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Suddenly active and aggressive

flakes87

flakes87

New member
I have a normal 10 month old corn. I'm not sure if it's male or female, but I just refer to it as a he. I've had him since he was about a 3weeks to a month old. Since I've had him he's always been kind of lazy and very docile. Most of the time he would just coil up under a hide and rarely come out. Anytime I wanted to handle him I could simply lift up the hide and pick him right up with no problems.
Over the past day he has been unusually active. He's all over his viv and looking everywhere. I decided to pick him up to check on him and he struck my hand, then stayed in the striking pose while rattling his tail. The only other time he's rattled his tail is picking him up after feeding to put him back in his viv, but he's never struck at me. I've tried getting him out again, but he gets irritated and tries with all his strength to get away.
I changed his substrate from the reptile chips to aspen bedding about 10 days ago. He seemed fine and didn't act any different up until yesterday/today. Also the temps have recently been on the rise here. I noticed his viv was up to the high 80s almost 90. The ac in the room where his viv is hasn't been working right, so I just moved him into another room and now have the viv temp down to the lower 80s to see if that helps him. He shed about a week ago with no problems. I feed him 1 decent size hopper about every 5-7 days, with his last meal being this past Sunday. He digested it with no problems either. Any thoughts on the sudden aggression and increase activity? He seems perfectly healthy.
 
I would bet on the high temps causing the irritability. I would be pissy too if it were 90° in my house!

What is the temp on the warm end of the viv, and how are you monitoring it?
 
Well, after cooling down for 24 hours he seems to be in somewhat of a better mood. He's back to hiding more. I was able to get him out, but he was still hesitant and very tense. Currently I don't have a set up to monitor both sides. The overall temp was up around 90 last night. I turned off the heat pad and moved him into a cooler room and got the temp down to about 78 before I turned it back on. The temp is now back at a steady 80 degrees like he's use to. When I had him out he seemed healthy, just acted a little irritated. Still not as bad as yesterday.
 
How are you monitoring the temps? How are you regulating the heat mat? If you're not using a probed thermometer and a thermostat get one asap, it will make your life and his so much easier.
 
I have a small stick-on-style thermometer sitting at the bottom on the substrate. But after reading more about it, it seems those are worthless and I'll be picking up a digital with a probe tonight or tomorrow. I'll also probably take your advice and get a thermostat for the mat.
 
Yes those stick on style are less than worthless. Unregulated heat mats can get up to 130° and can injure your snake.
 
Nice, the instructions with the ZooMed uth said thermostat not needed and temps would only increase 5-10 degrees. I'll leave it off until I get a good thermostat set up for it. Thanks for the heads up. I should have done more research. I haven't had very many reptiles and there seems to be a lot of contradicting info out there.
 
I've got 3 Zoomed Reptitherm UTHs and they all recommended using a thermostat if your house can get over 80°. They should change there instruction sheet, they know they can get hot unregulated or else they wouldn't have this "recommendation" on their website:


Q: Can I use Aspen Snake Bedding or shavings with the Under Tank Heater?
A: Yes you can but if using very lightweight substrates such as pine shavings or sphagnum moss, you must put a layer of Zoo Med's Repti Cage Carpet down first. This prevents snakes and burrowing reptiles from pushing substrate aside and resting on top of the glass directly above the heater, resulting in possible burns.
 
flakes87 said:
Nice, the instructions with the ZooMed uth said thermostat not needed and temps would only increase 5-10 degrees. I'll leave it off until I get a good thermostat set up for it. Thanks for the heads up. I should have done more research. I haven't had very many reptiles and there seems to be a lot of contradicting info out there.
Click to expand...

I am surprised that the instructions said that! Drybgerg is right, no UTH should go un-regulated.

If you need some info to research to make sure you have pretty much everything set up right, here is a post I did a while ago on info. http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1640014&postcount=2

Also, Nanci's care sheet is brilliant, and will help you get everything set up before you can get ahold of some books. http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95298

Good luck, I hope this helps!
 
I've currently got an empty viv set up and am going to run the uth unregulated and get some temp readings on the glass and above the substrate. Will post results when I get it done.
 
I've got a digital thermometer now so I can monitor the temps reliably. He seems to be in a better mood now with the temp down in the 77-80 range. I'm leaving the uth off until I can get a thermostat for it. Any brand recommendations for a thermostat?
 
Hydrofarm was the go-to thermostat for this purpose in the states. Sadly, they have discontinued the well known model, and amazon appears to have issues with their inventory of the new model so I don't know what's going on with the company as a whole.

If you have money to spare, then getting a herpstat by spyder robotics or a vivarium electronics from reptile basics will make your life much much much easier.
 
Wow glad I got another Hydro-Farm order in before they discontinued it, I just ordered one two weeks ago and actually got it the next day!.

In the future I'm either going to go all in with either Herpstat or VE or go the opposite way and use dimmer cords as my home temps stay pretty consistent and I check my temps probably a dozen times a day.
 
I also get away with a dimmer. I only have one snake atm, and the house stays a steady temp so fluctuation isn't extreme. Having the snakes home right by the computer helps too, as I glance at it's thermometers like every half hour or so.
 
I entered this topic because I am experiencing issues with my ~3yr old male corn. Prior to about a month ago, he was the SWEETEST, calmest, snake anyone could ask for. I never had reservations about letting those who aren't comfortable with snakes hold him. I felt as though he were and ambassador for the species.

However, about a month ago I took him out for the usual play time before his bi-weekly feeding. I got him out of the tank fine and he was seeming perhaps a little on edge but I didn't think much of it until he bit me (he didn't latch on, just a quick strike).

I fed him in his feeding tank (separate) and let him crawl back into his large tank on his own after. Last night it was time for feeding again and he was acting very aggressive again. So much so that I was unable to get him out of the tank (he was jumpy and wrapped up on logs) and had to feed him in his home tank for the first time ever.

I have a digitally monitored thermostat that is self regulating at 85-86F UTH. The heat is only on one side of the tank and the other is cool at room temp.

I initially brushes it off as a bad day or something due to the changing season but now I am concerned that I will have issues getting him out of the tank safely.

If I nut up and just let him bite me, will he associate my hand with something he can bite more often? He drew blood last time so I would not want him viewing hands as a food source or something.
 
Have you double checked the temps with a digital or infrared thermometer. I've been looking into getting a four mine, but I've read many bad reviews on some of the cheaper ones failing. It sounds exactly how mine started acting due to rising temps
 
Sry, phone misspelled on post above and can't seem to edit. I was saying I've been trying to find a cost efficient thermostat for my set up, but most of the cheaper ones have bad reviews with many of them failing which may be what is going on with yours.
 
Honestly, "nut up" and let him bit you. Don't pull away and don't let it stop you. A bit or two usually wont lead to food association, snakes are fairly decent at judging size. It will let him know that aggressive behavior isn't going to get him his way though. Then again, every snake is completely different in behavior and psychology (if snakes even have psychology?) so I can't say anything with absolute certainty.

All I can say is many here have been bit, some multiple times. And as far as I know, it hasn't lead to "hand = food" behavior.
 
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