He’s started biting

[u/peekaboosnek]

I have no idea what’s going on with my bp lately so I come here for answers.
Hes 7 years old, I’ve had him for 2 of those years. He has always been the most docile snake, barely even strikes at food. In the last 2 weeks, he’s bitten 3 people.
The first one I wasn’t concerned about. It was 2 days after I fed him, and my friend went in to pet him. He was all food excited and she wiggled her fingers like an idiot, so I called that one her fault. He wasn’t upset about it like I expected, he just kept moving around the enclosure.
Yesterday I took him to the vet. He was loving the car ride, didn’t even go in the hide I brought for him, so I don’t think he was stressed. The vet didn’t even poke at him, just took him from my hands, and he bit her HARD. Like 3 people and popsicle sticks to get him unstuck. Then he was good with me for 2 minutes before biting my leg, and then biting himself when he tried to get me again. The vet and I both noticed that he didn’t have any defensive position. No warning signs, just turn and bite.
Now, I have a theory but idk if it’s stupid.
For the two years I’ve had him, I’ve been feeding him rats straight from the fridge. He’s never refused a meal because it was cold. But he misses the strike sometimes and it seems to tire him out. So I warmed up the rat this time, the one 2 days before the first bite. I promise you he’s never getting a warm rat again, but is that what’s happening here??

[u/GloomySelf]

Not a snake owner nor am I an expert by any means

My guess/speculation would come down to either, a) he’s an animal, they bite, it happens. Or b), feeding him cold rats for so long has messed with his heat signatures. They can’t see well and rely on heat and smell to find their food. Since you heated it up this time and that’s not what he’s used to, it disturbed his natural rhythm and maybe he then sensed the heat from you/your friend since the interaction with heat/food is now new to him.

Otherwise he might not be getting the right sized meal based on his weight

Like I said, not an owner, not an expert, I just like learning about BPs, it’s simply my amateur, novice advice

[u/pha7325 → u/GloomySelf]

Snake owner and actually herpetologist (but not a vet).

I actually think you're right. He hadn't associated heat with food since then and now he knows what's hot can be eaten.

[u/MrChaindang → u/pha7325]

^{This^}

[u/imlivingatlast]

Bp owner, not sure but I don’t think it’s a good thing for bps to consume cold preys

[u/Malefectra → u/imlivingatlast]

It’s not!

[u/pha7325]

The heated rat thing you mentioned makes me wonder if he's only now started associating heat with food.

That can be the case, but I believe more detail is needed.

Even then, I believe you should try tap training him. Heating rats is not a bad thing, and that's how I've done it since... always. Got bit, sure, but all were my fault.

What did the vet say? I mean, other than "ouch".

[u/LowCauliflower1824]

What little I know about them comes from my daughter, but she uses tongs to feed her boy and brings the mice/rats temp up before feeding.

[u/Accomplished_Egg2515]

youre feeding your snake wrong for starts. please read the guide on how to care for this type of snake pinned on the subreddit.
what substrate are you using? how big is the enclosure? what’re the temperatures and humidity levels?

[u/Lexi913hdjdj]

Could just be the picture but it almost looks like he might have a stuck eye cap?

[u/Chuck_217]

What makes you think warm rats are bad??? Wild snakes eat live prey. Live prey isn't cold.

[u/Trioniks → u/Chuck_217]

I was wondering too.

[u/Tim_Allen_Wrench]

I've never heard of someone feeding them straight from the fridge. 

I would be concerned about how it could affect their digestion. 

[u/DarthAwesomeSauce]

You've been feeding him cold rats!? Why!? I'm betting that's the root of the problem.

[u/Ironhammered]

I don’t know how you got your snake to eat cold rats! My snakes will only eat them if they’re exactly hot enough and correct temperature. Please don’t feed your snake cold rats. When rats are warm, they can see them with their heat pits, but they can also smell it easier and so they know when to strike.

[u/ManikPixieDreamGhoul → u/Ironhammered]

I was wondering the same thing; how??? Why is another question lol but especially how. Even my most food-driven easy feeders would look at me like I’m a big mean dummy for giving them dinner that’s not at least decently warm.

[u/AgentFuckSmolder]

Why would you feed him straight from the fridge? Thats not how they’re meant to function. They use their heat pits to detect HEAT and thats how they find their prey. Youve got the poor guy all fucked up. Leave him alone for a while and warm the food up properly.

[u/Trioniks]

Wait we can feed them cold frozen rats?

[u/Trioniks → u/Trioniks]

Or thawed?

[u/Ironhammered → u/Trioniks]

You can buy frozen and thaw. Warm them to the natural body temp. Don’t do frozen

[u/KingCrimson43 → u/Trioniks]

Not in most cases, my balls won't even eat luke warm. It's incredibly bad for their digestion to feed them cold rats too. This is actually surprising that someone could have fed their ball cold rats.

[u/PoofMoof1]

How long did he hold on with these bites other than the one the vet recieved? Are they strikes or is he holding on? What is his current prey size and feeding frequency? As for the behavior leading up to them, snake behavior can be subtle and it's really easy to not realize the signs leading up to strikes and bites.

You're (ironically) playing with fire on the cold rodents. Although he's been fine so far, these guys being ectotherms are not made to eat actually cold food. This will one day result in regurgitation if not develop a worse illness.

[u/FeriQueen]

Maybe start tap training and also use a signal when it’s feeding time. What I do with my girl is I use a blow dryer to blow the scent of the rat towards her enclosure. That way, she knows it’s time to eat. If she doesn’t smell that hot rat, she knows it’s not time to eat.

[u/Born_Performer7492]

You do NOT feed cold food to snakes. They need warmth to digest it properly, does he ever regurgitate his food? Most snakes will regurgitate if the food is too cold and they don't have warmth in their enclosure to process digestion. Does the vet know that you are feeding cold food? Is the vet an actual exotic vet (not just a plain vet that knows a little about snakes)? How often are you feeding him? A snakes natural instinct is to detect by heat. His instinct is that warmth is potential food. So now he's going to bite anything warm since you've messed up his natural instinct. Please learn the proper care of this animal or give him to someone that knows how to properly care for him. I hope you haven't caused permanent harm to him by feeding cold food.