agressive corn snake

Question
Hi Paul,
Hopefully you can help me. I recently purchased what I beleive to be either a red albino or carolina cornsnake from a friend.(he is orange and yellow with red spots) The snake had no behavoiral issues before and was very friendly for the first two days that we had him. He crawled all over me! On the second night he crawled into the top of the lid of his tank and fell. (not even two feet) He didn't hit his head or anything but after that he became very angry.He coils up like a cobra, hisses, rattles his tail and will strike repeatedly at me from the tank. This came out of nowhere. If anyone even gets close to the tank this happens. It got so bad that he was spitting blood on the inside of the tank. Its been a week now and we still cant touch him and he wont eat frozen or live mice. His tank is in the living room next to the window across from the tv if that matters. He is about three and a half feet long. His skin recently has lightened up alot so he may be shedding soon. My dragon gets testy when shedding but nothing like this devil snake. He is not anywhere near my Dragon so I know its not him that is making him so mad. Do they usually get very agressive when shedding? Any suggestions? I cant even reach in to give him fresh water and i cant bear to watch a living creature suffer. Any information would be a big help. I read that these are the most docile type of snake so this was very surprising. Maybe he misses his old owner.

Answer
Snakes in general are usually pretty tough when it comes to a small fall like you described. The thing that has me confused / concerned is the "spitting blood" comment. Are you saying that he literally has blood coming out of his mouth? If so then I would suspect some type of internal injury. It just seems odd for such a short fall, but if that is the case a trip to the vet may be in order.

As far as shedding, some snakes will get somewhat upset during this time, but it's usually only when their eyes completely cloud up. This is because the snake can't see as well, so it can't recognize your hand as well. How it reacts varies....some snakes don't seem to get upset, others can get more upset. It would explain the lack of interest in food though.

However, I would suspect that maybe the temp of the cage could be too high. Snakes get much more active as the temps go up. It should be in the low 80s on one end of the tank to aid in food digestion, but should be room temp (about 70) on the other end. Having it too hot, or hot for the entire tank can make a snake too active and more aggressive. Also, you didn't mention the size of the snake and the tank size. If the tank isn't large enough for him, or he doesn't have a hide box, he could feel more threatened. Lastly, a hungry snake can become aggressive too.

If the tank size is sufficient, and the heat settings are ok, then I would wait out the shed and try feeding him after that. Make sure you are offering the same type of food that your friend was using. If you still don't have an luck, you could try returning him to your friend and see if that chills him out.

Paul