Snake attitude? (Bad one)

[jitami]

What type of fish? Any vitamin supplements? Anything else unusual other than the biting? Is she more active? Less? Sorry, wish I had answers instead of questions...

[Tori]

My oldest Eastern female used to be the gentlest thing until she hit about 4 years old. Now at 7 seven, if I open the door to her cage it becomes a race to see if she can get out before I can get the door closed. She strikes at the glass over and over to get my attention and let me know that she wants to be fed or thinks I'm too close to her cage. But I have noticed that it is usually a bluff, striking with her mouth closed. That is until I brumated her this year, then I was very grateful that I was wearing gloves when I went to move her back upstairs. She tried to bite, latched onto my hand and chewed. She is back to bluffing now, but had me very concerned for a bit there. Her mother was the meanest thing I had ever run into until I got California redsideds and the largest Eastern I had ever raised. I have no idea why she changed, I'm hoping her little sister doesn't do the same thing because I've never had a snake that loved attention or was as gentle as her.

[drache]

Tori - you're scaring me
I hope this doesn't happen with Sammy

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

My female puget Bluebie, my young female radix Radish (always biting out of hunger that one), my male concinnus and my hypo eastern are both like this. I treat them the exact same way as all my other garters- spoiled rotten. Honestly, Some garters, especially females, just tend to get really, really volatile around feeding time. Bluebie is almost impossible for me to contain when I feed her. She SLAPS her tail around and jumps about like a crazy snake!!! My hypo eastern is the most cage aggressive, I stick my hand into the tank and she instantly becomes very defensive and will mock strike for the slightest reason. I don't take it as a bad thing... I like the ones with gusto, it shows that they are robust and healthy. I don't handle any given snake more than once a week, and 90% of the garters are still very calm, but there's that handful that's crazy.... wild look in their eyes... I am not really sure much can be done since it seems to be more a personality thing than a husbandry thing, at least in my case. Bluebie lives with 3 other girls, all whom are much, MUCH calmer

what kind of gloves are you using? I heard if you use latex, supposedly they HATE the taste of it and it can help to teach the snake not to bite (because you taste really baddd) although I've never tried it, I can't see it hurting!

[gwynhwyfar]

I'm really hoping that she gets out of this bad mood because I don't think it's cute or funny or fun or anything else good. It's annoying.

I've been using thin leather because of the protection against her teeth. I don't enjoy carefully removing a snake who is musking me and trying to bite me again. I couldn't use latex, but maybe I'll try non-latex and see if she hates their taste.

She acts normally rather than the new fondness for biting -- I don't even have to try to touch her for her to lunge for me. Just lifting the water dish out to change the water is enough to get her to turn into scary-bitey-snake. So I don't think it's physical discomfort.

As far as feeding -- she's on rosy reds with the occasional earthworm (occasional because it's winter and finding them is less easy) rolled in vitamin powder. I've tried food of the no-longer-alive version and she's utterly uninterested in them. No chunks of fish, no pinkies, nothing except the living critters. Which she really LOVES. She'll eat 10 nice sized rosy reds at one time, the little slithery pig.

[guidofatherof5]

As far as feeding -- she's on rosy reds with the occasional earthworm (occasional because it's winter and finding them is less easy) rolled in vitamin powder. I've tried food of the no-longer-alive version and she's utterly uninterested in them. No chunks of fish, no pinkies, nothing except the living critters. Which she really LOVES. She'll eat 10 nice sized rosy reds at one time, the little slithery pig.

Rosy reds are for the most part off limits for Garters. They contain Thiaminase which causes a b1 deficiency and neurological problems. I can't say your snakes problems could be caused by thiaminase, but it's something to know. Sounds like rosy's are the main part of its diet. Check:http://www.thamnophis.com/caresheets...?title=Thiamin,

[drache]

As far as feeding -- she's on rosy reds with the occasional earthworm (occasional because it's winter and finding them is less easy) rolled in vitamin powder. I've tried food of the no-longer-alive version and she's utterly uninterested in them. No chunks of fish, no pinkies, nothing except the living critters. Which she really LOVES. She'll eat 10 nice sized rosy reds at one time, the little slithery pig.

there is a chance that her changed behavior could be early signs of some nutritional deficiency
either way you should try to switch her away
as daunting as this may seem (and believe me, I know), you can probably do it
I managed it with two very recalcitrant garters - confirmed live fish eaters - and I have no special touch or anything
the way that worked best, even though I definitely didn't believe it would, was the method where you toss some pinkies into the water dish with the minnows, and you just give it the bare minimum of water to keep the minnows afloat - it's disgusting, and every time your snake spits out the pinky she grabbed by accident, you're gonna go "it's not working"; but she will get used to the taste of the pink just because she'll forget what fish without pinks tastes like, and two, three, four feedings down the line, she'll actually eat the damn thing, and after a while it may even be what she'll eat first, but either way, there are ways to transition on from there

[Snake lover 3-25]

yeah... i'd definitely switch to pinkies..... or at the very least guppies or another "safe" fish....

[Sid]

I keep mainly Easterns and have had females with "short term" mood swings where they would show an attitude. Act aggresive for a week or two and then return to normal. But...... there was one that had been very east to handle for quite some time, then I was feeding one day and several teens came by wanting to see them eat. So, it was sure, why not. Just as my good girl starts to grab her pinkie, they all started pointing. She went nuts and never got over it.

[gwynhwyfar]

the way that worked best, even though I definitely didn't believe it would, was the method where you toss some pinkies into the water dish with the minnows, and you just give it the bare minimum of water to keep the minnows afloat - it's disgusting, and every time your snake spits out the pinky she grabbed by accident, you're gonna go "it's not working"; but she will get used to the taste of the pink just because she'll forget what fish without pinks tastes like, and two, three, four feedings down the line, she'll actually eat the damn thing, and after a while it may even be what she'll eat first, but either way, there are ways to transition on from there

I'm going to try that -- at the worse, I'll be going 'eww, yuck' about the floating pinkie. (ewwwwwwww)

Do you think it might have better luck if I reduce the number of rosy reds she's offered with the pinkie in the water? Ie: if she's more hungry, she might be more likely to actually eat the pinkie rather than spitting it back out.

I was hoping that with the vitamin powder, she'd be okay nutritionally. I know that guppies would be better for the little bratling, but there isn't a local store that carries feeder guppies. Just rosy reds and goldfish.