12 hours and counting...

... Until my new baby bumblebee arrives!

Opinions.... How long before offering food? How long before handling? July baby.

Thanks!

I posted this in another thread, but it seems fitting here too...

I've heard plenty of people say not to handle them for a week or two or whatever, but we haven't ever went with that theory. In fact, last Thursday my Pastel Tiger came in sometime in the morning. I work nights, so I was asleep. My wife took him out of the box, cleaned him, checked for bugs, etc... She ended up handling him for about 20-30 minutes. When I woke up we found that he pooped, and shed. I handled him for about the same amount of time. The next day I offered him food because I knew when his last meal was from the seller, and we always offer on feeding day. I like letting them to decide if they want to eat or not. He ate without any hesitation. We have done this with all of our snakes and haven't had any feeding issues other than not eating during shed. We do offer just in case. Most of them don't care if they are shedding or not and will still eat. I think that is according to what stage of shed they are in. If they are in shed and shy away from their prey I'll immediately take the prey item out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SashasMom

... Until my new baby bumblebee arrives!

Opinions.... How long before offering food? How long before handling? July baby.

Thanks!

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I'm with Viol8r. I try feeding a small meal first (or second) day. If they eat, they go on the normal schedule with everyone else. If they don't, they get left alone for a week, then try again.

I know a lot of people just leave them alone for a week no matter what. That works as well. Nothing wrong with doing it that way. It's kind of up to you which way you want to go.

I let new snakes settle in for awhile before doing much handling, until they have eaten 2-3 times well without issue so I'm not adding stress. I feed my snakes on Mondays so any new arrivals shipped in always have a few days to get adjusted and then offered a meal with the rest of the crew. You are going to have 20+ years with the animal, why rush?

I think the waiting thing may have came from back when a lot of snakes were wild caught and imported. Personally I think captive bred animals are much calmer..JMO

It has always seemed like new snakes care far more about their enclosure being set up correctly than about how much they are handled.

I woke up to my wife carrying her to me, so I have no idea how much she was handled today. I did hold her for a little bit was finishing up enclosures for the new ones coming in tomorrow. I will get to hold her tomorrow some though. I feed on Fridays and everyone gets offered food. Their enclosures are set up correctly so they don't have to worry about that. lol