I have a 11 -12 yr old? Ball That I inherited from my daughter a few years ago. Now I love the guy! He has been very passive, never has struck at anyone. He eats Live rats. I say he, we just call it a he.

Aside from going on a 4-5 month hunger strike in the fall winter 2 years ago, he has been a regular eater. He is a 4 footer and eats a large rat every 2 weeks in a separate aquarium which is a fairly new routine since we got him a larger cage 4 months ago.


The large rat is fairly new as well, he was eating a medium one. He fed two days ago. Yesterday I went to get him out of his cage for playtime. I don't use a wuss stick. I wash my hands first, then approach his mid-section from behind and gently poke him, wait for him to puff up, then I lift him up. No prob. However yesterday, he whipped around and I saw he meant business. I pulled my hand out of the cage. He started machine gun striking like crazy.

An hour later, I went back. Just approaching the cage, he hit the glass hard! If I moved my hand around outside the glass, he followed in a strike pose.

Today he is in strike pose as well. I will see if I can post pics, being new here and all.


He shed 2 wks ago, so he is NOT up for shed. He should be FULL with a large rat. No other snakes in the house or pets in the room.


Temp not under the light is 80, humidity is about 60-65. I keep his water level half to full, depends if he's been dunking.


I'm totally perplexed! He's been so docile, now he's a Madman!


Any thoughts?

Thanks