Corn snake becoming aggressive

[GreenMachine]

So we’ve had our corn snake from a very young age. Hes about 5 yo now. He’s normally been very calm and docile. Pretty much laid back all the time. Enough that we’ve never had an issue letting our children hold him under our supervision. But here recently he’s began striking at me whenever I go to pull him out for handling, feeding, cleaning, etc. I’m not sure what to do or what the issue could be. Nothing about his environment has changed for over 1.5 yrs now. He eats regularly, water and tank are changed/cleaned regularly. I’m just not sure what has made him become so aggressive. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[ClockwerkBonnet]

Out of curiosity, what are the temperatures in his cage?

[GreenMachine]

Around 73-75 air temperature and around 80 on the side with the heating pad. I’ve always gotten mixed opinions about putting a heat lamp on the tank.

[MnGuy]

Is it possible he has eye issues? Has anything around his tank changed to cause him stress (other pets, human activity, light from a window, etc.)?

[GreenMachine]

Air temperature is around 73-74 and heated side is around 83 with a heating pad. I’ve always gotten mixed responses about a heating light. Planning on getting one to try out on his tank. And he hasn’t gone thru any drastic changes other than being moved to a larger tank a little over a year ago. And it’s only been here within the last 2-3 months that he’s becoming more and more aggressive.

[EL Ziggy]

Snakes aren't aggressive per se but they can be defensive at times. It might help to use a snake hook when you're doing cage maintenance or when you're going to handle him. A lot of my snakes are very food driven and will strike at any heat signature when their enclosure doors open. If you rub or tap them with a snake hook they understand they're not being fed and they'll usually calm right down and become much easier to handle after that. Are you feeding him outside of his enclosure? To each their own but I think that's a waste of time and energy and increases the risk of getting bitten. I feed all of my snakes inside their enclosures. It's much less stressful for the snake and the keeper.

[Neve123]

how often do you feed and handle him because snakes become agitated or active when they have not had food some time and MnGuy is write check if he has eye issues