Californian king, about eight months, had him since August. Every time I open the tub he vibrates his tail against the substrate and it makes a buzzing noise that genuinely sounds like a rattle. First time it happened I shut the lid and went away.
He eats fine and has never struck at me. Is the buzzing something I should be reading as him being stressed, and is there anything I can do about it other than wait for him to grow up?
Handle him calmly and regularly for short spells rather than rarely and for a long time, and skip it entirely right after feeding, which risks a regurgitation, and during a shed when he cannot see properly.
Most kings settle a lot as they grow. Mine buzzed at everything for his first year and now he just comes out and gets on with it. Plenty of hides in there helps more than people expect, because a snake with somewhere to be secure is less defensive about everything else.
Some of them also twitch the tail just before striking at food. That one is excitement rather than warning.
Tail shaking on its own is not a health sign, so nothing here needs me. What would: twitching or tremors with no trigger at all, loss of coordination, refusing food for a long stretch while losing weight, or bubbles at the mouth or nose and any wheeze.
The distinction is the same one that comes up with every defensive display. A behaviour that arrives when you open the lid and stops when you leave is about you. One that happens while nothing is happening is about the animal.
@approach_from_side · 5d ago · 3 replies
He is doing a rattlesnake impression, and that is exactly what it is for. The tail buzzing against dry substrate produces a noise close enough to a rattle that a predator which has learned to leave rattlesnakes alone thinks twice. Rat snakes, gophers, bulls and milks all do it.
So it means startled or defensive in that moment, not stressed as a condition and not ill. Eight months old and two months in your house is precisely the profile: young snakes are more defensive and new ones are still settling.
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@buzzing_in_the_tub · 5d ago
Is there a way to open the tub that does not set him off every single time?
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@hook_trained · 5d ago
Open it slowly, come in from the side rather than down from above, and let him see you before anything touches him. A hand descending from overhead is a bird as far as he is concerned. Touching him with a hook first also tells him this is not feeding, which takes a lot of the tension out.
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