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She keeps trying to eat me..

julie.Raawr

julie.Raawr

New member
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I have a baby corn snake for about two weeks now. On the first week she was still a bit stressed from the trip and I left her for a few days to settle. Than I tried to handle her and she was a bit frightened at the beginning, but then she started exploring the surroundings and was very friendly until she began trying to eat my finger. I got a little scared and thought that she was probably hungry so I fed her and had no problems.
I went on holidays last week and left her at home. My neighbour would come and change the water. So I haven’t seen her for a week and when I came back she was quite aggressive because she probably didn’t recognize me. Now, she is a lot better but every time I handle her she thinks my hands are food. She tries to swallow and bite me. She doesn’t do it aggressively; she just does it like she really thinks it is food.
I have tried to stop her by putting her back in the cage, by letting her bite me, or by stopping her and continue handling. I don’t know what else can I do. I do not feed her in the vivarium. I feed her in a very small separate cage which, after feeding, I put in the vivarium because she likes to hide in it and I haven’t bought proper hidings yet. And I don’t feed her with my hands and have never touched a pinkie so I don’t see how she associates my hands with food.
PLEASE HELP!
Thank you guys!
 
How often are you feeding her? If she is trying to eat you, she is hungry, not aggressive. Your fingers sort of resemble what she wants to be eating! As long as she is being fed often enough, then I'd just wash my hands before handling her, and I would not put her back if she started eating me.
 
DO NOT, let a cornsnake biting scare you. It seriously does NOT hurt. If you are feeding her by the correct scedule and size of feeders. Then this may just be a "hey if i bite her she leaves me alone" type snake logic.
Your snake is really only starting to try to figure you out. The worst thing to do in a biting reptile situation is to show that it makes you stop bothering them. Because then it will happen everytime your snake feels so.
This could also be that your snake is assuming everytime you come around its "feeding time"
Try this simple tecnique. First do not handle your snake for a few days after every feeding, every other day slowly handle your snake a little more and a little more. If your snake bites you, dont jump, dont drop the snake, dont leave the snake alone. Just dont let it phase you.
Eventually as time passes and you and your snake live together, your snake will get the hint biting gets it nowhere and your snake will slowly try less and less.

Has your snake shed recently? This could be a pre-shed behavior. Or mabie your snake just needs more time then most snakes to get used to the change in scenery. You've only had the snake 2 weeks right?

Just give your snake time to get used to the scedules and what is what. Your snake is just probably a little confused and stressed from you taking care of it, then a stranger, then you again along with being in a new home, with a new feeding scedule, all in a short period of time.

Make sure your snake gets proper diet, a proper hide to relax, and plenty of socialization time along with acclimation time.

After a while, this could be from a few weeks to months. Your snake will make a turn around hopefully.
 
I agree with necromantica. I have an 08 that we've had for a bit now and she STILL rattles her tail and rears up when you pick her up. We just ignore the behaviour and still handle her anyway. Just this evening she sat in my husband's hand rattling her tail and giving him a stare down for a good 2 minutes. Eventually, she stopped and calmed down. I'm guessing she's never going to love being handled but she will know that aggressiveness gets her nowhere!
 
Good advice so far. There's also the possibility that your snake smells food on your fingers. I know, you said that you haven't touched a pinky, but pinkies aren't the only things that smell like food to a corn snake. If you've been cooking or eating and the snake smells something yummy on your hands. Chicken (especially raw), tuna, and various other things can trigger a feeding response.

This does sound more like a feeding action than aggression. Whatever the cause, don't put the snake away afterward. You don't want to teach it that biting a hand=going home.
 
I use hand sanitizer before and after handling to avoid the oh your hand smells yummy. That stuff stinks so I think they get I will not taste good:)
 
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