Handling Monty

Hi all! I have a question about taking Monty out of his tank. Is it ok to take him out from under his hide or should I wait until he is out and exploring. The problem that I have is that the main time I have to spend with him and do tank maintenance is in the early evening. He is still in his hide most of the tiime so I lift the hide. Sometimes he is fine with this and begins crawling around. I pet him a few times and don't immediately pick him up. Lately though, when I have gone to take him out for awhile, he has coiled up on me and flinched when I went to pet him. Just wondering if I need to absolutely wait until he comes out of his hide?

I wait until mine are out because taking them from their hide can be stressful. If you HAVE to clean, then I guess you can take it out.

I don't see a problem removing them from their hides especially in the evening hours. Just be slow about it and let him know you are there with gentle stroking. We do find coming at them from the side rather than right over top of them helps (probably doesn't trigger an "omg it's a freakin predator" response from them lol). Sometimes they won't mind it, sometimes they will object. They are after all living creatures that have their moods and sometimes what works one day won't work the next.

Yea I usually tap on the glass of their vivs first and then come back a couple minutes later, slowely lift the hides and give them a minute to relax. I usually don't have any objections to being pick up, but if i do catch them off guard and they ball up slightely the usually come right out of it when they realize i'm not going to eat them. Then they put on their little exploritory faces and off they go slithering around.

If Monty is a little older that say a few months and you have him for a while, I see no problem taking him out from under his hides. The only time I would avoid this is durning a shed or 24 hours after a feed. You should be Ok. for a hachling how ever those hides are a safe place. To take a hatchling out for no reason would only add to the stress.

Yeah I dont see any issue lifting a hide otherwise you may see your snake once in a blue moon ...lol

You say you pet it ? if your stroking near the head this will make him or her coil up and hide and stress the snake, make sure you are not attempting to stroke its head IMO

What does your petting consist of if you dont mind me asking ?

As Franky said some snakes have their own moods and disposition and even then it can change periodically , thats the beauty of interacting with snakes it can change from day to day and teaches you to read your animal and understand its behaviour.

alot of tanks you cannot help but come in from above but as has been said if you can come in from the side so as not to alarm it where possible.

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Originally Posted by snakey68

Yeah I dont see any issue lifting a hide otherwise you may see your snake once in a blue moon ...lol


You say you pet it ? if your stroking near the head this will make him or her coil up and hide and stress the snake, make sure you are not attempting to stroke its head IMO

What does your petting consist of if you dont mind me asking ?

As Franky said some snakes have their own moods and disposition and even then it can change periodically , thats the beauty of interacting with snakes it can change from day to day and teaches you to read your animal and understand its behaviour.

alot of tanks you cannot help but come in from above but as has been said if you can come in from the side so as not to alarm it where possible.

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By petting I mean running my hand down his side just to let him know that I am there and try to relax him.

Thanks for the input! He wasn't like this before and the only thing I can think of that has changed is that I went to an infrared light. With the central air on, my cycle on the other light would not hold his temps at night. Now that I think of it, snakes are colorblind right? The reason I am saying this is that I feed him in a red washtub. Just wondering if my switch to a red light would make him think that it is feeding time. If that's the case, then I may have to change the color of his feeding tub!! :)

Peace!

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Originally Posted by Naf Eeknay

By petting I mean running my hand down his side just to let him know that I am there and try to relax him.

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If Monty is a young snake he may still view you as a predator. Stroking his side is a good idea so you don't suprise him. But to stroke it more than once or twice might make him think you out to get him. LOL

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just wondering if my switch to a red light would make him think that it is feeding time. If that's the case, then I may have to change the color of his feeding tub!! :) Peace!

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I wouldn't think so any time you change anything in their enviroment it might take you snake a little while to adjust. Just be patient.

I really wouldn't worry about it overly. Just keep to your routines and watch for him to adjust or adjust to him. It's always a bit of a balancing act with these snakes I'm finding.

Perfect example. We have an 03 female we adopted last year. Miss Personality she is, very sociable for a BP and a major explorer when she's out. Not a nervous snake at all. She goes along just fine then one day she hits about 800 grams and proceeds to become Miss Toss Me the Dang Rat and Bugger Off. Didn't want a thing to do with us other than feeding day. Not mean natured but twitchy and grumpy. So we adjust, leave her be and she slowly and regularily grows to 1,200 grams and goes back to little Miss Sunshine again. Now suddenly she's off food. Wants to come out all the time, we try to feed her, she's too busy climbing my arm to see what's out in the big wide world. Can we figure out why Kyna's like this....not in this lifetime LOL. She didn't overeat, not a thing changed in her environment, snakes in the BP room she's in are eating but not her. I swear she heard Mike and I discussing how she'd breed this year if she got to 1,500 and she's refusing just to spite us. Do snakes smirk? I swear I saw her smirking! LOL

It's about patience and observation and sometimes you just toss your hands up in the air and wonder what in the heck the snake is up to now. Of course, once you actually post a question on why your snake isn't doing something like pooping, they immediately poop. I swear they enjoy making us look foolish.

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Originally Posted by snakey68

You say you pet it ? if your stroking near the head this will make him or her coil up and hide and stress the snake, make sure you are not attempting to stroke its head IMO

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Deebo is happy to have his little chin stroked.. I have only seen him ball up once & that was at the show I brought him from !