false strikes

[Fuscus]

I have just taken me large NT water python out of her cage any she showed her displeasure by striking at me. However she kept her mouth closed during the "attack" and did'nt try and bite.
Has anyone encountered this behaviour before?

 

[Switch]

Yes
My two Darwin Carpets do it all the time, those pair were born with the ****s

 

[NCHERPS]

Fuscus,
I have come across this before, and a friend has come across it with Cobra's(UK Friend), Lucky for him it was a closed strike!!
They do it as a 'I am fed up and want to show that I am, and if you push me I will open my mouth next time!'
Bit like a rattle snake, before he bites.
Shows that although he struck, he is reluctant to do so.

Your snake has just got stressed or startled by something, no reason why it should happen again, just be confident when you go and get her out again, hesitate and she will pick up on it and may show fear and strike.

Neil

 

[Fuscus]

So what you are saying, Neil, is that is an intimindation display and don't let the animal win. The WPs are about a year old and I don't think they had much handling proir to me and I try to handle them about once a week to get them used to handling (which they don't seem to like). Should I handle them more?

 

[africancichlidau]

Personally I would be handling them more often. My male coastal was a rarely handled specimen when I first got him and a difficult handler to boot. I handled him about once a week for the first month and then daily whenever I could. He improved handling wise as time went on and now he is a big pussycat unless it's feeding time. His way of telling me he' doesn't want to be handled is to give me a very loud hiss, when this happens I just leave him alone for a while and then try again as I reckon that to handle a snake when you know they don't wish it is pure folly unless you need to handle for a specific reason.

 

[Fuscus]

I would handle her (them) more often but I was under the impression that handling a snake for two or three days after a meal is not a good idea.

 

[NCHERPS]

Mark(Fuscus),
In a word " Yes"
I have found from personal experience with water pythons that they can get a bit stroppy if they aren't handled regularly,their not as placid as carpets.
They can seem to get really territorial and a bit unpredictable, so the more you can get hands on the better, especially at the size they are now, when their bigger they will be more fiesty, so if you don't tame them up early you could have future probs.

Don't get me wrong, i am not saying that your snakes are not now tame due to one incident of striking with their mouths closed, just that in my opinion, the more handling with WP's the better.

Slight change of topic, I went to the Rosehill race course Pet Expo today, and there was an exhibitor there with a med sized water python, the previous owner apparently had left a large live rat in with the snake, and it wasn't hungry, what a mess it made of the poor snake, it looked like the last third of it's body had been bashed with a sledge hammer several times, the scars are well healed now, but very unsightly, I just felt for the poor snake, the agony it must have gone through!

Neil

 

[NoOne]

Wish my male water would do that. BHPs do it alot.

 

[Fuscus]

I just went to pick him up and he came right out of the cage with tongue flickering in a manner I interperate as FEED ME. No agression. So I'm defrosting at the moment.

 

[raptor]

I can testify that there is no false strike if you clean a cage out with paper towel that has rabbit scent on it... one of my coastals decided to coil on my right hand. The holes & bruising are impressive!

 

[Belinda]

I was watching Snake Wranglers a few weeks ago, and it said that snakes will often strike with their mouths close so not to chip or brake their fangs.Unless they feel threatened or are hunting they will most probably strike closed-mouthed

Someone please tell me if this is wrong

 

[ReptileRascals]

...

 

[Alexahnder]

i know my coastal strikes with a open mouth. Anyway wouldn't the only reason a snake would strike open mouthed be because it was thretened or hunting???

 

[Belinda]

Yeah thats what I said, but sometimes snakes strike closed mouth as a warning and to see how hard the surface is that they are striking...If the thing keeps threatening them, it would then strike open mouthed...But that was only for the venomous...I dont see how it works for pythons as they constrict but I guess it could be something along the line of it....

 

[Fuscus]

I've come to the conclusion that it is a half-hearted treat display, more of a statement like "I know you might be trying do something to me and I'm not that rapped in it but I'm not going to make too much of a fuss about it". This thread indicates that closed mouth strikes are quite common, I'm surprised I haven't heard of it before.

And I was right about my WPs being hungry, the bigger snake took the rat before it was in the cage while the normally reluctant feeder took hers the instant it was offered. We have just had a change of weather down here in SA so that may be a reason, even though the enclosures tempreture is not affected.

 

[ackie]

a lot of small elapids such as red naped snakes and golden crowned snakes strike with closed mouths even wen being picked up and threatened. My whipsnake often does these false strikes but wen it actually bites ya hav no warning and it just sort nibbles ya hand. Its actually pretty funny watching a 15cm long golden crowned snake in defensive mode, they tilt their head forward and sort of head-butt ya, apart from 1 open mouthed strike....funny stuff though.

 

[Stevethepom]

my water python (male) would allways start with closed mouth strikes before moving to open mouthed, didnt usually take to long though, normally one closed mouth, you dont leave it alone it chomps properly..it could only be described as a threat, a sort of "feel that, imagine how it will feel with 60 teeth piercing your skin" threat

cheers
the steve pom

 

[africancichlidau]

With elapids I can understand it but what is the reason for a python to do it? That has me beat and I've thought a lot about it since seeing my coastal doing it to the glass,(with my head on the other side of course).

 

[wattso]

That could be territorial if it sees its reflection? vens may be conserving venom since it would be wasted if the threat wasnt edible?

 

[Alexahnder]

The browns that i caught struck with open mouths. These are a pretty nervous species though.