Suriname Red Tail Boa - Suddenly aggressive

[Myshaele]

Greetings everyone,

I've had my girl for 2 years and she's always been amazing; we carried her around, manipulate her all the time with no problem whatsoever.

Suddenly, last week, she became aggressive; I opened the vivarium, as usual, to pick up a little piece of shed skin and she just launched and snapped me for the first time in 2 years. The next day, I fed her 4 big mice and she snapped at them as well, which she only did once in 2 years. She has always been shy about feeding and would wait at night to do it.

Today, I opened the viv again and she snapped again, following me around, moving around to make sure she would not miss me.

What could be wrong? We did not make any changes at all in her vivarium, it's kept clean, the water is fresh and changed often, the temperature and the humidify are controlled, she has a huge bath to rest in, a fountain, a huge hollow trunk to hide in...

I'm clueless and suddenly afraid of her, which I don't like.

[IW17]

Hard to say. Only thing that comes to mind by your description is hunger. A 2 year old bcc should be on larger Prey than mice. Can you post a pic of the snake in question or at least give us an idea of her size?

[CosmicOwl]

Originally Posted by IW17

Hard to say. Only thing that comes to mind by your description is hunger. A 2 year old bcc should be on larger Prey than mice. Can you post a pic of the snake in question or at least give us an idea of her size?

Don't hatchling's take adult mice or rat pups with little trouble?

[wrecker45]

Maybe it has come to her breeding age. Diablo one of my king snakes just tagged me. Put a few holes in my thumb. LOL.

[Zcorpshea]

Yeah it Sounds like you should be feeding her either a Medium or Large rat depending. She might not be getting enough nutrients from the mice. I would try switching her to rats and see if that helps.

[Vysathi]

I think wrecker might be on the right track- Breeding age sounds like a reasonable explanation to me.

[Myshaele]

Originally Posted by Vysathi

I think wrecker might be on the right track- Breeding age sounds like a reasonable explanation to me.

What does that mean exactly? Will she remain that way for good or is it just some kind of phase or something?

[IW17]

Originally Posted by CosmicOwl

Don't hatchling's take adult mice or rat pups with little trouble?

Yeah they can. I know a bcc should be fed smaller meals as I've been told that they sometimes can't handle large meals and stay healthy. But a two year old snake should definitely be big enough to be on medium rats Iwould think.

Wrecker, that's a good call. I never thought about Breeding age. II've never had any of my snakes get snippy when they started to reach sexual maturity, but I'm sure there are snakes that do.

[wrecker45]

Try hooking it out of the inclosier.

[David VB]

1 word : puberty

[Myshaele]

Originally Posted by David VB

1 word : puberty

So, basically, you're saying that she's gonna be "moody" from now on and there are big chances she'll bite anytime she can?

We tried baby rats but she won't touch them, just so you know.

I gave her 5 big mice yesterday and she ate them all.

[Ddub]

Originally Posted by Myshaele

So, basically, you're saying that she's gonna be "moody" from now on and there are big chances she'll bite anytime she can?

We tried baby rats but she won't touch them, just so you know.

I gave her 5 big mice yesterday and she ate them all.

Sounds like a prey size issue but first off, how old and how large is your boa? What's your cage setup like? Temps/humidity/size all that good stuff. BCC females don't mature sexually until about age 5 with proper size (likely unattainable feeding mice) so unless she's that old it's likely not a breeding issue. All my bcc were on small rats by age 1 and mediums by 2 years. You're going to have to bump her up to rats eventually if she is to reach adult size. If she doesn't like to eat rats just keep trying and until she does. Hunger can be a powerful motivator for picky eaters when trying to make the switch to rats.

[EL Ziggy]

I'm gonna go with the prey size issue as well. If she's eating that many mice per feeding you should make the switch to rats ASAP. Better 1 medium/large rat ($2), than 5 xl mice ($5). It can be tough to switch some snakes over but most will. You can try intermittently offering small rats, scenting the rats with a mouse, or just wait her out. As Ddub stated previously, "hunger can be a powerful motivator. " If you offer only rats every 10-14 days, I think she'll come around sooner than later. I recently switched all my snakes over to rats. Too much of a hassle feeding all those mice .

[David VB]

Originally Posted by Myshaele

So, basically, you're saying that she's gonna be "moody" from now on and there are big chances she'll bite anytime she can?

We tried baby rats but she won't touch them, just so you know.

I gave her 5 big mice yesterday and she ate them all.

If she ate 5 big mice, then i guess she could have been hungry. What is your feeding schedule and is it normal for her to eat 5 big mice? Or was she refusing for some time. I say puberty coz of her age and normally the aggression of puberty will go away again, but it is impossible to say when. Try to keep handling her from time to time (with gloves if you really don't trust her) so she knows all is ok. But again, first determine if it was actually coz she was hungry. 5 big mice is a lot. Mine is also around 2 years old and i feed her 2 subadult rats every 10 to 14 days. The rats are slightly bigger than the biggest part of her body.

Good luck

[Ddub]

Originally Posted by David VB

I say puberty coz of her age and normally the aggression of puberty will go away again, but it is impossible to say when.

So far the age of the boa has not been revealed, only that it's been in the op's care for 2 years. Even if she is 2 years old it's NOT puberty or breeding as females don't mature until about 5 years old. If it were a male, maybe.