New Snake

I got my first snake on 11/12 i left it alone for the first week except for getting rid of the mites the first 3 days and a daily water change. the snake i got was clean but my son held alot of other snakes so i think we got them from the others but who knows. i fed her a live mouse on 11/19 and she attacked it with a vengeance. she attacked it killed it then dropped it and struck at the side of his cage at us. we stopped watching and left the room. i took it that it wanted to be left alone. my wife and both kids and i was all watching it so i figured it was to much. i was able to pick up the snake for the mite cleaning and all was fine but now when i changed her water today she got really defencive and was acting like she was gonna strike but she didn't. should i hold off a few more days or go ahead with the first handling tomorrow? im sure ill get bit but i dont mind a first snake bite. but whats best for her?

You could wait until she gets a few more feeds into her, but you should be fine for a very short handling session. I would start out with about 5 minutes or so to start with. Do worry if they get a bit defensive, to them you're a huge giant of a thing that might eat them. Just try and stay quiet and steady. Don't let them think that their behavior will impact your reactions. (ie. If they hiss, pick em up anyway) Best of luck. :D

I held her today for about 15 mins and then put her back and all was fine. the kids found out about it so i let my son hold her and she was OK with it till i went to get her back in her cage and i must have moved to quick and she lunged at me but didn't bite. i would still call it a success. thx for the help everyone.

I was thinking of naming one of my girls that's on the way Persephone.... hurumph! Now I have to change goddesses. :)

someone here has Malachi and i have always wanted to name a pet that after seeing children of the corn. ill still use it for my male when i get it. my name is Mike and there is 5 Mikes on every street you drive down so it cant hurt to have more then one.

The handling went well. everyday for about 15 minuets to 1/2 hour depending on her squeamishness. some days she loves it and it seems she don't want to go back home. today i woke up and she had a large turd and a lump of yellow something right next to it. what was that sold urine? i opened her cage to clean it out and she had a full shed on the other side and she is so shiny and her skin colors are so vivid and beautiful. i figured i would feed her a rat this time since the mouse seemed a little small for her. wow i'm still amazed at how quick she is. so i guess i have everything right if shes shedding and eating good and you can handle her. would that be a safe assumption?

Wow, ate, defacted, passed a urate (that's their dry form of urine basically) and a complete shed!...sounds like things are going along well!

I'm the one with a male ball python named Malachi but by all means feel free to use it yourself. I didn't see that movie but just named him from an irish/celtic site I get all our snake's names from.

Just a thought but if the snake has just taken the one meal successfully from you, don't get in too big a rush to push the bigger prey or prey type switch too fast. Maybe get a few meals into her before you mess around with changing what works. Just a suggestion though, not gospel LOL.


~~Jo~~