Snake Behaviour

[Klaire]

hey guys, so i have had mercy for 2 months and 2 weeks and ever since i got her she fell into a routine pretty quickly of, Coming out at night sitting on her favourite branch and then on the early hours of the morning go back in her hide. On feeding day she would be out of her hide extra early then once fed she would stay under her hide and not come out for 2 days (due to digesting her meal obviously lol) sometimes i would have to feed her early in the afternoon(due to starting work and not being at home for the night) so i would have to put the pinkie in the enclosure then lift up her hide and place her on her branch for her to realise her food is there but just the other day i put her pinky on her rock like i always do and as i went to lift up her hide as usual (this is the first time she has reacted differently) she SHOT out of the entrance from her hide and i yanked my arm out incase she was going for a bite. She just laid there once she shot out staring me down and i realised she thought i was the pinkie so i got some tongs (ive never had to use before) and picked up the pinkie and put it infront of her once she realised the pinkie was infront of her she attacked quickly and coiled. I brushed it off knowing that she just mistook me for her food was all but then today as i went to open her enclosure i noticed her head was right near the entrance of her hide again! and once she noticed i was close to the tank she popped her head out looking at me inquisitively for the first time ever. (She has never popped her head out before to see what im doing and i'm shocked. in the whole time since ive gotten her she has never been near the entrance and would always be coiled up at the back of her hide but now as of the past few days she has been hanging out right near the entrance and her body is uncoiled underneath the hide. does anyone have any ideas on why the sudden change in what she does? To me i think she is finally getting more comfortable and settling down in her enclosure and feeling more relaxed but i don't know. nothing at all has changed. Her diet remains the same. she gets fed on the same day as normal. Her temps have not changed. she hasn't missed a meal. i haven't moved any of her decor into a different area in her enclosure. any opinions on her acting differently? am i right in saying she is just finally adjusting and becoming more relaxed in her enclosure after 2 months?

[Klaire]

This is the photo of her popping her head out seeing what i'm doing

[Herpo]

I think you're right. But my carpet does this too. If he smell even the slightest bit of food when I take him out for weighing, which I do before feeding, he switches to feed mode. And let me tell you, a hungry carpet is the last thing you wanna mess with...

[Klaire]

Good to see someone else has a similar experience and i agree that you don't want to mess with them hence why i moved my arm out really fast as soon as she shot out of her hide i mean she's small but no one wants to get bit no matter the size haha

[Herpo]

I especially don't wanna get bit by an adult.

[Klaire]

Agreed, I feel sorry for people who own anacondas or big boa's and get tagged i can't imagine it tickling lol

[sam]

After a certain size I'd say the line between being tagged and hospitalised gets a little blurred LOL.

[EL Ziggy]

Klaire- I think you're right that your carpet is getting more comfortable. My coastal was pretty shy for the first few months and always hiding. Now he hangs out in the open quite regularly. I have another idea though. When my snakes start cruising or hanging near the front of their enclosures that's usually a sign that they're a bit hungry. Otherwise they just perch on one of their branches. I noticed you were feeding her pinks. Are those mice or rat pinks? In either event, she's a pretty big girl and could probably eat larger prey. How much and how often do you feed her?

[macandchz]

i think she she is definately settling in. mac does the same thing in the evening. he'll poke his head out as if to see what's going on. i've also seen him do this when a voice he doesn't know is in the house. i call him our "watch snake."

[chairman]

My yearling carpets are almost always out in the open. I'm also reasonably comfortable saying that they are always hungry, too. I do need to increase my snakes' prey size, they're taking two rat pups for a meal that is 10% of their body weight, but they're still looking for food the next day. Especially my female, she is always perched in ambush mode. I have to tap them any time I go in the cage; sometimes I tap them when I just need to be in front of the cage so they won't hurt themselves striking the door. But once they're out they're just like big cornsnakes.

I'd prepare myself for a similar experience... always feed with tongs, always tap when you're not offering food. That should keep both of you from surprising each other.

[Herpo]

Originally Posted by EL Ziggy

Klaire- I think you're right that your carpet is getting more comfortable. My coastal was pretty shy for the first few months and always hiding. Now he hangs out in the open quite regularly. I have another idea though. When my snakes start cruising or hanging near the front of their enclosures that's usually a sign that they're a bit hungry. Otherwise they just perch on one of their branches. I noticed you were feeding her pinks. Are those mice or rat pinks? In either event, she's a pretty big girl and could probably eat larger prey. How much and how often do you feed her?

Mine does the same in hunt mode. Sits on his hide and waits. Except once when he didn't get on top of the hide to wait and stayed inside, I dangled the rat in front of the hide. I swear he actually flew out...

[Klaire]

Ziggy - They are rat's I was lucky enough to not have to get her the trouble of transitioning as the lovely owner before me started her off on them as soon as she was big enough to take em so i was glad she got good nutrition from really early stages of her life.
She has gotten ALOT bigger from her last shed so she could most likely do a step up from the size she is currently on and i was willing to test this theory however my local pet barn stocked either what i was already getting or the next step was too big so i had to ask them to order some in, Her packet is nearly finished so when i go in there soon they should have the bigger size i'm after i feed her 1 rat pink every 5 days, i tried to get the best info on how often you should feed jungles for her size however as we all know google throws out some pretty whacky answers and one person will say one thing and another person will say something different and there's no way i was asking the pet store any advice as majority of them around here are clueless so i tried to aim around that 5 days sounded okay 2 days to digest and 2 to slither around chilling and then feed day the next day and the cycle would start over

Macandchz - That is so cute would give an intruder a much better fright than watch dog

Chairman - That's what Mercy does. The nights that i'm at home and can feed her at night once she comes out she goes to this certain spot on her log that is positioned infront of the rock she goes to the very top and just sits there with her head hanging in an S position waiting to attack. I bought some tongs but up until the other day i have never had to use them as what i do is just drop the pinkie on her rock and she will attack it when she smells it (I do this because i used to try and dangle it infront of her for a more realistic experience during her feeding times but she would never go for it unless i put it somewhere and left her alone so i just continued to do that and it works well for the both of us . As for letting her know when i'm there and its not food she is always under her hide when i go to grab her out so i just lift up her hide slowly but with fluid motion i go down and gently rub her side with my hand in the middle of her body (not at the front because she doesn't attack but is head shy so i respect her wishes) and not at the back end because she gets squirmy and moves fast if i touch her tail so i just rub her in the middle for a few seconds then she will register its just me and i go on ahead and pick her up. However since her new found "activeness" and she is starting to be at the entrance i will definitely take up your advice and start tapping on the tank before i go in to lift up her hide whenever it's not feed day and she should hopefully get the jist of that very quickly so she no longer has to ambush me :P

Herpo - That's literally what Mercy did like i swear she was out of that damn hide before my mind even registered it haha she was so fast i was shocked

Thanks for all the Questions & Advice guys

[Roman]

Originally Posted by macandchz

i've also seen him do this when a voice he doesn't know is in the house. i call him our "watch snake."

Hmmm – you know that you snake doesn’t hear a thing, don’t you?

Snakes don’t have an outer ear and no middle ear, they have some remnants of the inner ear left, but this enables them only to “hear” some vibrations, normally vibrations they feel with their lower jaw.

So your snake has many different senses, but hearing is not one of them.

Roman

[macandchz]

awww, roman...don't spoil my delusion. if i think he can hear, he can hear.

[chairman]

On the tapping, I meant using a snake hook to physically touch the snake. Helps wake them up out of feeding mode.