Aggressive after feeding

[rvan]

I am new to snakes and have had this one(Sunglow Motley) for about 2 months now. (He is about 20 months old.)I move him to a different container when I feed him and the first two times it went smooth. After he ate I was able to pick him up and move him a couple of feet to his home. He then went blue and shed and did not eat during that period.

The last two feeding I did everything the same, but when I went to remove him from the feed container he began the tail rattle and would strike at my hand. I even put the container on it side and let him onto the carpet then tried the pick-up with the same results.

Is this a common issue? What would you recommend in this situation?

Thanks in advance Randy

[Bartholomew]

Give him some time to settle down after he has eaten. Say 10 minutes or so? You decide.
The more you fiddle with him, the more he's going to get stressed, and the harder it will be for you to get him in his terrarium.

[beautifullywild77]

They are still in hunt/feeding mode right after they eat. It might just be that.

[AliCat37]

I just feed in the cage so I don't need to mess with snakes in feed mode.
Have you tried just letting him slither from the feed box to his cage?

[Kate]

Well you can't feed in the cage with aspen bedding, for the risk of ingesting the bedding. I agree with the others, give him 10 or 15minutes after he's swallowed completely, he should calm down. We feed how you do and we give her awhile to get over the feeding response.

[AliCat37]

Well you can't feed in the cage with aspen bedding, for the risk of ingesting the bedding.

Not true. All of mine are on aspen. All of mine are fed in their cages.

[Nanci]

Some snakes are just like that. They stay in feeding mode for a while. You can either just let him settle down longer after feeding, pour him into his viv from the feeding obtainer, or pick him up with a hook. Almost always once you have the snake out of the feeding bin it settles right back down.

[toxiclight]

We have two that are very aggressive after feeding. They get poured back into their vivs.

I have fed mine on their aspen before...pretty much the main reason I don't feed in their cage is because I like to take the opportunity to clean/refill water while they're in their feeding totes.

[rvan]

Thanks for all the replys. I will give him more time. I think I only gave him a couple of minutes before I tried to move him.

[Chip]

Well you can't feed in the cage with aspen bedding, for the risk of ingesting the bedding.

I feed 100+ colubrid snakes on aspen every week of every year and have since '99. If those numbers aren't enough to sway you, Brian Barcyzk has up to 30,000 at a time (all fed in the cage, for obvious reasons). I'm not a big fan of feeding outside the enclosure for about 6 reasons I'm tired of listing, but for certain animals, I agree that it might have some benefit. Your snake sounds like one that's best fed in the cage. My 2 cents.

[Nanci]

My reasons for feeding in a container are mainly that I have a hands-on inspection of the snake at a regular interval and I have a chance to remove and scrub the water bowl and pick out poop without the snake "helping." I just like it that way.

[beautifullywild77]

Nanci, I have a okeetee that loves helping... LOL Helping me donate blood.