How long after he eats can we handle him?

We were told at the store that he needed 36 to 48 hours after eating before we could handle him. I see nothing about this in the care sheet. What are your opinions?

BTW - We got him home, and he ate like a champ the next day. He was eating f/t mice at the store and we bought him on the day he was scheduled to eat again. We let him come home and have 24 hours to settle in. We still handled him plenty during that 24 hours. He seemed very comfortable. Not much balling up at all really. I think (hope) we got a really great, social snake. :)

Thanks!

I'd wait a day or 2 before you handle him too much. If you just need to move him,you can do so the next day....

I wait usually around two days.

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Originally Posted by atoms

We were told at the store that he needed 36 to 48 hours after eating before we could handle him. I see nothing about this in the care sheet. What are your opinions?

BTW - We got him home, and he ate like a champ the next day. He was eating f/t mice at the store and we bought him on the day he was scheduled to eat again. We let him come home and have 24 hours to settle in. We still handled him plenty during that 24 hours. He seemed very comfortable. Not much balling up at all really. I think (hope) we got a really great, social snake. :)

Thanks!

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There's no real hard and fast rule for it. The rule of thumb is basically give them a day. Mine are fine to handle the morning after feed day.

I wait two days after feeding.

And also, give your snake a week to settle in without handling him. I know it seems tempting, trust me I've been there PLENTY of times:P, but giving him a week to settle in will reduce any stress he has in his new home. Even the snake moving around doesn't indicate that he isn't stressed.

I had a regurge one time when I use to feed outside of the cage. Long story short...I would clean his cage at the same time he ate, I was cleaning and putting everything back in and he finished his rat quicker than normal. I moved him back to his cage and was still adding his water bowl and stuff back in. Later that night I looked in and he left me a gift in the water bowl.....SO now they are feed in the cage and left alone for at least 24hrs.

so it depends. I normally feed outside of the cage and never had an issue with it... however 2 key facts is 1 make sure the snake is very comfortable with being handled and doesnt get stressed out at all. 2. be sure when handling them afterwards that you support the body correctly without putting pressure on the rat/feeditem which they were recently given.

Now with that said i am only handling them to move them back into their enclosure where I wait 24 hours-ish before normal "fun" handling.

So basicly unless you need to handle them, like the others stated 24 hours is a good rule of thumb.