Feisty but you love them?

[Freakie_frog]

Ok so everyone knows I like a feisty lady. But how many of you have snakes that are a real challenge? I just have the one my reduced banded female. Man she is a piece of work. Shes in blue so I was misting her tub last night and I sprayed her like while she was curled up under her hide. Now most balls will ball up tighter and some even hiss. What does she do?? Comes piling out of her hide striking at the water droplets.. LOL Attitude !!!! As long as she makes pretty babies with my spiders she can be pissy all she wants. She slamming rats every week and growing fast so I deal with the teeth and fussyness but she is a towel and gloves only girl.

Ok now you.

Let me hear it, What kind of snake doesn't have to be a ball, and what about their attitude makes them a challenge???

Come on peeps this will be fun.

[Laooda]

LOL! Good thread Ed! My female Guyana BCC Margo is a handful! (no pun int.) She's wild caught, and was actually doscile as a juvi... but let me tell ya! She's aprox. 6ft now.. and is not shy about coming after you. This poses a problem, because I can't just set her down to explore while I clean... I haft to put her in something or wait for one of my friends to come over that's comfortable with holding her. (that would be 2 total). She's never struck while being handled, but you set her down.... and she is on her way to get you. Looking you straight in the eye too!

Also, my new pastel BP Biancka... I'm gonna make a point to handle her more... she stricks at everything that moves! I think she'll come around... but if not, I'll be happy just mostly looking at her!!!!

[frankykeno]

Everyone here knows I like snakes with a bit of attitude LOL. It's a challenge for me personally to learn as I work with them, to see them come around a bit and relax and hey it keeps me on my toes so I don't get a lazy attitude myself around the snakes.

Brannagh, our biggest female, was a super challenging snake. She came to us as an unwanted pet, already almost 2,000 grams and full of p & v. No balling up for Mz. B, not even a hiss to let you know you were in trouble...just one fast, big and very upset snake who had every intention of backing you up out of her area. Eventually Brann got the point that nothing bad was associated with her new humans and she's a big love these days. Mike and I learned so much though from own first months with her...we really appreciated the fast learning curve that she put us through. She still is a very focused feeder and if you are smart you don't mess about on feeding day.

Dori is another high energy BP. She will hiss at you if you bother her and will quite happily "help" you give her those nice chubby mice on feeding day LOL. She was this way with Robin and she continues to be a female BP that's very confident and wants what she wants and she wants it now.

These days it's little Buddy who is the handful LOL. He's the smallest snake in the collection (other than Emi the milksnake) but the most intense. Come feeding day you best not mess with Buddy, he's not at all intimidated by big warm humans and will stare you down till you get the heck out of the area and let him eat in peace. Bother or bug Buddy and you best expect to get snapped at LOL. We don't mind this at all, he'll come around in time, with patience and gentle, consistent contact with us. I love his spunky attitude and his intensity. He's everything I want in a baby BP and quite typical of the great snakes Adam breeds (Malachi was much this way as a baby and he's turned into a wonderful adult).

I worry more about a new snake that just lays there and doesn't react much to anything...now that makes me fret way more than a bit of attitude.

[resisted]

I have a bullsnake that's quite a little devil. As soon as you take the topper off of his tank, he's hissing and striking at the sides of his tank.
My dad and I had it out last week, and it went straight for my face, started hissing, growling, and shaking its tail like a rattler. It was .. precious.

And, my newest BP, Adrian. I'm her fourth owner and her first correct husbandry, so I can understand that she's shy. She hisses and slithers around .. then sits in her water bowl for a few minutes.

[Freakie_frog]

and it went straight for my face

Oh yea thats always fun I had a 1500 gram female take a swing at my head last week talk about a wake up. And she waited till I looked up to do it.. LOL
:eek: mouth open 180 degrees and the thump of the mouth closing.

close...

Keep'em comming this is getting good.

[rabernet]

Dori is another high energy BP. She will hiss at you if you bother her and will quite happily "help" you give her those nice chubby mice on feeding day LOL. She was this way with Robin and she continues to be a female BP that's very confident and wants what she wants and she wants it now.

Ahhh Dori - the mouse garbage disposal - so anxious to get her mice, that she'd zero in on the tub holding the mice, not realizing one had already been dropped in with her. She shared a split tub with Sierra at the time, and I couldn't offer Sierra hers, until I closed the tub and listened for the "thwump" as she realized there was INDEED a mouse with her.

And talk about a Hissy snake - don't look at her funny, she'll tell you her displeasure! LOL

Glad to hear she's still doing so well, Joanna!

My attitude snake is Oliver, the het clown - never relaxes when you hold him - and one of those that straitens completely out and moves fast to try to get out of your grasp (like you can be holding his back fourth of his body and he's rigid and parallel to the floor). He's not struck at me, but he's not very impressed with me in the least!

[MeMe]

I have a bullsnake that's quite a little devil. As soon as you take the topper off of his tank, he's hissing and striking at the sides of his tank.
My dad and I had it out last week, and it went straight for my face, started hissing, growling, and shaking its tail like a rattler. It was .. precious.

I have a corn snake that does the rattling of the tail. She thinks she is so tough. Though the first time she did it I was NOT expecting it and scared the bajeezes out of me! And she WILL strike if you enter her "space". She is probably my "toughest" snake. She was not handled much with the prior owner so it is expected NOW!

[xdeus]

Great stories!

I only have one girl that always keeps me on my toes. She never hisses, but I know she'll strike if I so much as look at her wrong. Feeding day is always a challenge, and I have to pull out her bin with a long hook because she has struck me a couple times if I open it by hand. This girl is wicked fast!

Well, then there's my GTP... and even though she's a feisty snake, she's actually pretty mellow for a GTP.

[Aric]

My Female Andean Milk is the meanest thing ive ever seen, she LOVES to bite, strike, rattle her tail. The only time ive ever seen her calm was when I put her in with the male for breeding, now moving her in with the male was a pain, ive never seen a snake wriggle so much and try to get away so hard.

The only balls I have that are not so laid back are the babies, every time I open the tubs they come flying out striking at me.

It makes everything more fun!!

[mlededee]

just a few days ago one of my big girls launched herself straight up out of her tub at my face when i pulled her drawer open to check to see if she had shed yet. funny thing is, she is the one snake i trust the most--the one i give people who have never touched a snake before to hold! she was freshly shed and feeling not too pleased about missing her meal the week before due to being in blue...she was fed promptly after i jumped back in shock and recollected myself. it really is amazing how far they can launch themselves upward and outward.

i have a few hissers (which i think is cute) and a few strikers but not biters. a few of the babies i hatched this past year were fiesty little boogers at first but they have mostly calmed down. one of them did decide to attempt to gnaw my finger off recently but again--it was feeding day and she knew it, so what can ya do. she eats every time without fail so i'll take a few chomps here and there (at least until the little 300 gram beast gets up around 2000+ grams--then i might change my mind ).

i did have one girl though that was an absolute piece of work. i honestly think though that it was just ME that she didn't like. she was the only snake her previous owner ever had and she was totally fine with him. the instant he handed her to me she started hissing and striking and she never stopped! i had to get her out with a hook and my quick reflexes saved me many, many times from getting bitten. after i let her settle i tried to handle her some to calm her but it just seemed to be more stress for her than it was worth. she stopped eating, i got her eating again by giving her a gerbil, then she ate here and there, all the while just hating every moment of my existance. i even covered the front of her drawer so she didn't have to see me walk by because even that seemed to make her mad. after about a year trying everything possible i decided that maybe it would be better for her to go live with someone else, because if it was just me in particular that she didn't like it wasn't fair for her to have to live with me! that and i think her being stressed/angry/whatever was causing her to eat poorly. anyhow, i gave her to an experienced breeder that lives a few hours away--i figured if anyone could figure her out or know what to do with her it would be him.