T. Goodchild
2009-02-13 04:39:49 UTC
I've just had a pretty upsetting incident with my corn snake.
I've owned him about a year, and he hatched about six months before I
got him.
For the entire time I've owned him, he has been as tame as can be. If
he was ever afraid, he simply tried to get away, but he has never,
*ever* even *attempted* to strike at anything besides a frozen-thawed
mouse.
…
Tonight I took him out of his cage to handle him a bit. I had been
handling him about 10–15 minutes, when he was crawling off of me onto
the floor, which is not unusual. So, I obviously needed to pick him
back up before he disappeared under some debris in my room. While
reaching for him with one hand, the other hand pushed a box that was
on my floor, because it was in my way. The box was about 1.5–2 feet
from the snake. Suddenly, the snake tensed up into striking
position. Again, never ever seen him do this unless he was being fed
(and I have a separate container for feeding). Then he began striking
at absolutely *any* movement! I was completely surprised.
I decided that he was obviously too stressed to stay outside his cage
any longer, so there was an empty shoebox that I sometimes keep him
inside when I want to carry him around the house. I placed the
shoebox next to him, with him striking at the movement as I did so. A
second later, he seemed to recognize the shoebox's smell, and started
exploring its outsides, but he was not entering it. So I got a nearby
hanger—he struck again, even though my reaching for the hanger was
nowhere NEAR him—and attempted to help him into the shoebox. He
continued to strike, and was now rattling his tail for much of the
time. Eventually I managed to get him into the shoebox using the
hanger, but not before he had escaped into a pile of debris in my
room. I quickly uncovered him because the last thing I wanted was for
him to be lost in my house (which thankfully did not happen).
Starting from when he first started striking to when I finally got him
into the shoebox must have been at least 15–20 minutes! Towards the
end of the incident his posture continued to get more aggressive,
raising his bent S-shaped neck off the ground to make himself appear
larger.
At that point I was absolutely puzzled by this behavior and oddly,
even though I know he couldn't hurt me even if I got bit, I found
myself retreating from his strikes because I was so absolutely unused
to having the snake strike at *me*.
Once back in his cage, he stopped striking at movement…but he was
still clearly tensed, and moved only in short, twitchy bursts. I
waited a few minutes to see if he would return to his hide, but he
just sat motionless, or twitched away from me if I moved.
At the time this happened my room had low lighting and was admittedly
pretty warm. However, he's been in my room many times before, without
incident.
Do you know what could possibly have explained this? What should I do
if it continues?
I've owned him about a year, and he hatched about six months before I
got him.
For the entire time I've owned him, he has been as tame as can be. If
he was ever afraid, he simply tried to get away, but he has never,
*ever* even *attempted* to strike at anything besides a frozen-thawed
mouse.
…
Tonight I took him out of his cage to handle him a bit. I had been
handling him about 10–15 minutes, when he was crawling off of me onto
the floor, which is not unusual. So, I obviously needed to pick him
back up before he disappeared under some debris in my room. While
reaching for him with one hand, the other hand pushed a box that was
on my floor, because it was in my way. The box was about 1.5–2 feet
from the snake. Suddenly, the snake tensed up into striking
position. Again, never ever seen him do this unless he was being fed
(and I have a separate container for feeding). Then he began striking
at absolutely *any* movement! I was completely surprised.
I decided that he was obviously too stressed to stay outside his cage
any longer, so there was an empty shoebox that I sometimes keep him
inside when I want to carry him around the house. I placed the
shoebox next to him, with him striking at the movement as I did so. A
second later, he seemed to recognize the shoebox's smell, and started
exploring its outsides, but he was not entering it. So I got a nearby
hanger—he struck again, even though my reaching for the hanger was
nowhere NEAR him—and attempted to help him into the shoebox. He
continued to strike, and was now rattling his tail for much of the
time. Eventually I managed to get him into the shoebox using the
hanger, but not before he had escaped into a pile of debris in my
room. I quickly uncovered him because the last thing I wanted was for
him to be lost in my house (which thankfully did not happen).
Starting from when he first started striking to when I finally got him
into the shoebox must have been at least 15–20 minutes! Towards the
end of the incident his posture continued to get more aggressive,
raising his bent S-shaped neck off the ground to make himself appear
larger.
At that point I was absolutely puzzled by this behavior and oddly,
even though I know he couldn't hurt me even if I got bit, I found
myself retreating from his strikes because I was so absolutely unused
to having the snake strike at *me*.
Once back in his cage, he stopped striking at movement…but he was
still clearly tensed, and moved only in short, twitchy bursts. I
waited a few minutes to see if he would return to his hide, but he
just sat motionless, or twitched away from me if I moved.
At the time this happened my room had low lighting and was admittedly
pretty warm. However, he's been in my room many times before, without
incident.
Do you know what could possibly have explained this? What should I do
if it continues?