Agressive Male bites Female

[The-Guy]

this evening i went to feed my 2 stimsonis, and i went to take the female out to feed in her feeding enclosure, when the male snake latched onto her and attempted to constrict her...

im not entirely sure why, he hasnt been an agressive snake ever... although he may have just smelt the rats and bitten the closest thing, it had been about a week and a half since he last ate, due to my terrible memory, but i didnt think he should be too hungry, as he has gone most of winter without eating before...

They are currently seperated and eating, i was wondering if i should worry at all, or if i should wait a while before putting them back together (they live together all year round, theyre more pets than a breeding pair, iv tried twice and failed....)

i dont think any harm was done to the female, she may have lost a scale or two, although, i may have damaged a tooth on the male, removing him, which didnt prove easy, i did try to be careful though... he didnt seem all too fussed about taking the rat once he was off her though, so i dont think i did

any advice? should i worry at all


oh, and btw, he is quite a lot larger than she, i think he is about 98cm, she is like 72cm, and a lot thinner, im not sure why, she just never grew much, the female is 7 yrs old, and male is 8 yrs old. i think thats all the relevant info....?


any help apreciated

thanks

David

 

[amazonian]

Just a guess here,
But did you thaw out rodents before trying to seperate them?
Maybe the male smelt the scent of prey.

PS,
Keep them seperated anyway.

 

[The-Guy]

yeah, i did, thats what i figured, how long should i keep them seperated for, i usually leave them apart over night when i feed them anyway, but the enclosure the female is in for feeding isnt realy big enough to live in...

it just struck me as strange, as i usually seperate them after thawing the rats, but he was wrapped around her fully, and wouldnt let go, i even tried teasing him off with the rat, but ended up having to resort to physically removing him... which still took a few minutes....

 

[amazonian]

i even tried teasing him off with the rat, but ended up having to resort to physically removing him..

Mate once they get the scent of prey they go into a feeding frenzy.
Using Rodent to seperate them would have just heightened the stimulation.

I'd seperate them permantly.
It will make feeding alot easier in future.

 

[Tsubakai]

Separating them will also give you a better chance of breeding them come spring.

 

[mungus]

Just a guess here,
But did you thaw out rodents before trying to seperate them?
Maybe the male smelt the scent of prey.

PS,
Keep them seperated anyway.

Bulls eye.........:lol::lol:

 

[The-Guy]

i dont have the space to keep them seperated permanently, as i said, theyre more pets than a breeding pair, the breeding just came with it, shes laid twice, thats not a problem, i just have a dodgy incubator, there isnt a way i can really keep them seperated, there hasnt been a problem until now, i just wanna know if theres a danger in keeping them together, since they have been together for 6 or so years anyway...

as for the frenzy thingo, iv used a mouse to tease him off me before and it worked fine, which is why i tried it...

so yeah, im thinking if theyre seperated for say a week, by that time, they wont even remember eachother anyway...?

 

[licky]

just seperate them before you bring the rats anywhere near their enclsoure. preferably feed the biggest of the 2 outside the enclsoure so he will associate that container with food.

 

[FAY]

It wouldn't of been anything personal to the female or him being classed as aggressive.
It is all about food and he just got too excited. Anything was fair game!

 

[The-Guy]

thanks, thats what i figured, so they should be safe together again tomorrow? i just dont particularly want to come home to just one fat snake... and i use the female with the feeding enclosure for 2 reasons, she is younger, so i had her in there till she was a yearling, so she naturally was already feeding in that enclosure, and she was also reasonably agressive until she was about 2

 

[Emmalicious]

Oh damn.... maybe a confusion because you had the smell of rodent around?

 

[The-Guy]

well yeah... we had established that... spose you didnt read the other posts....?

totally unrelated: interesting how after nearly a year of not posting on this site, i recognise 3 of the 6 ppl that replied to this post...

 

[notechistiger]

It's also very possible that the female didn't grow to what she could have because the male is dominating her. I'd keep them separated to prevent future mistakes. Lucky your male didn't decide to eat your female if he was hungry (the size difference could be worrying )

 

[Khagan]

i dont have the space to keep them seperated permanently

Why did you buy 2 then..?

 

[The-Guy]

Why did you buy 2 then..?

because i was 8 at the time...

im not interesting in the opinion of keeping them seperated all the time, as i said, thats not an option... the size difference hasnt been a problem until now, she was never a heavy eater, so thats probly the reason, they have bred twice, so i dont think they have a particular problem with eachother...

ill put them back together today and see if theres a problem, if not, they should be fine...

 

[licky]

look it was just a one off
still keep them together
as i posted before, just remove them to seperate feeding containers before bringing the ratsnear them

 

[Western python]

my male stimmi gets very hungry this time of year
I think its the last big feed before he slows down and then stopps eating

 

[amazonian]

because i was 8 at the time...

im not interesting in the opinion of keeping them seperated all the time, as i said, thats not an option... the size difference hasnt been a problem until now, she was never a heavy eater, so thats probly the reason, they have bred twice, so i dont think they have a particular problem with eachother...

ill put them back together today and see if theres a problem, if not, they should be fine...

Age is no excuse.
How do you get a licence at the age of 8 anyway?

You have made a post in a public forum and shrugged off very good info given by the members. Mate if your only excuse is you dont have the room then sell one.
Or are you planning on breeding them? and housing all the hatchlings together?

 

[The-Guy]

my dad had the lisence, and knew no better, i still dont see a problem with keeping them together... until now it hasnt been a problem, and i know its good advice to keep them seperate, i didnt shrug it off, i told ppl to stop telling me that because it isnt an option

and seriously, if you got a pet dog when you were 8 and then moved into a house with a slightly smaller backyard that probably isnt quite big enough, would you sell your pet...?

im not sure how many reptiles you have, and whether they're pets, a hobby or a business, but i know, i have 2, and they are pets, not just animals i keep to breed and make money, or anything of the sort

and if i had hatchlings, i would have room to keep them in small individual cages until i could sell them, no need to be agressive about it

the only reason i attempted to breed them, was because i had a male and female, and i figured i may as well, im hoping next time ill be better prepared, and my incubator will work...

if anyone seriously thinks there is a major danger in putting the 2 back together (more than there is in keeping any two animals together...), say so, but if not, no need to insult the fact that i dont have space to keep them seperately

 

[amazonian]

So you have space for individual hatchling enclosures, but not for an adult?
An adult only needs like 2ft of space, even a 60L tub will suffice, where as 10+ hatchlings would take up more room than this IMO.
Put them together if you like, there is no problem with it, but IMO you would be better off seperating them.

PS,
I am fortunate enough to be of age to chose where I live, but if I was not that fortunate then yes if I moved to smaller premises and could not give the animal atleast the minimal space it required then I would offer it to someone close to care for it for free or make other arrangements to fulfill my responsibilities as an animal owner.