My California Kiongsnake is being very, very agressive. What do i do?

Question

Well, to start off,i've had my my desert phase california kingsnake for only a few months and he's being VERY agressive. It just finished shedding and it wasn't bad before it shedded but mow it's bad. I can't even put my hand in the cage without it hiding or trying to bite me. Sometimes when i used to pick him up, he wiuld wrap his tal around me and whipe this wet stuff on my hand. He was perfectly fine for the first like 2 or 3 weeks but now hes just so agressive. I'm not really scared or anything because his mouth isnt big eanough to get around my finger but i want to break the habit before he gets big eanough to actually do harm. Please help me out and tell me how to make my snake nicer and happier. I feed him about twice a week and i have a big, natural invironment in his cage. Obviously i have never hurt him either.

Oh ya, i forgot to say that i feed him outside the cage and i sometimes put on gloves or a clean sock over my hand so he doesn't recognize it.

this is good advice but i seriously cant even pick him up. he lunges at me over and over again and then releases this horrrrible smelling stuff and then wipes it on me and i cant sneak up behind him as soon as i touch him he turns around and tries to grab me

and i would put a cloth over his head but its like the size of a peanut

Well, what i think i'll do is just turn off his light for now so he can relax and get kinda cooled down and then leav it off tomorrow and when i get back from school just go right in and grab him.

Answer 1

First have you been washing or sanitizing your hands before trying to handle him? You need to be if your not. Have you been feeding him enough, my daughters bit her when he was still hungry. My daughters is about 30" long and eats 6 or more fuzzies a week, she feeds him twice a week. He'll eat more right after shedding however. It also sounds like your snake is peeing on you and marking his territory, just be sure and wash your hand very well. We wrap a tissue of several pieces of toilet paper around his lower end to keep it off of us, but it's not full proof. My daughter's went through an aggressive stage too, but she'd just reach in and pick him up biting or not. He soon realized she wasn't afraid and gave up on trying to bite her. Your snake is sensing some sort of fear from you and has the upper hand on you. My daughter was scared of hers at first. She worked with one at the pet store for a month, but after I put a deposit on him, he escaped. They ordered this one and she had no time to work with him before I brought him home. He'll continue to do this unless you show him you have no fear of any kind. It took her about a month working with him but, she can now walk around the house with her snake around her neck. She still gets peed on still however. Hers is a lavender California king snake (banded) and she named him Cobra because of his original behavior.

Answer 2

I'm not a snake expert, but I do know that snakes will bite you if they smell any trace of meat on your hands (they're not that bright, but you've got to love them). Wash your hands thoroughly before and after handling your snake. Also give your snake several hours of alone time after eating, since a snake that has just eaten tends to be grumpy and sensitive when handled.

Handling the snake often is probably the key to fixing the problem. It sounds like he's scared of you, and eliminating on you, striking you, and hiding from you are the only ways he knows how to express it. Handling him gently a few times a day should help. When you go to pick him up from his cage, you might want to put a light cloth over his head to prevent him from biting and calm him down. And you probably already know this, but never squeeze a snake or hold it firmly. Always allow it to glide through your hands without blocking him.

I hope that helps!

EDIT:
If he keeps lunging at you, wear some good leather gloves and long sleeves so that he can't hurt your hand. With your hands and wrists protected, don't be afraid of him. Just reach in and very gently pick him up. He'll probably bite you, but you won't feel it with the gloves. Don't retract your hands when he lunges! This will only encourage him to do it more. With the gloves on, you have nothing to be afraid of, so just handle him until he cools off, and then let him go back in the cage. Continue using gloves to pick him up and handle him a few times a day, and don't put him back until he's relaxed a little. You might want to wear some sort of mask so that you don't have to smell it when he musks. Remember, the reason he's doing this is because he's really scared of you. Just keep handling him with the gloves, and don't stop using them until you're sure he's not going to lunge anymore. Eventually he'll have to realize that you're not reaching in there to harm him.

Answer 3

I had a California king (albino) once and she got the same way, but just one year. Turns out she had eggs (infertile) but she was a real b!@#* until she laid the eggs and for a while after.

Some don't like to be handled near the time that they shed. Also , as lots of others here have said, don't handle him after you've handled food OR any other reptiles you may own - kings eat other snakes, so just another reptile smell may set them off.

I don't know if this will work for a snake, but a book I have on monitors recommended using a dog product called "Phooey" to stop biting. It has a bitter sour apple taste so if they bite, this gets in their mouth and tastes bad, so they let go and learn not to bite. I used this for a savannah monitor (a rescue) and he did stop biting after about a month. Start by spraying on the gloves, them just on your hands, then wean him off it altogether.

And, as the rest have said, keep handling him. And when he bites, DON'T put him down - this is the result he wants, so don't condition him to think he'll be put down if he bites.

Answer 4

Your snake is going through what is considered his "rebellious teen years". This is the phase when your snake is testing his ground and growing mentally. Approaching your snake from the face first, is not a good idea at this point. Just because you think he can't bite you doesn't mean he can't!
Do not stop picking him up or socializing your snake. This will be bad for both of you. Come at your snake from behind him. Try grabbing him just below his head area as to restrain him, then allow him to relax in your grip. Do not squeeze him very hard to restrain him, as he will take this as a provocation. Make sure to keep him out a minimum of 20 minutes, in your hold, and allow him to investigate your person. Getting to know your smell and touch will allow him to trust you better. The more you get to know each other-the better it will be for you both.
Hope some of this helps, good luck.

Answer 5

All I can say is just keep picking him up. If he's still small just let him bite and musk. If you don't pick him up because he keeps doing it then he knows it'll work and there's no reason for him to stop. Most calm down after being out for a minute or 2, he'll eventually tame down. You get used to the musk smell eventually too.

Answer 6

to start off with he is still young and at that size they will be defensive as they are vulnerable, they are also nippy during and shortly after a shed cycle, i also have heard that feeding in a seperate tank works but after doing my own research and giving it lots of thought here is my opinion on that theory, i think its wrong, and heres why, snakes are not "intelligent" they have instincts, so if you are feeding your snake anywhere they would still associate your hand as where food comes from if they were able to remember, but they associate food with temperature and scent so if you dont wash hands after handling rodents you are gonna smell like one. my advice is to just continue to use gloves when you pick him up, and hold him and play with him daily and he will get used to being handled.
good luck and happy herping

Answer 7

be nice to it all snakes are very agressive around shedding.
when you hold it make sure it can keep on moving by turning your arms like a ferrit wheel

snakes get agressive when their natural forward motion is halted.
let it slide over your arms and put an arm in front changing arms so that it is constantly sliding ,this stops the agression.

Answer 8

Turn down the heat in his cage a few degrees. If they get too warm & have no way to cool down, they can act very eratic & aggressive.

Answer 9

For starters is it a wild snake?

Answer 10

Take him to an animal psychologist.