2 year old male burm, acting aggressive, what to do?

[Hypancistrus]

My fiance and I rescued a skinny, undernourished burm from a person who was essentially hoarding snakes this past August. He was under 4' long and had been fed on chicks... sometimes 3 or 4 at a time, every couple weeks. He was very thin and covered in mites. He was also behaving very aggressively with the person, but we chalked that up to inappropriately small prey items and starvation.

We brought him home with us and got him into a nice 4' x 2' cage and started feeding him appropriately sized prey. He has bulked up since and is now a bit over 4' long and of a healthy looking weight.

The problem is that since we moved him into the 4' x 2' from the 20 long quarantine tank, he has become VERY aggressive. He hisses if you so much as touch him with the hook. He thrashes and snaps and bit my fiance when we had him out a few weeks back, drawing significant blood. I realize that bites happen, but this snake has become intolerably aggressive. We'd eventually like to have children, and I for one am not going to be comfortable with a large aggressive snake in the house.

I'm not sure what to do at this point so I thought I'd seek the advice of more experienced keepers.

I've been trying to handle him regularly, but at this point it's hard even to get him out. He hisses continually when he is out, and acts this way even right after feeding. He's up to medium rats at this point-- 1 every 10 to 14 days. I've been heating them up and just laying them on the substrate, as I read in a book, to discourage aggression.

We have other large snakes that are not an issue for us-- including an 8' male BCI and a 5.5-6' Hogg Island.

If anyone has any thoughts, I'd welcome them. He is a normal burm, so rehoming him will be tough, and I honestly am not sure how I feel about putting what could end up being a bad problem off on someone else. At this point I almost wonder if we shouldn't consider putting him down... this world is pretty much at capacity for normal male burms-- an aggressive normal male burm just doesn't seem to fit.

Any thoughts will be much appreciated... I'm really just thinking out loud/ venting here.

[Slyther83]

This is just my guess here...

Cover the entire floor of the cage with balled up newspaper. He is probably stressing out because his world just got a whole hell of a lot bigger. The newspaper balls will give him cover everywhere and acclimate him to being in a larger environment. As he gets bigger you can take more and more of them out.

This works like a charm.

It should look like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVwaiSkyC18

[wilomn]

Food. Lots of food. Rats and more rats. This will help but may not cure the attitude. It's rare for them to stay aggressive but it does happen.

If he's still aggressive after you've had him on a steady heavy diet of rats for a month or two it's time for a rescue or the freezer.

[Slyther83]

Based on the fact that he came from a 20L and just got put in a 4'x2' I would bet money that he is just freaking out. They probably only have a couple hides and a few pieces of decor in there with him which is definitely not enough cover for a snake coming from such a small cage.



DO NOT kill him, he just needs your help.

[Hypancistrus]

DO NOT kill him, he just needs your help.

Dude, take it easy. I'm not skipping merrily off to the vet right now... just trying to ascertain if there's hope here, and what, if anything, I'm not doing right for this snake.

I am not the kind of person that believes that big, habitually aggressive snakes have a right to life merely on existence value, but I'll try everything I possibly can before we take that route.

But thank you for your advice so far, and Wes as well. I am getting a lot of good ideas from the various threads I've posted of things to try. The good news is that he is still very small, so he's not truly dangerous yet, and that means I have time to try all of these things.

[Slyther83]

I am taking it easy... ? I just said it because the poster above me made no sense entirely and was talking about the freezer.

[wilomn]

I am taking it easy... ? I just said it because the poster above me made no sense entirely and was talking about the freezer.

Yeah, that's it.

No sense at all.

The world NEEDS more aggressive giant snakes that no one wants. Yup. Sure thing there bucko, sure thing.

OR, maybe, just maybe, the poster above you can see past your tiny view and knows that some things are realities no matter how much that poster, or you for that matter, may wish otherwise.

The plain and simple, and I'm making it as plain and simple as I can for what should be, but may not be to all, is that when no one wants a snake too mean to keep, something must be done. Can't turn it loose. Rescues are LOADED with them. Breeders neither want nor need them and who the bloody hell needs a 15 ft. snake that wants to kill you?

So, as long as there are snakes like this one harsh decisions will have to be made or consequences of an unpleasant nature will have to be paid.

[Slyther83]

Suggesting death in a case where someone just moved a small snake from a 20L into an exponentially larger enclosure is really jumping the gun. Any experienced snake keeper would consider that factor in this situation before anything else.

[TheWinWizard]

Everyone is entitled to their opinions and that is what was expressed. Take what you can use and leave the rest.

[wilomn]

Just for poops and grins, how many 'experienced keepers' have you personally talked about this with? How much experience do they have? For that matter, how much experience do you have?

Never mind, what I said was valid solid advice. Your inexperience notwithstanding.