Okay, so I bought 3 month old Pandora at a reptile exhibit exactly a week ago. I set up her 10 gallon tank (two identical hides, shredded aspen substrate, heating pad, thermometer with probe, hygrometer, 2 plastic plants, water dish, wooden log) and left her alone for a few days. I know most people recommend a week but she seemed very social and didn't mind being handled. I fed her a live rat pup (only a few days old) on Tuesday and she devoured that thing within a few seconds, so I figure she's doing fine.

Lo and behold, I pick her up on Thursday only to find her covered in tiny black dots. I flip out and my boyfriend and I go on a mission to find out if this is a sign of mites. Luckily, I think I caught it rather early before they got a chance to spread. So I washed out her tank and all the decoration with scolding hot water, bleach, vinegar, dish soap, renewed the substrate and baked the log in the oven and gave her a few good soaks. I grabbed something called 'Mite Off' by Zoo Med and sprayed her and the tank a few times and left her alone.

I went to pick her up yesterday and noticed her eyes seemed a little gray, so I figured she's probably about to shed. However, I wanted to handle her to see if the mites were gone and she very oddly curled up into a tight ball and almost made a (?)hissing(?) noise. I obviously got a little scared and just as I was about to put her in my hand, she twitched a little. I thought she was about to bite so I set her back down quickly (I didn't drop her). I'm a very anal and paranoid person though and I'm worried that the sudden movement of putting her back down might have scared her. I know that dropping a snake can be very traumatic and they loose trust in you. Today when I went to pick her up again, she curled up into a very tight ball which is not like her. I'm thinking maybe she is about to shed and just wants to be left alone but the sound she made yesterday threw me off quite a bit.

So, I'm basically just unsure as to what to do with her for the next few days and whether or not to leave her alone. If she is in the process of shedding, I don't want to pick her up and soak her if she's going to react the way she did. At what point in the shedding process should I be soaking her anyway? Also, I'm hoping somebody can tell me if her behavior is normal. She spends quite a bit of time in her hide and I want her to move around her tank a bit more. Obviously I know this comes with time but I'm just thrown back by her not letting me handle her.

I was also planning on feeding her on Monday, but now I'm not so sure.
Looking forward to replies =]

- Helena