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shaking tail

raquelv

New member
this was really weird and i don't know what to do....
so i was in bed last night and almost asleep with i heard alot of commotion going on in jack and Will's cage. So i turn on my nightstand stand and of course to light makes them freeze. So i get up and i see that they are no longer curled up together like they were before i went to bed. will, who is younger and smaller than jack was halfway under the water dish and jack's head was just at his tail. At first i though jack was attacking will because he did that once after they ate even though they were separated. But that didn't make sense because they ate like five days ago. As I'm coming over, i can see jack shaking his tail like a rattlesnake would. i could hear it vibrating really fast on the bark. Well, then moment i sit down in front of the cage, jack REALLY freaks out (he has never done this before) and flys backward and hit the back then dives under the woodchips. I then take will out and put him in the small cage. While i was doing that Jack was shaking his tall again, but by the time i was done, he was acting normal. I picked him up and he was still acting normal. It was just really strange and i don't know could have caused it. my sister's milk snake used to shake its tail before she picked it up, but it has stopped now. The milk would do it when it was scared, but that doesn't make much sense in jack's case. Even though they are both very young, i know jack is much more aggressive than will, so the whole thing just doesn't make sense. :shrugs: Has anyone had a similar experience???
 
This is totally normal for a corn and plenty of other snakes for that matter. They are trying to mimic a rattlesnake to tell who/whatever is pissing them off or scaring them to stop or else. It's a natural instinct for them to do this because many predators in the wild won't dare go near a pissed off rattlesnake. As for why he was doing it, he was probably mad at your other snake. It really is not a good idea to house snakes together. Some argue that it's OK for corns but I still wouldn't try it if I were you. Here is a link: http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27177

Scroll down and check out the pictures. I think you'll be having second thoughts about housing more than one snake together. I would recommend getting a seperate tank posthaste before the tail rattling turns into something a little more aggressive if you know what I mean.

Hope this helps.
 
If I were you I would get another set-up for Will and separate the two or your going to have a gravid female or just one live snake. They are ether mating or fighting, more likely fighting. Separate them now!
Here's a few more links.

Cohabitation
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17308
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31192

Husbandry and such
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php? T=28341
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28342
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17224
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?p=133428#post6
 
erisan said:
This is totally normal for a corn and plenty of other snakes for that matter. They are trying to mimic a rattlesnake to tell who/whatever is pissing them off or scaring them to stop or else. It's a natural instinct for them to do this because many predators in the wild won't dare go near a pissed off rattlesnake.

Or maybe rattlesnake evolution took the whole tail-rattling thing to a different level. I highly doubt that every snake in the world that rattles its tail is doing so in order to mimic a recently-evolved, new-world group of snakes. Be careful in stating personal interpretations as fact.
 
Roy Munson said:
Or maybe rattlesnake evolution took the whole tail-rattling thing to a different level.
Thanks for that. :)

Anyway, even if some snakes can and do get along being housed together, what you witnessed was a pretty good sign that yours are not getting along and that they'd be much better off being permanently separated.
 
thanks for all the help. I guess i will need to separate them. I have housed them together for about a year and a half and they always seemed to do fine together. They are always curled up together in the cage...sometimes it seemed like Will followed Jack around. Why do think think is sudden animosity now after such a long time of peace??? It is very puzzling to me...like yesterday they had been curled up together like always all day. They were behind the waterdish and they usually don't go there but it seemed normal because they were together. I really want to ask them, "What were you thinking!!!!" but of course it wouldn't solve my problem. :nope: oh well
 
Its spring, and breeding season for corns. They are at the right age to be aware of that, and are probably either 2 males fighting over territory, or a male and a female trying to mate. Either way, you should separate them for their own safety. The only reason they stay together is because they both like the same hide, or both want to be on the warm side or cold side and have no other place to go, but to be together.
 
Roy Munson said:
Or maybe rattlesnake evolution took the whole tail-rattling thing to a different level. I highly doubt that every snake in the world that rattles its tail is doing so in order to mimic a recently-evolved, new-world group of snakes. Be careful in stating personal interpretations as fact.

Point well taken. It's a loose interpretation anyways mainly to get the point across that the snake was definitely not happy.
 
Its breeding season and they're going through puberty! Yikes!!! Seperate them before anything bad happens. There comes a time when kids get too old to share a room together...
 
hey guys, im new and actually wanted to make a post about this same thing. ive had my corn for a while, hes about 2 and a half years old now and fairly tame. only ever snapped at me when i tried to get a mouse out of his food dish but thats normal. a few weeks ago i fed him a live mouse and i noticed his tail doing the rattlesnake thing and also today i wanted to take him out of the tank and same thing, everytime i touched him his tail would shake and he'd take off trying to hide somewhere.

i dont really want to stress him out too much by trying to get him out if he is in fact showing me a sign of caution, so what do you suggest i do about it? leave him be for a while or risk stressing him out and try to get him out to handle him?

great forum btw :)
 
uchi said:
hey guys, im new and actually wanted to make a post about this same thing. ive had my corn for a while, hes about 2 and a half years old now and fairly tame. only ever snapped at me when i tried to get a mouse out of his food dish but thats normal. a few weeks ago i fed him a live mouse and i noticed his tail doing the rattlesnake thing and also today i wanted to take him out of the tank and same thing, everytime i touched him his tail would shake and he'd take off trying to hide somewhere.

i dont really want to stress him out too much by trying to get him out if he is in fact showing me a sign of caution, so what do you suggest i do about it? leave him be for a while or risk stressing him out and try to get him out to handle him?

great forum btw :)

Hi
Yes i would certainly leave him for a while, my male rattles his tail sometimes. More so at the moment because he wants to get to my female :) . If he really seems stressed out i leave him for a while then go back to him. I have just took control in the past (normally when i want to clean him out) he usually calms down once i have been holding him for a few minutes. I wouldn't stress him out unnecessarily though.

good Luck
isobel
 
my sister's milk snake did the same thing all the time when she when to pick it up. One she was holding it though, it calmed down
 
isobel said:
Hi
Yes i would certainly leave him for a while, my male rattles his tail sometimes. More so at the moment because he wants to get to my female :) . If he really seems stressed out i leave him for a while then go back to him. I have just took control in the past (normally when i want to clean him out) he usually calms down once i have been holding him for a few minutes. I wouldn't stress him out unnecessarily though.

good Luck
isobel


thanks for the reply, i managed to get him out tonite, ended up putting my fingers on him until he calmed down a little and then took him out, he was curious and wanted to go back to his tank for a few minutes bt then calmed right down. and of course once he got comfortable he went back to his old tricks, one being trying to find out what under my sleeve and then showing me just how hard he can constrict my bicep when exploring, lol.
 
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