emmadactryl
Not so new Member
Indi's a one year old spotted python. I've had her since she was about six weeks old and she's never shown any of the typical young Children's python attitude- up until her first birthday. The day she turned one it was like I had a different snake, and for the last four and a bit weeks she's been insanely twitchy and hyper alert. She's in a constant S when I go to get her out of her tank, and strikes on first instinct before bolting under her water dish or into her hide, or trying to head for the lid/my hand. Leading up to her behaviour change was a three and a bit week period where she went without a feed because she stuck herself in her hide, then went through a shed. She's normally on a fuzzy mouse every ten or so days, but has had a couple of similar breaks in feeds to that three week gap before, usually around a shed; could she be stuck in some sort of feeding mode, and her behaviour is just because she's hungry, not aggressive? Would a few feeds in quick succession (as soon as she's digested one mouse, feed her another) help? In the year I've had her, she's only ever been fed in her cage once, and that was her last feed because I just couldn't get her out of the tank to put her in her container; I'm well aware that probably hasn't helped the issue, but I think I'm going to have to do the same thing when I feed her tonight.
She's my first snake, and I was so stoked with her because she's been a delightful pet so far, and I figured I'd lucked out and escaped the snappy hatchling- now I've got a grumpy one year old. Could this be hormones? Is it just a stage that she'll grow out of? Do I need to handle her more or leave her alone?
I know this sounds absolutely pathetic because she's a tiny spotted python with a mouth the size of my thumbnail, but she's just such a wired little handful at the moment that I haven't handled her since a couple of days after this behaviour started- and when she had a go at my hand while I was holding her. I can't even remember where she bumped me and it just felt like I'd brushed up against the pointed end of a thumbtack, but combined with how difficult it is to even extract her from her tank at the moment it's just not a pleasant experience handling her, and if she's panicking about being out, I don't want to go making the situation worse.
Towards the end of last year, partly because of the insanely hot weather we were having and partly because I felt she was ready for an upgrade, she was moved from a small tank about half the size of her in width/depth/height to a tank that I think is just under two feet. She almost is the full length of it stretched out. I thought her behaviour might be because I got her in too big a tank too quickly, but considering she was in there for a couple of months before this started I wasn't sure; should I put her back in a smaller tub again for a bit?
Could the weather have something to do with it? She hasn't had a heat mat in since before summer started because it's thirty degrees plus constantly in her tank; on the really hot days we had I was putting frozen blocks on top of her cage just to try and give her some sort of temperature gradient.
Sooo many questions and theories, I know, but I'm feeling a bit lost and aren't sure what to do with her. Any answers and advice will be much appreciated.
She's my first snake, and I was so stoked with her because she's been a delightful pet so far, and I figured I'd lucked out and escaped the snappy hatchling- now I've got a grumpy one year old. Could this be hormones? Is it just a stage that she'll grow out of? Do I need to handle her more or leave her alone?
I know this sounds absolutely pathetic because she's a tiny spotted python with a mouth the size of my thumbnail, but she's just such a wired little handful at the moment that I haven't handled her since a couple of days after this behaviour started- and when she had a go at my hand while I was holding her. I can't even remember where she bumped me and it just felt like I'd brushed up against the pointed end of a thumbtack, but combined with how difficult it is to even extract her from her tank at the moment it's just not a pleasant experience handling her, and if she's panicking about being out, I don't want to go making the situation worse.
Towards the end of last year, partly because of the insanely hot weather we were having and partly because I felt she was ready for an upgrade, she was moved from a small tank about half the size of her in width/depth/height to a tank that I think is just under two feet. She almost is the full length of it stretched out. I thought her behaviour might be because I got her in too big a tank too quickly, but considering she was in there for a couple of months before this started I wasn't sure; should I put her back in a smaller tub again for a bit?
Could the weather have something to do with it? She hasn't had a heat mat in since before summer started because it's thirty degrees plus constantly in her tank; on the really hot days we had I was putting frozen blocks on top of her cage just to try and give her some sort of temperature gradient.
Sooo many questions and theories, I know, but I'm feeling a bit lost and aren't sure what to do with her. Any answers and advice will be much appreciated.