"Lap Snake"

Does anyone have any tips to help our boy be more of a "lap snake" than a "stay in his hide and be alone" snake? I have heard of people that are able to just hold them for hours on end without them getting iggy.

It all depends on your individual snakes personality. Some are just more shy/jumpy/grumpy. While others are more laid back/mellow/chill.

Hold it more

he is pretty chill, i just get nervous when he starts jumping around with his head

Then its you not the snake

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Originally Posted by KryptBaby

he is pretty chill, i just get nervous when he starts jumping around with his head

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Nervous? Of what, that it may eat you? Sounds like you need to relax so your snake can.

If you want a true lap snake get a blood.

when you decide to hold/handle it, do so for at least 5 minutes, dont give in.

they need to figure out that you are not food and not a predator or a threat. that you are not food is the easy thing to figure out, learning that you are not a threat and that resistance is just a waste of energy is harder.

when you decide to hold it for a longer period of time and allow both you and the snake to calm down and give it the time you decided on, chances are the BP will calm down within a few minutes. when its calm, hold it for a little longer, then calmly put it back. do it repeatedly, and the time the BP spends resisting you will get shorter. and once the BP learned the routine, you have one really calm BP that wont mind being handled.

its simple conditioning. if you put it back as soon as it starts freaking out, you reward that. if you put it back when it managed to stay calm for a minute or two, you reward that. BPs are not very intelligent, but they respond well to conditioning. in the end you come to an agreement: it calms down once it figures out it is being handled, and you put it back.... eventually :D ;) :D