in a spurt so who knows. I'll keep an eye out.

By far the hardest of the 4 snakes here to tell when in pre-shed.