sudden aggression (cali king snake)

[missbizy]

I recently acquired (a couple of months ago) a year old california king snake.... she was very docile when we first got her, albeit extremely hard to handle because of how active she was... but she had never showed signs of aggression before. We are calm when handling, and avoid pulling on her and redirecting as much as possible to let her feel comfortable and try to not stress her out. She eats an adult mouse a week, and I don't feel comfortable feeding her any more than that... but recently she has began becoming more aggressive. She struck at me for the first time, and I am confused... I wasn't even trying to handle her. She was in her tank and I was next to her tank feeding my T's. She also is getting skittish and will hide when I try to pull her out to stick in her feeding tank. I know for a fact she has not been mishandled, nobody ever takes her out unless I do it... and the only other person in my home that has handled her is very gentle with her. Does anyone know what could have caused this sudden change, and is this something handling more often could cure? Or should I limit my handling with her and just consider her to be one of the rare aggressive kings? Could it be an environment? Do you have any handling tips that may make her more at ease?

 

[Najakeeper]

If you are feeding her in her enclosure, she might have associated you approaching the cage with feeding. Due to this, most snakes are cage aggressive. I have seen Cobras that strike at their cage doors with the slightest movement outside turn into docile snakes once taken out of the cage.

Of course there may be many other factors like hormonal changes due to growth, barometric changes effecting behavior etc.

 

[missbizy]

If you are feeding her in her enclosure, she might have associated you approaching the cage with feeding. Due to this, most snakes are cage aggressive. I have seen Cobras that strike at their cage doors with the slightest movement outside turn into docile snakes once taken out of the cage.

Of course there may be many other factors like hormonal changes due to growth, barometric changes effecting behavior etc.

I have a seperate critter carrier that I feed her in.... she did however just recently shed.... so perhaps it is hormones? Thank you for your thoughts.