Suddenly catapulted himself at the glass (and hit it hard enough to hurt himself)...

[AFI34974]

My corn, like most, tries to escape at night, never succeeding. His tank sits right next to my laptop on the desk, and I was sitting there eating popcorn in the dark...and all of a sudden he flew across the tank (he was on the complete other side) and hit the side of the tank with his full body (it wasn't like striking...he literally handed like a tree frog lands to stick to the surface). He his it with enough force to hurt himself, at first I thought he broke the glass. He's never done anything like this before, and he almost gave me a heart attack because the side he landed on is right next to my eye :eek1:

I inspected his tank and I can't find anything that could have bitten or startled him, right now he's back in the position he was when he flung himself. Any ideas?

 

[Dreamsnake]

My husband said our ball python did that once, the snake hit with such force he moved the 55 gal tank. I never saw it myself. Something must've spooked him; they do see differently then we do. It is always possible these are reactions to dreams, but it may just be light reflecting a mouse shape on the glass.

 

[DMong]

My corn, like most, tries to escape at night, never succeeding. His tank sits right next to my laptop on the desk, and I was sitting there eating popcorn in the dark...and all of a sudden he flew across the tank (he was on the complete other side) and hit the side of the tank with his full body (it wasn't like striking...he literally handed like a tree frog lands to stick to the surface). He his it with enough force to hurt himself, at first I thought he broke the glass. He's never done anything like this before, and he almost gave me a heart attack because the side he landed on is right next to my eye :eek1:

I inspected his tank and I can't find anything that could have bitten or startled him, right now he's back in the position he was when he flung himself. Any ideas?

I am thinking the snake was probably up on the top rim of the cage, and the front portion of it's body lost grip and it suddenly dropped and swung over and smacked the glass with a pendulum effect. This happens very frequently with some cage designs. Usually when there is a loud clunk, the snakes have fallen, not actually run into the glass from bolting all of the sudden. After 45 years of countless snakes, I have seen this more times than I could ever begin to count.


cheers, ~Doug