need some help here

[katieam]

so i have a corn snake and he/she is around 8 months. i have had him for almost 7 months and for the first couple months that i had him (not sure of the sex ) he was very sweet and was very good about handling and never bit me once. but he has been getting progressively worse about biting and being very aggressive. i dont know what went wrong. i have been thinking about trading him in for a different corn or ball python. but i am attatched. i have tried the "dont let them get away with anything" but it isnt working. he is still getting worse. any tips on what i should do, i have a reall dilema here.

sorry bout the rambling, thanks

[frankykeno]

Katie, it could be stress, it could be hunger, it could be any number of things but most are fixable. Let's start with what we always start with....housing and husbandry.

Could you describe (pictures help) what sort of enclosure you have for this snake, heating, hides, substrate, where the enclosure is in your house, etc. Next what is your feeding routine? What do you feed, how often and describe how you offer the food and the snake's reaction to food. How often do you handle this snake? Describe how you go about removing him from his home, how long you handle, if there are others around when you handle him, if the room is busy or quiet, that sort of thing.

Do you have any idea at this point how long he/she is and how much the snake weighs. Is it overall healthy, eats well, sheds properly, passes it's waste products when it should?

Most of the time when a snake is striking at you it's trying to tell you something and realistically there's only so much a snake can "say" LOL. Once you figure out what's triggering this sudden problem then it usually can be dealt with. It's not always an instant fix but with time and patience and some tweaks it's quite possible to change this situation. Just remember your snake is not being mean or aggressive, it's being a snake and something is wrong in it's life to cause it to suddenly start striking at you so much. We'll help you figure out what that is.

[katieam]

he is about 1 1/2 feet long, but i dont know on weight. he is long and skinny. well rounded body. looks healthy. he hasnt filled out a lot yet tho.

my camera is currently broken, so i can describe his setup. he is in a 10 gallon tank with screen lid. i use aspen shavings. hw has a climbing branch, a water bowl big enough to soak in (he rarely does tho), his hide is a half a log with sloth blocking one end (so he feels more secure).

he has always eaten like a trooper . never had any problems. i am thinking about switching from two pinkines every 7 days to eitherj 2 pinkies every 5 days or to fuzzies (but they seem HUGE!). i used to handle him 3-4x a week but when he started acting up i lowered it to maybe 2x a week. i thought maybe i was stressing him out. he has only had 1 bad shed and it was his first, i thought maybe stress since he has been fine ever since. but i havent had any health problems except that he got caught on some tape in his tank (it has been removed!!) and had some scaled pulled off. i took him to my cousin who is a vet and she said to put some snake wound healer on it once a day n watch him n i did n it is barely noticable now (gets better with every shed )

[katieam]

sorry about talking ur head off lol

[Argentra]

2 PINKIES every 7 days??? I think we found the answer... that snake is starving! Corns can, and should, take prey that is larger then they are by a 1x to 1.5x margin. Food should leave an appreciable lump in the snake. My smallest corn is still around hatchling size (slow grower) and she gets a small fuzzy every 5 days. I'm upping it to a slightly larger fuzzy since she was rather striky last week and only gets that way when she's hungry.

You could also change that half log hide, which really isn't good for any snake species, to a nice cave (even plastic bowls and planters work great). They don't need a water dish that big, either. And you didn't mention what your temperatures are or how you monitor them.

[katieam]

his temps are 86 on the warm side and 72 on the cold side. i use a heat lamp and two thermometers right above the substrate to measure them.

and today is his feeding day, so i will go pick up some fuzzies today and give him that. i feel terrible that it is my fault that he is acting this way. (and stupid ) so hopefully it will help him.

[Argentra]

Hmm, the warm temp could go down a few degrees. Better not to top 84 with these guys. But otherwise, sounds good. Oh, do you have the tank back and sides covered for security? Corns aren't as shy as BPs, but it still really helps.

I hope giving him that larger prey will help. And don't feel too bad...you didn't know. But you asked and that's great! That's why places like this exist, to help others. At least, that's why most of us are here.

[katieam]

i know i love this place. i just wish i had found it before i got my snake instead of after.

im heading to the petstore now to get fuzzies n two new hides. wish me luck!

thanks for all ur help.

[frankykeno]

I knew the answer was in the details. LOL It always is.

I'd agree that the snake is likely hungry. Pinky mice are a nice meal for a hatchling corn but they soon outgrow them. I don't have a corn but we do have a milksnake so they are pretty similar and she was off pinky mice pretty early on.

Remember that they can take prey that seems large due to their amazing jaw configuration. I'd say try a couple of fuzzy mice for the next few weeks, see how things go and then likely you can increase as needed up to a single hopper mouse, then 2 hoppers then a young adult mouse. You should see some decent growth now on a more appropriate diet and also will likely notice some faster than normal shed cycles as your snake's body reacts to the increased prey volume.

Just remember with any increase, take your time, don't make huge jumps in prey size or total prey volume. Make sure your snake is handling the prey, keeping it down, etc. and then just increase the prey as the snake shows healthy growth.

Don't feel bad or stupid. Everyone has to learn and you've learned now. You had a concern, you expressed it and got an answer. That's a large part of why BPNet is here.