Aggressive Snake, Bad Shed

[Jay_Bunny]

The moment you open his enclosure (temps and humidity are always fine) he follows your every movement. We are thinking of investing in a snake hook. Our other snakes are fine with handling but Thriller is just very aggressive.

Would feeding in a seperate container help with his aggression? We do feed in tank/tub for all of our snakes.

[elevatethis]

He may be aggressive, in that he is expecting to be fed when you come in the cage. You said he eats well so that may be it?

Or, he's being defensive, in which case using a snake hook or not handling him at all isn't going to get him to trust you.

Sometimes it means taking a few bites to "teach" the snake that behavior doesn't get them left alone. You have to build trust with them, and really, it's not like you're dealing with a 12 foot retic here, he won't hurt you even if he does nail you 10 times.

[Jay_Bunny]

The number of times I've been bitten I can count on one hand. I'm still getting over the shock phase of getting bitten by snakes. Would a pair of thick gloves help?

He eats like a pig. With all of our ball pythons, the mice barely take a few steps before they are struck. We weighed our biggest and she's over 150g now. Thriller comes in a close second at around 130g. I'll get more accurate weights tonight before they are fed since all of them have pooped.

[elevatethis]

Gloves would help if you don't want him getting your hands. You wouldn't need thick gloves, just something made from a material that he won't get his teeth caught on if he does strike.

[Jay_Bunny]

I'll look for some gloves. None of our other snakes are as aggressive as he is. He will actually follow your every movement when you open his enclosure. I think we'll try feeding him in a different container for a while and see if that helps his attitude. If not then we know its more of a handling issue.

[littleindiangirl]

It reminds me of our WC female, whenever we move around her tub, she comes right out expecting us to drop a rat in. She follows our heat signature and just acts really interested in eating. She does not strike or bite us though...

That's mostly our fault from trying to just get her to eat, now she eats like a champ. But we have no problem handling her when we pull her whole tub out to work with. She balls up and knows she's not getting any food. We are slowly trying to work with her to get her used to the idea that whenever we open the tub is not a guarantee for food to be dropping in.

[Reptilian]

This may sound kinda silly, but why not try to tap twice on the enclosure to signal that it's feeding time. Maybe over time Thriller will recognize those certain vibrations as food day.

Just trying to think outta the box. :c)

[littleindiangirl]

Thats a very good idea. Snakes should be able to learn simple patterns, and i have heard of some people that will stroke their snake on the back before they pick them up.

[elevatethis]

I'll look for some gloves. None of our other snakes are as aggressive as he is. He will actually follow your every movement when you open his enclosure. I think we'll try feeding him in a different container for a while and see if that helps his attitude. If not then we know its more of a handling issue.

I'm telling you, it has nothing to do with feeding him in his cage. That's a myth...think about it...if feeding him in his cage makes him expect to be fed every time you open his tank, wouldn't it also make sense to say that if you fed him in a seperate tank, he'd also expect to get fed every time he was removed from his own enclosure for handling as well?

They grow out of this stage. Be patient, don't let him get the best of you when he strikes. Show him who is boss and he'll calm down as he grows.

[mricyfire]

I'll look for some gloves. None of our other snakes are as aggressive as he is. He will actually follow your every movement when you open his enclosure. I think we'll try feeding him in a different container for a while and see if that helps his attitude. If not then we know its more of a handling issue.

sounds like you havent been bit...you should just get bit and do what you do and you will be fine.