Western Hognose Behavior Change and Biting
So recently my western hognose has really changed her behavior..
I've had her for a little over a year now and I got her when she was just a few months old so I was her first owner. I regularly took her out of her terrarium a few times week so she would be used to being handled and I have been feeding her pinkies every 4-5 days. She handled being held very well and she's a good feeder and came out from her under her hide every day. Everything seemed normal. However things started changing recently.
Since July, I started a new full time job in New York and I live in Pennsylvania so I spend 5.5-6 hours commuting every day, 5 days a week so I haven't been handling her as much because I get home around 9-10pm. That also means I have to feed her at night because no one else in my house will do it because they think it "gross" or whatever.
So two weeks ago, I reached into her tank and she bit me and I was able to get her off after a couple of minutes but I thought that was strange. She never bit me when I reached into her tank before so I thought maybe she smelt food on my hand. Next feeding went fine. Tonight I tried feeding her again and I took her out and she tried biting me again but I managed to move one I felt her teeth and she wasn't able to really sink in. I thought all of this was strange because hognoses don't really bite like this so I figured I must be doing something wrong, whether that be feeding her late, not handling her enough (usually only to feed her) or terrarium conditions, or maybe I should be moving up to fuzzies? This is my first western hognose so I haven't had any experience with this before.
I want to have a happy and healthy reptile so if anyone could offer any advice or possible reasons to why her behavior changed so suddenly from being so friendly and adventurous to biting me every time I pick her up, you would really be helping me out.
Thank you!
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