Hello! New to this forum with some questions.

[Mothmanismagic]

So Ive handled snakes for a while, but 4 months ago I acquired my first snake.
His name is Miko (in my picture), and he's approximately a year and a half old.

So... 2 questions.
First off, I keep his tank at 60% humidity always. So i know its fine.. But how long is he okay to be out? I live in New Mexico and there's almost no natural humidity. And he loooves being out. I just want to know how long he's okay in the dry air.

Secondly, tips on getting him less shy?
I got him from a lady who had waaay too many snakes. He eats amazing. Thankfully, but i got him almost completely unhandled, at a year and a half old. I got bitten several time in the first month, as he was freaked about being touched. But he's calmed way down since. (I also started with like 10 minutes 2 or 3 times a week.. and now he's out every day minus right after eating for 48 ish hours )he likes to be out and likes to sit on my neck or in my pocket while I do stuff... but touching wise, he's verrry jumpy still. Whats the best way to help him out of that?

[KMG]

As long as the cage humidity is good you will not have any issues with regular handling.

As for the shyness just keep handling him. They take time to learn you're not the enemy.

[ladywhipple02]

Make sure he's secure in his cage with plenty of hides. A bitey ball python is a scared ball python.

A couple things I've tried in the past: Wadding up pieces of newspaper and putting them in his cage. This provides extra security/hiding places. It doesn't look nice and can be a pain to clean up, but this one has rarely failed to make a snake feel better about his surroundings.

Also, get a dirty tshirt of yours, something you've sweat in and didn't wash, and has a nice scent to it. Put that in his cage with him for awhile. It's gets him used to your smell. I've tried this technique with both boas and balls with mixed successes, but it's always worth a shot when you have a scared noodle.

Good luck!

[Coluber42]

He'll be OK out of his cage in the dry air if he has good humidity when he goes back. It's conceivable that it makes him less comfortable being out, though.

For handling, just give him time. It might take a long time; it sounds like you've made a good start though. Being scared of a giant creature that comes out of nowhere and picks you up is understandably a pretty deep-seated instinct!
Some things that might help though: try hard to keep his out-of-cage experiences positive. If he starts acting nervous, displaying flight behavior, etc, back in he goes. Some people say it's better to keep him out until he settles back down so he learns that freaking out won't get him what he wants, but I disagree; I think it's better to minimize his associations of being handled with being scared. So if he starts acting scared, he goes back to security right away.
Also, a good time to take him out is when he's already out exploring, not when he's asleep in a hide. What I do with my shy BP is that at least half the time, I just open the cage and let him decide whether to come out. If he doesn't, I leave him alone. But if he's already out and about, most of the time he does come out, and seems to cope with it a lot better than when I just yank him out of a hide.

[Mothmanismagic]

I try to put him back whenever he gets too restless. But then he's near impossible to get off my arm hahah. So Im always confused about what he wants there. He also hasnt struck at me since the first month.. so i guess thats a start. Thank you!

[Mothmanismagic]

He hasnt struck at me in a couple months now.. but is still nervous, but then does not want to go back into his terrariumm. So its confusing. The shirt thing is a great idea. Thank you.

[Mothmanismagic]

Okay thank goodness. I couldnt really find a definite answer on that anywhere

[Zincubus]

I'd put loads of branches in there and wrap lots of fake , plastic foliage ( from dollar shops ) around the branches ..


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