Marquis has turned nippy!

We have a young black rat who was hatched in Sept '06. He was born with 4 kinks in his spine, so we acquired him for free and gave him a nice name for his kinky state - Marquis de Sade (ok, I know that's not really relevant to the question, but I think its kind of clever, so I like sharing *L*). He's been the coolest, mellowest little guy. Except when feeding. He turns on this huge attitude, buzzing his tail and striking at anything that moves. Its kinda funny. But now he's being rather nippy all the time, and it HURTS! I'm wondering if this is a normal phase for young rats to go through and he'll mellow out again in time, or if perhaps its circumstantial.

He's in a very small enclosure at the moment, we're about ready to move him up to 10 gal tank very soon. We put him in a 5 gal to start cuz we heard that if they're in too big of a space, its not good. Is he getting cranky cuz he wants more space now?

Three feedings ago, he gurged. We had just gotten a dog and we think it was due to the dog being around and making him nervous. He's done fine with his subsequent, smaller feedings (that have been dogless). Since he's a ravenous eater, and we've been feeding him substantially smaller meals, could he be so strike happy cuz he's just that hungry?

Also, he *just* finished a shed cycle (like freshly shed today). I've been figuring this could very well be the explanation, except that he's never been this moody while shedding in the past (this is probably his 4th shed with us).

What do you think? Is Marquis just going through some adolescent angst that will pass, or will some of his circumstances change his attitude once they're fixed, or are we going to have to work with him to get him out of it? I've read that baby rat snakes can be bitey, but this just so out of character for him....

I would just give it more time, keep working with him and he should calm down.