Hello! This is my first post here, but I'm no stranger to the online reptile community! I always loved and adored snakes, and recently came into owning my first one within the past month! I adopted her from my friend's coworker, and was shocked at the conditions she was kept in. She is 13 years old and roughly 4 feet long (I need to get a scale to get her weight still, but I've been working on getting other things for her direct needs) and they were planning to use her as a breeder but never did. He was only feeding her one small mouse a month, no thermostat or thermometer and a very cold tank, no tracking of humidity, only one log hide, rare handling and packed into a way too tight 20 gallon tank with no room to move AND no clutter. Needless to say I was shocked by the conditions she was in, and when she was given to me she was in blue--her first shed with me was in pieces, but I'm hoping her next one will be much better with my improvements.

I moved her up to small rats and she's been taking them very eagerly in her enclosure, so now I'm thinking to move up to medium or possibly just straight to large rats. I added some plastic plants to her tank and have officially bought her new 40 gal tank and supplies today--complete with new hides, lots of clutter, etc. I am waiting for all of it to come in the mail and expect to have her moved into the new tank within the next week. In her current setup, I have a thermostat set up with a CHE and UTH, giving her a hot spot of 88-91, and the cool side is about 78-85. The humidity is staying at 55-65%. I have three sides of tank blacked out as well to help her feel more secure. Her current substrate is what she was brought to me in (retichip I believe) but I'm going to have a mix of eco earth, cypress mulch and spagnhum moss in the new tank. I fed her two days ago (two small rats because she was eager and just one was too small now that she's got quite the appetite) and am planning to feed her a medium or large rat after the move into her new tank.

Her spine is already showing much less and she is very eager to eat--perhaps a little too eager! The second week I had her, I was handling her after a soak to try and get her shed off, and she suddenly twisted around and latched and wrapped me. About a week later my partner was handling her while I was cleaning her tank and she did the same thing to him. I'm not sure what made her think we were food since she was already out and being handled, and is otherwise docile. After her last feeding she is now constantly in the striking position in her tank and follows us around when we move near her tank and even struck at the glass when I checked her temp last night. I don't think this is defensive behavior but a feeding response instead--especially since she previously latched and wrapped us. She's a pretty big girl so it did hurt a good bit, and I've definitely felt a little more anxious when handling her since this is my first reptile! I also purchased a snake hook and each time we've handled her since we're using the head tap/rub method and she's been okay in terms of behavior after that--I've limited to handling her for only about 15 or so minutes, but my handling of her has been a little bit more limited since she's shown more "aggressive" behavior, since I'm not sure what route to take and I feel a little anxiety on my end. Since her two latch and wraps we've made sure to wash our hands good bc of our cats and use hand sanitizer, along with feeding her using tongs. I haven't handled her since she's been in constant strike position since her last feeding, since she's been digesting anyways.

Anyways, I guess I'm just looking for tips and advice! She was much calmer when we got her, and now she's become a lot more like I previously mentioned. Any tips to help her handleability and avoid latch and wraps or bites in general? Or how to navigate my own anxiety? I assume this is feeding response and has something to due with her previous neglect and malnourishment, and I'm hoping getting her on the right prey size on a regular schedule and getting her in a better enclosure will improve things, but any tips and tricks are most welcome! I really love my sweet girl and my heart is broken knowing that she has been kept so terribly for so many years. I want to make her time with me as comfortable as possible, both in her enclosure and being handled. I want her homeostasis to be as stable and her life as enriched and wonderful as it can be for a noodle. I've done as much research as I possibly could, but I thought reaching out with her specific circumstances would really help!