my male is suddenly not holdable

Okay so i got my snakes a few months ago and they were all sweet as can be when they shared a tank, after the unexpected egg fiasco i separated them. but i cant hold one of the males now. he's always been the most flighty shakes his tail, bit me once when i first got him, but i think he was using his mouth as an arm because he let go as soon as he'd coiled up my arm and hid in my shirt. now however i cant get near him getting him out of his cage to hold him takes for ever and while i can successfully get him out he's become a whip worm he used to just slither up my arm now he trys to get away. it's like he's afraid i'm going to eat him or something. i originally moved him to a smaller tank but removed the other two and shifted things around putting my gravid female into the hospital tank i'd put him in is it possible that since he found their normal tank empty he thinks something happened to the other 2? because he wont even come out of his hide. any suggestions?

Sounds like he may be getting ready to shed

no even in full blue i could put my hand in there and he'd slither up my arm. i have never seen him act like this

Could it be the change? Different smells around him? Are you washing your hands with something different.. that might smell different to him???

No same hand sanitizer same everything although we did put new moss in the frog habitat but i cant see that changing anything unless it's changing the smell of the house slightly.then again there is construction going on in the house 2 doors down so maybe that's disturbing him but why aren't the others effected?

Did you empty and clean the viv he returned to before you put him in? If so, maybe it smells unfamiliair and he does not feel safe now.

that might be it

I've had similar things happen with one of my everglades rat snakes. When breeding them I would put the male and female together for a few days at a time. After separating them both got cage aggressive for a couple of weeks. It seems to me that they became accustomed to movement and distractions around them from the other snake and as a result, they were very easy to pick up and handle during this time. When there wasn't anything around them they got used to being alone and probably liked it.

It only took a couple weeks of handling them to get them over their aggressiveness by handling them almost daily. As long as I don't let them have very long periods of solitude they are very docile.

This led me to the idea of "taming" aggressive snakes by cohabbing them for a few days at a time to help them get used to distractions. It always seems to calm them down and I'll be able to split them up as is appropriate after a couple of sessions.

I recieved two cornsnakes yesterday via someone that I met here.
They both are kinda itchy when it comes to being handled, and I dont handle them that often because im letting them get used to their new habitats.

Maybe because theyre used to having another snake in there, or they are used to the smell of the other tank, thats why hes being aggressive?

Originally Posted by Firefur

no even in full blue i could put my hand in there and he'd slither up my arm. i have never seen him act like this

I think his behavior sounds like he might be in some kind of grumpy shed mode as well. One month of owning a snake isn't really long enough to fully experience all the ranges of behaviors it can exhibit.

I have a 5 year old male who doesn't have a history of acting oddly in blue. The other day my friend wanted to hold him and he just looked POed, like he was going to snap at one of us. He was hiding under all of his substrate.

Even though I haven't had problems with him in the past being snappy ever, we decided to leave him alone for the time being.

Lo and behold, within the week there was a fresh shed in his tub and he was back to his normal self.