So I found this deal on Craig's list for a snake that I want to breed, it's a purple albino super dwarf / dwarf reticulated python. The problem is that this snake is as mean as a whip! They had it in a large cage with sliding glass, I'm thinking it didn't feel secure in there. And the hide had two open ends, not real secure, and I'm pretty sure the hide temp was way too hot, I could tell right away when I picked it up. They were also using aspen bedding and couldn't get the humidity high enough because it was stuck in a bad shed. And they bought rats that were too big, so it wasn't eating, he probably should be on adult mice. And the owners were trying to tame him down by trying to pick him up and they were terrified of him because he would just sit in his hide and snap at them. All of this caused the snake to be severely stressed out, probably why he is so aggressive.
I brought him home the other day and put him in a 80 series tub with damp Reptichip with a hot spot of 88F. Within a couple hours I offered a fresh killed mouse and he ate it right away! Then last night I offered another one, he struck at it about a dozen times, obviously defensive and not a feeding response. Then I picked him up briefly and put him back down thinking short handling sessions may be helpful, maybe it was too soon... I'm thinking I should leave him alone now for about a week or so, then try to offer food again.
Any suggestions on how to tame him down? He is about 1.5 years old, not very big compared to my 50% Jampea dwarf retic, so I'm not afraid of him at all, just don't want to get bit if I can help it LOL. Maybe he is aggressive too because he is pretty young still, maybe he will grow out of it? I'm tempted to let him sit a week or two then just pick him up and carry him around the house for a few hours LOL. Right now he is my meanest snake by far, when we got him out of the cage he was going wild like a wild caught snake snapping and musking and peeing, it was so crazy! At one point he even bit himself LOL. It made me wonder if this snake was ever really handled much.
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