agressive cornsnake

Question
Hi Andrew,
I recently bought what i believe to be either a red albino or carolina cornsnake from a friend. The snake had no behavoiral issues before and was very friendly for the first two days that we had him. On the second night he crawled up into the top of the lid in his tank and fell.(only like two feet at the most) He did not hit his head or anything but he has gone completely MAD. Now he coils up like a cobra , hisses, rattles his tail and strikes at the glass whenever anyone comes near it. He keeps striking the glass and spitting blood on it. What could I have done to him to make him sooo angry? He is in the living room next to the window and across from the tv if that matters. my friend drove him across country with him on his lap so he was fine before. Could he be shedding? He won't eat either. HELP!!

Answer
First off i apologize for the late reply.

ok. probably the best thing to do would be to leave him alone for 2 weeks. don't make any contact and don't feed him. he may have been traumatized by something, possibly the fall and just needs time to settle down.

if not you may need to try and tame him down again yourself here are the things you can try:


1) leave an item of your clothing - (preferably an old one and one that has been worn recently and not washed) inside your snake's vivarium for a few nights. this lets the snake get used to you scent and stop seeing it as a threat, hopefully allowing you to pick her up. if not...

2) You can get try ahold of a snake hook if its possible, and attempt to take him out using that first. some snakes tend to prefer being taken out on a snake hook first before being placed in their owners hands. so try that. take him out on a snake hook and when you feel confident, slowly and gently lift him off the hook and into your hands. if this fails move to the next option.

3) Wear some gloves. these will protect you from being bitten to some extent. go into his cage and try and take him out. if he becomes aggressive and starts to hiss or bite, continue to take him out regardless of whether hes hissing or biting (if possible) and try to get him off the ground and into your hands, at which point he should calm down a bit. This contradicts any common sense but the logic here is that he will realize that hissing at you or biting you wont achieve anything and she will hopefully give up after a few weeks. if you do back down when he fights back he will feel that by doing so, he can gain control over you and will continue to do it. eventually though, he will hopefully stop biting and you can attempt to pick him up using your bare hands.

This option does require a lot of confidence, so use this as a last resort. Many people will argue with me about this one but I've used it on both my boas and now they're as good as gold =)