Attitudinal Mojave

So my new little Mojave female is having an attitude and I was wondering what the best way was to eliminate this lol I'm not afraid of being bit but should I leave her alone or handle her more?

It really depends. Is she eating regularly? Are her temps and humidity right? She have enough hide spots to make her feel secure? If the answer to any of those is no then that could be what is causing her to be stressed and defensive.

As long as she is eating and her setup is spot on, it may just take some short handling sessions every day or two to get her to start to calm down.

It sounds like typical baby behavior. I will bet that she will out grow it. My mojave girl was the same way when she was a baby. Now she's as docile as stuffed animal.

You say she's new. How new exactly? Did you give her enough time to settle and adjust to her new environment?

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Just wait till its time to clean..

In the short time I have owned my bp I have decided she is very bi polar.. I handle her 5days a week.. Only ones I don't are feeding day and the day after.. Usually 4 out of the 5 days I pull her out I have to put her right back or she goes into machine gun strike mode..

I have all the husbandry set and she eats great for me and is putting on weight.. But she is still very young... Which apparently makes her behavior normal..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BoostedMX3

Just wait till its time to clean..

In the short time I have owned my bp I have decided she is very bi polar.. I handle her 5days a week.. Only ones I don't are feeding day and the day after.. Usually 4 out of the 5 days I pull her out I have to put her right back or she goes into machine gun strike mode..

I have all the husbandry set and she eats great for me and is putting on weight.. But she is still very young... Which apparently makes her behavior normal..

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Maybe you're stressing her by handling her too much?

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by BoostedMX3

I have to put her right back or she goes into machine gun strike mode..

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Pics or it didn't happen... =P

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BoostedMX3

Just wait till its time to clean..

In the short time I have owned my bp I have decided she is very bi polar.. I handle her 5days a week.. Only ones I don't are feeding day and the day after.. Usually 4 out of the 5 days I pull her out I have to put her right back or she goes into machine gun strike mode..

I have all the husbandry set and she eats great for me and is putting on weight.. But she is still very young... Which apparently makes her behavior normal..

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if you put her back as soon as she starts acting up, you are reinforcing and rewarding that behavior! that way she controls you and not the other way around. You give her good reason to keep doing it, because it works, you put her back quickly if she does it. like a dangerous predator trying to take her from her hide that she successfully fights off.

maybe handle her less often, but IF you decide to handle her and she acts up, you need to hold her until she calms down. Give her good support by making a cradle with your forearms, so that she doesnt feel like she is about to fall or being held. And when she is calm and peacefully sitting in your arms or crawling around, you can put her back. Not earlier. she should calm down after 5-10 minutes at most, if she really keeps it up for a full 10 minutes then it cannot be helped and you need to put her back or it would just be too much stress. Your snake needs to learn that being handled is not bad, not dangerous, and that acting up wont help.

then she will be like: wait, i struggled, it didnt work, that thing didnt leave me alone, but then returned me and im still unharmed and it wasnt so bad after all. What strange kind of predator is that? Maybe its not a predator at all but some kind of deity.

^
She's not a dog. That will just stress her out more and make her even more aggravated if she's already being temperamental.
Its best if you put the snake away and leave her alone for a while. Some snakes just want to be left alone. You have good days and bad days. Snakes have the same.
Take her out a another time when she's calmer and more willing.
And some snakes will be mean their whole life no matter how much you handle or try to tame it.

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Awesome, thanks guys

My mojo was the same way. Handle more often for short amounts of time. Cover the front/sides of the terrarium so they cant see out and get all nervous and whatnot. After moving my mojo to a rack system instead of a terrarium she did a 360 degree change. She is actually managable now, loves to be out and about and hasnt hissed or striked once. Good luck!