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Weird "biting" behavior

R

rackerman

New member
Brand new to the forum, joined to pose this question regarding my son's older juvenile corn snake. Twice in the past couple weeks this strange new behavior has been displayed: while handling, the snake pressed his nose into my son's skin, then opened his mouth and half-bit down. Not a strike, not hard enough to break skin, but more a light chomp. Is he hungry? Do we need to feed him more than once a week or larger mice? Both times this has happened was within 2-3 days of when he was scheduled to be fed.

Other background context: We've had Apollo about 8 months. He was hatched January 2021 according to his paperwork (though he was so tiny I wonder if that was a typo and actually 2022). He has grown exponentially since we got him and has always been a champion eater. We started him with weekly pinkies and he's now up to small fuzzies, following the guide of feeding the same size mouse as the thickest part of his body. He's always been chill when being handled. A handful of days before the first of these incidents, we upgraded to a larger enclosure and this was the first handling since his new tank. He was acting stressed out in the new enclosure, but after adding more debris, an extra hide, and elevating it (it had been on the floor and we speculated he was feeling threatened by people walking past towering over him) he seemed to settle much more comfortably.

Any insight or thoughts?

(cross-posting with other forums)
 
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The behavior is commonly seen in king snakes and I like to call it "Tasting". It isn't really aggressive but more like an inquisitive poke and nibble to see if you're edible. lol When I see the behavior coming, I gently redirect the animal's head/attention.
Now for the why all the sudden part of the question. First make sure it isn't a new scent coming from your son. Always wash hands before AND after handling. Smells that linger on the skin, like the tuna sandwich you had for lunch, can tempt a "tasting". Next I question the amount/size of food you are offering. If he truly was hatched in early '22 (and you've had him 8 months so mathematically not possible for him to be a Jan '23 hatch) he should be eating a much bigger prey item by now and I would question his care/health prior to your acquiring him. He might just be hungry. Try feeding more frequently if you want to stick with the smaller food items.
 
My
crackerhead said:
The behavior is commonly seen in king snakes and I like to call it "Tasting". It isn't really aggressive but more like an inquisitive poke and nibble to see if you're edible. lol When I see the behavior coming, I gently redirect the animal's head/attention.
Now for the why all the sudden part of the question. First make sure it isn't a new scent coming from your son. Always wash hands before AND after handling. Smells that linger on the skin, like the tuna sandwich you had for lunch, can tempt a "tasting". Next I question the amount/size of food you are offering. If he truly was hatched in early '22 (and you've had him 8 months so mathematically not possible for him to be a Jan '23 hatch) he should be eating a much bigger prey item by now and I would question his care/health prior to your acquiring him. He might just be hungry. Try feeding more frequently if you want to stick with the smaller food items.
Click to expand...
Oops, my own typo! He was supposedly hatched '21 but given his small size when we got him Nov '23 I thought more likely he was really hatched '22. When we got him, he was still small enough to be shipped in a little 1/2 pint size plastic container and his breeder said he was on large pinkies once a week at the time. Seemed and still seems healthy. Is it preferable to feed him more frequently or go larger?
 
it does sound like your snake was on a so-called maintenance diet before he came to you. A scale is the best way to know what size to feed him, but it sounds like you can it's safe to go with about 1.5 times the width of your snake at his thickest point.
 
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