Handling

My first handling session is going to be next sunday night for 15min. What are some signs that I should look for that shes stressing. When i handled her at the breeders she was very active and didn't want to go back into her tub. She kept on trying to climb on my arm and wrap around it. (Ya shes settling in good now, this is the earliest shes been wondering round)

chances are the first few times you handle her she will be very squirmy and active. these are signs of stress, but just keep her out anyhow for 10-15 minutes the first few handling sessions and she will start to get used to you and settle down. once she settles down a little she will be more calm when you get her out, and then when she is ready to go back to her enclosure she will start to get squirmy and anxious. my first bp did nothing but try to get away from me for about the first month that i had her. constant squirming and trying to jet out of my hands. with regular handling she has settled down nicely and is now content to wrap around my arm and hang out for short amounts of time.

My little guy has been a dream to hold. The first time he was a bit nervous but then he got more and more used to it. It is now to the point where he actually will wiggle his body in between my fingers and stretch himself. He even will sometimes put his mouth next to my nose or mouth and sit there and feel me breath on him. The other day, he was so calm wrapped around my hand that he actually tucked his tail underneath his head and fell asleep while I was still holding him. I couldn't have asked for a better experience so far.

The only advice i have is to never make him or her do what he doesn't want to do. Snakes have their own language and you have to listen to it. I like to handle my guy with the TV on mute and it is just us two. He facisnates me to no end. And he seems to be constantly communicating with me. In fact, I still haven't seen him exhibit any of the behavior which gives him his common name. I might have to call him by his rightful name: Royal Python.

I wish that your handling experiences be excellent as well.

Rachel

It's funny Rachel, we've yet to see any of that "balling up" behaviour either, other than the curl up in the hide deal.

We try to keep our handling sessions short and in the evening when the snakes are naturally more active. Slow even movements that don't startle them seem to help. We also have a routine with all the snakes so that each time they are to be handled it's an identical set of small steps. We're hoping they get habitated to the routine so it helps them accept that handling is not something they need to fear.

We've found with ours that they each have their own reaction to out of cage time. Where one will be content lazing about on a warm human belly, another will very shortly try to see what's down the back of the couch and a third wants to wrap around a handy wrist and hang out there. They may not do higher math LOL, but they do seem to have unique personalities somewhat.


~~Jo~~

I'm jealous, I wish my snake was so easy to handle. My female BP has indeed shown where they get their common name. She is a couple feet long and a little skitish. She is for sure not mean, but she has snapped at me a couple of times when he gets startled during handling.

I hope she calms down after regular handling.