Aggressive Jungle.......Help?

[Michael_G]

Hey everyone ... I recently purchased a gorgeous Jungle Carpet about 6 months old and he has been very aggressive since day 1. I guess I am just curious are they normally this aggressive and what is the best way to go about managing the snake?

By aggressive I mean:

• Consistantly striking out when both the lid is open and closed;
• When feeding he is more interested in striking at me than the mouse;

Even when im at a distance away from the container he feels the need to show me a big gape and strike out. I am hesitant to handle him at the moment because of how aggressive he is being so I guess is there any advice anyone can share with me?


Many thanks in advance!

MG

 

[Ramsayi]

It's scared/stressed.Most of the time they will grow out of it once they get some size on them.

 

[JrFear]

they say jungles are usually agro pythons!
because it is a young snake it is just scared and trying to defend it self from you! a GIANT compared to it pencil size!
with my defensive snakes i put them where theres alot of traffic so they get used to people walking back and forth!
and handle it pretty often, even if it means being bitten! they get used to you!

 

[Fantazmic]

How long have you had the snake

tell us more about the enclosure location etc

Sometimes jungles are like this maybe you have a nasty one.....

 

[silent36]

handle it more often geting bitten by him hurts no more then flicking your finger

 

[Waterrat]

If he keeps on repeatedly hitting the container, chances are that he will damage his nose, lips and teeth, which can result in mouth canker (necrotising stomatisis). That is something you need to avoid. Cover the container so he can't see you all the time and feed him using long forceps, so the mouse is the target and not your hand. You can wrap a towel over you hand so if he bites, he is not going to hurt himself (or you). Hopefully, he will soon realise that biting a towel is not much fun and will concentrate more on the mouse. Keep your hand steady and move the mouse in front of him. Be patient.

 

[stimigex]

handle it more often geting bitten by him hurts no more then flicking your finger

Do this to a highly strung snake and 90% of the time makes it worse!

Ramsayi is right on the money!

 

[Ramsayi]

The majority of highly strung baby/juv pythons will grow out of it all by themselves with no help from their keeper.Keep it in a quiet area and cover if necessary to keep it calm and feed it well.

Handling will only send it's stress levels even higher which can't be a good thing.

 

[Raddy318]

its a jungle... enough said lol

 

[Twitch_80]

Waterrat and ramsayi are right. It is just scared. Does it have plenty of places to hide in its enclosure? A hide in cool and warm end and if the enclosure is large you can put one in the middle, cardboard box's etc are fine as it will grow out of them pretty quickly. How long have you had it? If its still new leave it alone for a while. Once it feels a bit more secure and/or settles in you can think about handling ideas etc.

 

[yuni730]

i got a jungle 8 months ago, She's agressive, she is always more interested in my hands when i feed her, she's a jungle !
From my experience most jungles are snappy.

My jungle calms down after 5 minutes of handling, Maybe give that a go. Give him a chance to get used to you, use gloves if you have to at first. Jungles usually stop biting as they mature, so dont think your going to have an agressive python forever. There is hope, lol

 

[dickyknee]

handle it more often geting bitten by him hurts no more then flicking your finger

Why ? to stress it out even more ??

Leave it alone , the more you handle it the more its going to stress , it will calm down in time , if not they are always good to look at

 

[Red-Ink]

Why ? to stress it out even more ??

Handle more so we can add non-feeding to the problems.....

 

[moosenoose]

Throw some worn jocks in the enclosure to get it used to your scent

 

[Tobe404]

You know it's funny...

Some people will say not to handle a Snake for a week or so to let it settle in.
Others will say handle it as much as you want. It wont make a difference to it's stress levels and will calm it down quicker.

I brought a 6 month old unsexed Jungle yesterday and got it out for a few minutes just so I could change over the water. I thought the Jungle was going to bite me... It was more in my mind though cause' I'd heard they had a reputation for being snappy... However it didn't look aggressive much at all.

In contrast to this... The other Jungle I had an offer was consistantly up in the strike position and looked very aggressive.

Same story with my two MDs. Female was always placid and never even looked like she wanted to strike... And I've handled her since pretty much day one for short periods of time. She has never had a problem eating (well, once I actually stopped accidently feeding her Pinkie Rats instead of Fuzzy Mice... She's now on Weanling Mice). Male was always up in the strike position and having a go. But since handling him consistantly he has camled right down and hasn't struck since and also haven't had problems feeding.

I'm really not sure if it's handling or lack there of that is the problem, husbandry, or just the fact it's hungry...
Could be all of these factors combined, one or two of them. Or... Just that it is a naturally aggressive snake. All Snakes have different personalities.

End rant lol.

 

[notechistiger]

Jungles are usually high strung and stress easily. They are generally best left alone with just weekly maintenance or feeding. Your jungle should grow out of it as it matures. I'd recommend a spotted/stimmie or a coastal if you want a python to handle

 

[Tobe404]

Edit: I don't know why it just posted twice. Mods feel free to delete this one if you like.

 

[Lisaajanee16]

hope your jungle calms down soon, my jungle is the biggest chiller, hes 18 mths old- i have him out 24/7 and he loves it.. never once since i had it has tried to bite me! ..hopefully yours will get better with age..
try putting a removable branch in your tank.. and next time hes on that take him out.. get him to come to you..rather then grabbing him (try at night time if hes roaming around on the branch) also, put something with your smell in there (probably not jocks though ) because it definitely WILL remember your smell - everytime someone else holds my jungle it stretches out almost his entire body to get back to me!
Goodluck with it anyway

 

[Nes88c]

Depending on the snake:

I own two juvie jungles. Both placid as. Can handle anytime I want. No worries.


Some tips:
- I am unsure of how long you have has the jungle, so bear in mind this info may be irrelevant.

- if you just got him, remember to let them settle, it's more likely stressed over the new smells, homes and scenery. It's better to keep them covered and away from high traffic areas of your home.

- when feeding. Yes use tongs, but also make sure that the food is warm. Your snake may be striking at your hand as it can smell dinner but as they only sense heat it's striking at the hot thing behind the cold thing (your hand) our body temps are a constant 36 deg Celsius so keep that in mind when feeding.

- handling, if your snake is cage defensive, try taking the lid off n letting him make his own way out, make sure to come from behind n scoop ( everyone stresses when someone tried to grab them from above) this might help with him being defensive. Many jungles are known for having this temperament but so just keep that in mind too. It will grow outa it!

Hope this helped.

 

[Nick-G]

My jungle bout 6mths old was pritty aggressive and flighty when I first got her, after holding her a fare few times not letting her go any further then my fore arm she now handles pritty well slowly getting better with each day. I found letting her slide up to almost my elbow then putting may hand infront of her not to close but against the arm she is on so she can go onto my other arm works well she might go into S shape when she sees your hand so just hold the position when she does and she should come to you. She is still a little anxious if you move to quickly but as everyone has said they do get better mine just wants to leep out of her tank as soon as I go to lift the lid off lol best way is to let them do there thing and try direct them insted of grabbing them caus they hate being grabbed from above! I learnt that the hard way lol