Left home, snake is acting weird

[Bogertophis]

...She was totally vicious when I first got her, and I spent years and years working with her, getting her to the point that I trust her around my kid. She's come a long way from the neurotic little psycho I brought home, and I like to think she and I have come to an understanding of each other and developed a lot of trust. Maybe she does miss me, or at least some version of that. I don't like anthropomorphizing animals, but it's always been clear that she knows me and trusts me. I've gotten very good at reading her body language, and it's rewarding as hell when I pull her out of her tank and she immediately relaxes because she knows me and knows she's safe...

Good job- I know the feeling. Sometimes the "worst snakes" (the ones we have to work really hard to get them to accept us) do end up to be the most rewarding. I'm sure it's because we've seen first-hand how far they've come with us.

One of my rat snakes that I hatched out almost 4 years ago has always been super high-strung from the beginning. Hated to be touched or picked up-she would thrash around like a wild thing. I worked with her a lot- I'll never forget the time when she was about 2 years old, she snuggled into my long sleeve for an hour+ (while I was online), just peeking out at my cuff, watching me but obviously pretty comfortable. That was real progress, finally.

She still reacts a bit when first picked up, then settles down & relaxes with me very well- it's clear she remembers she is safe with me- & that's a great feeling. She's getting calmer about feeding too- from the beginning, she's been the craziest snake I've ever fed, & that's saying something as I've raised quite a few. Even though she is only fed pre-killed rodents, she thrashes & rolls around wildly all around her tank with it for quite a while before she eats it- it's hilarious to watch. I'm sure glad she never did that with my hand-