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Corn snake scared of me?

Before I say anything else, let me first say that we've had Kellogg for around 2 years, if not more. He's always loved being held and coming out his cage, until a few months ago.

Whenever I try to pick him up, even the slightest touch makes him freak out. He flinches his entire body and/or runs (slithers?) away as fast as he can. I recently even bought a snake hook to try to pick him up, but he still acted terrified, it's the entire "picking up" he doesn't like. Thing is, he still acts like he wants to be out of his cage. He'll explore around his cage and pace back and forth in front of the door; and when I'm doing anything in my room, he'll poke his head out to see what I'm doing.

Other than being terrified of being picked up, nothing else about his behavior has changed. He eats fine, is active, goes to his warm and cool hides, etc. Now, in the 2 years we've had him he's had about... 4 different enclosures. 2 of those were temporary, lasting only a few days because his previous enclosure had cracked. We did get a new snake a few months ago as well, but he started acting up a short while even before that.

I do remember the first time he acted "scared" of me. I had him out, he was crawling around in lap, and a little corner of my shirt shifted on him when he was moving. He bolted to the other side of the room and ever since then he's completely hated being picked up/touched.

I know this is a long post but I hate seeing him so scared of being held and of me and it makes me kind of sad...
 
I wouldn't say he's scared of you. Consider if you were a limbless animal and something huge picked you up. Not only can you not hold onto anything with multiple parts of your body, but your whole weight is being supported on minimal points of contact.
I really doubt he has any issues with you, per say. He just likes to explore. I have one snake that always goes 90 to nothing regardless. He's not scared of me or hateful towards me, he just loves to move. Also, in regards to your shirt scaring him...its just natural for them to flee. They have one means of defense and if they can flee instead of fight, they will. I wouldn't worry about it too much. :)
 
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