twitching when picking up?

[craigj1187]

sometimes when i go to get my snake out he twitches. like when I go to put my fingers under him to pick him up he will move or twitch his body to get my fingers off. is he just telling me, he doesnt want to be handeld? he has never struck at me or hissed, but is this the way he is telling me to leave him alone? (I only handle him about once a week)

[Herpenthusiast3]

It's normal behavior. The snake probably just needs to be handled a little more. My snake use to raise his back up and twitch along with hiss. He used to put on a big show but never bit. It's just the snakes way of saying to go away. My impression of snakes is that if you let them be recluses they will eventually become less tolerant. :/ that's why when my snake hisses or does that behavior I pick him up and hang out with him for five minutes or so to show him everything's all good. Since I started doing this he has since stopped all irritable type behaviors. I still don't mess with him in she'd though. I figure he has a right to be irritable in shed. Hope this helps.

[MrLang]

It's hard to tell when a snake is sleeping. Maybe you spooked him!

Totally normal.

[Willie76]

My spider was a real :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r: when I first got her (stress from FedEx flight, new enclosure, new person, etc). Gave her a few days and a feeding before I handled her. The first week or two she would suck in air and bloat herself up...but picked her up anyway and held her 5-10 minutes for a few weeks and moved up from there...

Now, she literally crawls into my hands when it's play time...she is the best! Snakes do not train like a dog or car...they become tolerant of us and a mutual respect is developed...but we need to work with them on a near daily basis...

That's what has worked for me and have happy, healthy, puppy-dog balls.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LLLReptile]

Just sounds like normal behavior from a snake that's not used to being handled. As long as it continues to eat, you could try handling it a little more/a little more often.

-Jen