• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Flattening head

D

disturbedstn

New member
I fed my amel about two hours ago and I took some advice about him being paranoid when he feeds (from a previous thread) but tonight after he had his dinner down I waited until it was in his belly and he started wondering around his feeding box again and thats when it happened. I moved slowly for his box and he came up to the S position to strike didn't rattle his tail but he did this thing that looked like he was flattening his head while in the S position and I stopped moving and he tried to take off. I had the box in the air getting ready to transfer him back to his viv and I stopped him with my hand about a foot in front of him. I've never seen him do this before but I have heard that some breeds of snakes will flatten their heads to show how big they are. Could this just be him trying to be macho? Or is this something that I should be concerned about? By the way when I put my hand out to stop him he froze didn't try to strike or anything I just thought it was odd. Or might this just be him re-locating his jaw because this was an xlarge pinkie a little big I thought but he took it just like any other feeding. Thank you for any help.
 
Sounds to me like he was just putting his jaw back in place. My snake has done that a few times. I don't know how it's possible to 'flatten' your head. You were probably just looking from a funny angle.
 
It's actually pretty normal/common for corns to try and flatten their head, as will many other snakes. He was either realigning his jaw or trying to make himself look scarier in the hopes that he'd frighten you away. I wouldn't worry about it, it's very normal behavior from what I have seen.


Jenn
 
I too believe that this is a defensive posture. Many snakes flatten their heads to appear more fierce (and you know...it works!). Totally normal.
 
It's defensive :)...some seem to carry their bluff to more of an extreme than others...some just try to flee, some rattle, some rattle and bluff strike...and then there's those that look like a cross between a p@$$*d off rattler and a (more) p@$$*d off cobra ;)...
 
This is a pic of a hatchling boradening his head, he was only not in a defensive position.
 

Attachments

  • head-broad.jpg
    head-broad.jpg
    21.2 KB · Views: 77
A lot of times when they are in blue they get what I call a "fathead". The fluid from the impending shed builds up and their head and necks can swell alarmingly. It all goes away right after they shed.
 
MegF. said:
A lot of times when they are in blue they get what I call a "fathead". The fluid from the impending shed builds up and their head and necks can swell alarmingly. It all goes away right after they shed.
Click to expand...

His head was not like that all the time, I can see the difference with the swollen pre shedding head ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top