Few questions after the first handling session.

[Montee]

I took hank out for a little poking around the house. It has been roughly 50 hours since his first meal. It was cool, we sat on the couch and watched tv. I was a little nervous at first with him around my fingers, and I'll be honest I was a little shakey. After about 10 minutes or so I was pretty comfortable with him slithering up and down my arm, and wrapping himself around my wrist and placing his head in my palm. So a few minutes later I decided to go ahead and put him back in. I put him on my bed for a few seconds to get his tank open, and he starts slithering to the edges. I was kind of worried about him hopping off and disappearing somewhere so I opened the cage and caught him before he could get down. What ended up happening was I picked him up near the middle of his body, and his rear end drooped and out came a nice amount of urine and urates.

It's pretty obvious to me that I picked him up kind of weird. I just figured if I picked him up in the middle the rest would just coil around. Should I be using two hands to pick him up? one in the middle and one near the rear? Or is this just because he's a baby? Will this be less of a concern as he gets older? The cleanup wasn't bad or anything, mostly because the majority ended up on the wood floors and not on me, but I wouldn't mind avoiding any future incidents.

[dr del]

Hey,


It's just one of those things that happen every now and again but here are a few tips to minimise it hopefully.

Don't move suddenly and swoop down on them to pick them up as that is exactly what a predator would do in the wild.

I like to pick them up from underneath once they know I'm there and try and support the full length as much as I am able ( I just imagine it feels more comfortable for them).

But, every now and again, your just gonna get P'd on I'm afraid.


dr del

[Montee]

it may have been the whole swooping down thing because I went for him pretty quickly the first time and he went from playfully roaming to trying to escape. I don't by any means have nerves of steel and this is my first reptile. So I've got to get used to him just as he needs to get used to me. This whole incident happened yesterday. I just walked over to his tank and gave his back and sides a little pet and he got right up and crawled around my arm a little and went back to his little spot next to his hot side hide...

[SarahMB]

Another piece of advice....don't put your snake on your bed. Took me a while to catch on to that one. hehe

[Montee]

lesson learned :p next time I'll just put him on the lid. I popped the lid off a few minutes ago to replace his water, and he came back out. He just wrapped around my wrist again with the head in my palm (it's so cute ), so I figured I'd give him another 10 minutes out. He sat pretty still and didn't really leave me to wander off anywhere. At one point he was wrapped around my leg, just hanging out, he was even comfortable enough to calmly stay on the leg for the walk back to his tank. He went right back in, no fuss or anything. Best part... NO PEE THIS TIME!

I know the general rule of thumb is once or twice a week, but he seemed anxious to interact, so I figured no harm in giving him 10 minutes.

[Kagez28]

wait till he drops a #2 on ya....

[Purrrfect9]

wait till he drops a #2 on ya....

Hahaha.. My pastel gifted me with the #2 the first 15 minutes that I had him he just wanted me to know early that he's a little s***, so all of my love and attention must be turned toward him at all times

[hardball]

Not to hijack the thread or anything but i had a handling question also and didnt really want to start another thread. What are signs that they may be feeling stressed from handling? After his first meal last week i gave him a few days to digest and then I handled him for about 15 minutes and left him alone until feeding day again this week. I took him out just like you about 50 hours after his meal and was just kind of curious what are signs that I should look for to tell its time to put him back in his tank? I just kept it to about 15 min again but my guy mostly doesnt move around a lot during handling. He just sits there and doesnt really seem interested in going anywhere a lot of times. Although he got his head inside my boxers before i had to pull him on out of there once tonight. He doesnt try to ball up or anything he just kinda chills in on my hand or wrist. Im going to pace him to get him used to it, probably handle him a again tomorow or friday and then give him a couple free days before his meal again on Monday. Is it suggested not to handle them a day or 2 before feeding?

[bearhart]

I handle at least once daily barring shed and post-feed. In general I've always been alot more aggressive with handling than the recommendations. I think alot of the more conservative recommendations are assuming you are possibly dealing with a wild-caught snake. As far as I can tell if they are eating and not biting you then you don't have alot to worry about.

I'm not sure about the excrementals as I've never been discharged upon. I'm guessing your guy was ready to go and you just "knocked one loose" when you picked him up. You might keep and eye on the tail - it gets fat prior to a big event like that.

[JeriBeri]

mine doesnt ball up he just jerks his head close to me if he gets scared im wonerin about that myself. mine loves to slither around and go places snakes shoundlt go.. my bra is NOT a hide and niether is my shirt lol