dude mine has never hissed at me. to tell ya the truth mine is sort of a wuss. everytime someone comes in the room real slow at night he runs. he only comes back out when i come in the room. i never heard him hiss period and mine has been pounding down small f/t mice so f i wanted to get him started on rats so i bought some rat fuzzies and it took him 3 min's before he graped it by the neck and got to eating it. i it wasn't hard at all to switch him. man i also have that problem he uses his bowl as a hide so when i change the water i always have to move him to his tree and then he gets down explores for 5 minutes then goes back under. and good luck with ur feeding. oh yeah reeses will be 3 month s this sunday!