Hello,

I am new to this forum and am curious if anyone has any thoughts on a rather dramatic change in behavior in my BP. I was given the snake almost 16 years ago by someone who was not caring well for it. I was told that the snake is female (although I have never had it reliably sexed) and that the previous owner had gotten her from someone else. The person who gave her to me had her for about five years and she was already adult size. So although I do not know her exact age, she is at least 20 years old and probably a few years older than that. Up until last year, the snake (named Bonnie) was a delight. She was very mellow and quite personable. Although I did not handle her much other than to remove her from her enclosure for feedings, she was very tame and never aggressive. I would bring her into my college biology classroom once a semester and my students would handle her with no problems. I never hesitated to get her out of her enclosure or hand her to someone.

Then suddenly last summer, she underwent a personality change. She began striking at hands that reached in to pick her up. For all the years I had her, I fed her three frozen-thawed mice every two weeks. I had tried rats when I first got her, but she seemed to have trouble manipulating and swallowing them, so I switched to mice almost immediately. She has always had trouble finding the head of her prey and often swallows the mice butt-first, which makes it hard for her to eat bigger rats. In any case, this feeding schedule seemed to work just fine, and while she was usually plenty hungry at feeding time, she was not so hungry that she was actively searching the enclosure for prey or striking at hands.

When her behavior changed and I found that I could not trust her not to bite me when I attempted to take her out of her enclosure, I tried putting her on an every 10-day feeding schedule instead of every 2 weeks to see if this would help. The bites truly seemed to be feeding-oriented and not aggressive, as she would sometimes strike at me when she was in her feeding tub waiting for a mouse. I hoped more frequent feedings would solve the issue, but it did not help. So then I decided to try small rats again. For the past two months she has been eating three small rats every 10 days and still acts as though she is starving when I take her out of her enclosure and offer the first rat. When I open her enclosure she immediately stretches her neck up, sniffing, and isclearly ready to strike if she detects or thinks she detects food. I have taken to wearing leather gloves and long sleeves to protect myself. When I pick her up and put her in the feeding tub, I have to hurry to get the first rat because she is already slithering out of the tub toward me (or my movement) looking for food. When I offer the rat she strikes violently, as if she hasn't eaten in months. Although she clearly struggles to swallow the rats, she usually will consume all three and will be ready to eat again in 10 days.

She has been in the same enclosure for the past several years, with the same temperature gradient as before. The enclosure is heated with a CHE which keeps the warm side between 80-85F and the cool side between 70-75F. She stays on the warm side most of the time. She always has access to fresh water and is in a room with ambient light from a large bay window. Most winters she goes off-feed from late November through mid-March, and did so as usual last year.

I am just perplexed as to why she seems to be so hungry these past few years at such an old age. I can't seem to keep her satisfied, and the change happened so suddenly that I am at a loss to understand it. Her weight has not gone down and she does not appear at all sickly. She is shedding as usual and peeing/pooping frequently (more so now with the increased food intake). Does anyone have any thoughts about this? Is it normal for a large appetite increase to occur in an older snake like this? I miss my mellow snake. This new Bonnie is certainly difficult. I'd just like to understand what's up. Thanks in advance for any information!