Ok so I got a tail Rattle

I fed whiskey like 2 days ago after he ate and had the fuzzy down good i put him back in his tank.. I went to change his water an the lil butt head gave me a tail rattle.. that is the first time I have seen any aggression expressed from him... Now I havent fooled with him much during the winter cuz its cold in my house and I didnt want his body temp to change to much and fast... so do you think I ruined him or was it just cuz he just ate? he never did me that before

Don't think of a tail rattle as a sign of aggression. It's more like- I'm busy eating, don't bug me. I'm busy sleeping, don't bug me. I'm in my comfortable home, don't bug me. Nearly every one of my snakes rattles. I'd be shocked if it was ever followed up by a bite. Now if a snake makes its head into a triangle shape, or arches up into an S-shape- that's a serious warning!

see Whiskey always curls his neck in an S but has never tried to bite me.. and when i handle him he does do the triangle thing with his head but never struck at me.. IDK i think my lil bugger is a wierdo.. LoL

Originally Posted by 1TimeMoM

see Whiskey always curls his neck in an S but has never tried to bite me.. and when i handle him he does do the triangle thing with his head but never struck at me.. IDK i think my lil bugger is a wierdo.. LoL

I think snakes will curl their neck into an S at times, but not so much in an aggressive way. For example, sometimes when I'm holding my corn he'll just be looking around and curl his neck into an S sometimes. When they're doing the S curve and being aggressive about it, you sure can tell though...it's not like snakes don't tend to give plenty of warning haha.

Regards,
Josh

Okay, I mean like this! That is a guaranteed strike!

LoL no he doesnt do me that.. when I hold him he stays flat an does the lil s thing he doesnt pick himself up like that.. sometimes he does but never struck at me..

Originally Posted by 1TimeMoM

LoL no he doesnt do me that.. when I hold him he stays flat an does the lil s thing he doesnt pick himself up like that.. sometimes he does but never struck at me..

I think they sometimes do it when they're nervous perhaps because they'd rather have a potential threat hurt their body than their head. As for Nanci's picture, that's a definite "leave me alone NOW!".

Love that picture Nanci lol...."what you talkin' about Willis??"

Tail rattleing is nothing to worry about! Baby corns are naturally very wary of their surroundings. My baby bloodreds do that all the time so did my other babies. Heck, even Doc my granite tail rattles. They are just doing what rattlesnakes took 1 step further in the evolutionary timeline.

Originally Posted by 1TimeMoM

I fed whiskey like 2 days ago after he ate and had the fuzzy down good i put him back in his tank.. I went to change his water an the lil butt head gave me a tail rattle.. that is the first time I have seen any aggression expressed from him... Now I havent fooled with him much during the winter cuz its cold in my house and I didnt want his body temp to change to much and fast... so do you think I ruined him or was it just cuz he just ate? he never did me that before

Tail rattling isn't agression its just the snake saying hey you seem to be threatening me and I don't like it. Just means they want to be left alone. Nah agression is more like rapid striking.