shedding, eating and aggresivness ?'s

[racer69]

this is my first snake got it on sept 10th for my b-day and was told age was between 6-9weeks so now should be in the 11-14weeks....anyways, i ddin't knwo a whole lot about the shedding process and yesterday i was handeling him befreo feeding and i fed him than last night/early this mornign...head head skin popped off and now is very aggressive. i have his habitat on my dresser next to my bed and can't go near with otu him striking every once and awhile. IS THIS NORMAL???

also i thought that they don't eat during the sheddign process. and are nto very active after eating...after he ate yesterday he went into hiding for abotu an hour or two than was active as normal even now with half his skin hanging off his head he's still active....


i hope soemone can answer em and tell me if this is right or wrong...he has NEVER struck in the 5 weeks i've had him . i will post pics of him and pics of him eating yesterday in the pics forum


thanks
Dan

[jcaustralia]

some snakes will eat reguardless of shedding or not. as far as his striking while shedding, i would assume he may feel alittle threatend since this may be one of his first few sheds, not 100% on that, just my guess.

[racer69]

yeah i'm hoping so, they said he shed right before i got him, btu this is his first here..i'll give him a few days to calm down then i'll go in and see what's up..lol...might need to break out the gloves just incase.

[frankykeno]

Try to see life right now through your snake's experience. It's a very young snake, at a stage in it's life when in the wild it would be as much prey as the predator, it's shedding which isn't particularily comfortable I'm quite sure, it's hungry because it's growing fast right now. It only been in your home for a relatively short time and from what I'm guessing here, it's in a glass enclosure which may be making it feel pretty exposed and reactive to your movements nearby.

All of the above can contribute to a scared, defensive strike. Baby snakes are a bit prone to this anyways and it passes with time and them feeling less like you want to eat them.

You might try keeping handling to a minimum right now. Maybe enclose most of the tank with dark paper on the outside or add in extra hides or decorative fake foliage. Make sure your temps and humidity are appropriate (see caresheet) especially during shed cycles (proper humidity assists in complete, unassisted sheds which your snake will be doing a lot of right now as it's growing fast). Keep vibrations from loud music, etc. to a minimum in the room. Also try viewing your snake from a low position. Hovering over it's enclosure will encourage it to be more reactive as you are in a predatory position.

Remember, even captive born, snakes are always creatures of pure instinct. It can't understand that you are Dan and you want the best for it. You are simply "big mammal predator who might eat me" so it's either going to ball up and hope you go away, or strike out trying to drive you away. It's all about survival instinct so really your snake is doing exactly as nature programmed it to do.