I've had my 900 gram enchi lesser pastel girl since the end of March, and wow has this been interesting so far. I'm learning a lot with her, but there's one thing I'm a little stumped on. When it comes to me, she becomes very defensive. I should mention that she has never had any real handling, she's always been raised to be a breeder only, so she's not very used to humans. She pulls her head back and hisses (loudly, like an angry cat) when I pick her up (or sometimes when I just open the tub). I haven't handled her much because it's clear how much I stress her out. When I do take her out, she remains tense for a while and then tries to get away. However, her behavior with handling isn't a problem for me. Feeding, however...

She was eating live with her previous owner. I offered her live, but I think the live rodents scared her more than anything. She hissed at the rodent and partially balled up. The rats got too big so I tried frozen thawed with her tonight. She hissed louder than I've ever heard her before and began striking at the dead rat defensively over and over (I think she bit the tongs several times o.o). What in the world do I do here? My others have refused food before, but not like this. I'm not worried about her missing some meals, but I'd like to at least know where to start with getting her eating.