Help :/

I've had my baby corn for about 3 months now and all of a sudden she started getting aggressive, striked a few times at me and won't let me pick her up.
I did have a kids birthday party so I'm not sure if that started it. She has been fed and from what I can tell she's not about to shed. There's a few times I've sprayed her with water when she was hiding that wasn't her hide.
What can I do?

Most likely it is a defensive rather than an aggressive reaction. Your baby is probably scared and feeling threatened for some reason. Have there been any changes to her cage? Are her temperatures maybe increasing now that winter is over? Or if the kids at the party were holding her she may have been stressed or hurt and made an association of being held is scary.
Make sure your temperatures are correct and your snake has lots of places to hide and feel safe in her cage. After that, patience and gentle consistent handling while things are quiet in the house should help. Make sure you're not reacting to the striking or being nervous yourself. Move around as little as possible while holding, and do your handling sessions while there's not a lot of activity from other people or pets going on at the same time.

I'm not an expert, but these things have helped me when getting my babies used to being held. And maybe don't allow the kids to hold her until you regain her confidence. And then only with close supervision, as should be with all kid+pet interactions.

I hope this helps, but I'm sure others will chime in with more advice as well.

She wasn't held during the party. My snakes have their own room and the door was closed most of the time but the running around and screaming was pretty loud. The temperature hasn't changed and she has a few hiding spots and likes to "dig".

Most snakes are not aggressive. They don't chase people around. It's usually the other way around.

You stuck your hand in her cage. You are the aggressor. She wants to be left alone for some reason. She is striking at you in self defense as most snakes will do.

You stated you sprayed her with water. Perhaps you scared her or annoyed her and now she sees you as that "Terrible thing that sprayed me with water."

You have 2 options - leave her alone and you won't get bitten. Or, reach in and handle her anyway, and accept that you might get bitten. It's not going to hurt if she does bite you, and sooner or later you have to handle her or you'll never be able to.

Ok karlmcknight maybe I should've worded it better for you.
Of course I will have to handle her again because you know I don't want her to starve and die. I just want to find a way to get her trust back.
As for spraying her I didn't do it on purpose, again she likes to dig and I don't always see her right away.

The only way to get her used to, and unafraid of, you handling her is to handle her more. Take her out every evening and have her sit through an hour or so of TV with you, where she isn't the sole focus of your attention, but she can just sit and relax with you.

Nanci said:

The only way to get her used to, and unafraid of, you handling her is to handle her more. Take her out every evening and have her sit through an hour or so of TV with you, where she isn't the sole focus of your attention, but she can just sit and relax with you.

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That makes me have to ask how you get them to sit with you. My baby likes to explore and winds through my hands, crawls all over my arms, and would crawl away if I let her. Any advice?

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they usually calm down after a few minutes of being held. Babies are more squirmy. An older snake will sit for hours without even moving sometimes.

Obviously you don't want to just sit down and let go of her, you will have to hold her until she calms down. Let her crawl through your hands, and then place one hand in front of the other and let her crawl, keeping one hand supporting her and one hand in front of her to crawl into.

Eventually she will get tired of crawling and calm down.

Karl_Mcknight said:

they usually calm down after a few minutes of being held. Babies are more squirmy. An older snake will sit for hours without even moving sometimes.

Obviously you don't want to just sit down and let go of her, you will have to hold her until she calms down. Let her crawl through your hands, and then place one hand in front of the other and let her crawl, keeping one hand supporting her and one hand in front of her to crawl into.

Eventually she will get tired of crawling and calm down.

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That's what I did. I got tired before she did. Lol nice to know I'm doing it right.

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do it every day. she will calm down.

Here's something else you can try. Wear a loose fitting comfortable Cotton type shirt and tuck it into your pants. Let the snake crawl up one of your sleeves. They love to do this. She can't go anywhere once she's in there. She either has to come out through a sleeve or your neck opening. While she's in there she will enjoy your body heat, get used to your smell, and you can still gently rub her through your shirt.

I'm enclosing a picture of my snake, "Rufus" showing what I'm talking about. This picture is about a year old, he's a bit bigger now, but he loves to crawl and play inside my shirt.

You just have to be careful you don't forget she's in there.

Thanks for the advice. She is shedding tonight, sip maybe I will warrior a full day too try that. I also better make suite I have on a bra or she could hurt herself trying to hide underneath. They might squish her. thanks again for the advice. I held her for hours last night. She kept crawling over and through my hands and fingers. She even pooped on me, which wad ok since I was worried she hadn't since her feeding. Lol

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