nippy little ghost. tagged

So heres my new little hypo male, Casper, that I got from Jon Courtney at Cold Blooded Addictions.
http://i376.photobucket.com/albums/o...2010/photo.jpg
http://i376.photobucket.com/albums/o...10/photo-1.jpg

So heres the story. I got him about 3 weeks ago. He was nippy straight out of the bag, striking and hissing at me from the tank. so i gave him time to settle in. He's fed twice for me, so I decide to get him out today and handle him. He stayes balled up for a little bit and then decided to come out. Right when he comes out WHACK! he tags my hand. So then I'm carrying him back to the cage since hes stressed and he strikes at me and goes right out of my hand onto the floor. I get him back into the tank and he strikes again, hitting the hide. I feel really bad that he fell and that hes so nippy. Is there anything I can do to help him settle down and be handleable or is it just going to be like this? For starters, the temps are 80 cool 90 hot and 50% humidity. 2 hides+water bowl. 10 gallon tank.

some handling will tame it down. i have lots of snakes that are cage nippy still.

My Lesser was pretty bad when I got him. He would strike everytime I looked at him.
I got a pair of leather gloves (I don't like getting bit) and would take him out a lot. I would just spend time holding him and letting him do whatever he felt like. He's used to me now and I have not used the gloves with him for a while now!
Patience is key.

I never thought about gloves haha.
thats a good idea. i will definately try that. i feel bad for the litttle guy he strikes if i walk by the tank or anything.

i love the hypos! the are ao clean looking.

Having the gloves will make bein patient easier for you :)
Plus if it hurts to hold him, you're going to hold him less and he'll never get better.
Does he have hides in his tank? I try to be sure that when mine are in their homes there is as little stress for them as possible. Maybe cover the tank if you'll be working around it a lot.
He's a Gorgeous guy, good luck with him!

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Originally Posted by wmanning

I never thought about gloves haha.
thats a good idea. i will definately try that. i feel bad for the litttle guy he strikes if i walk by the tank or anything.

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I've never had a snake that bit me, but this I can relate to. One of my poss het pied girls... If she happens to be out of her hide and I or my cat walk near the tank she strikes at the glass. You must do something to stop this or the snake can hurt it's jaw/face on the glass. I simply put a towel over the glass and she doesn't strike. I'm going to be switching her to a tub really soon so hopefully that will help as well.

Could you maybe move the cage to a lower-traffic area?

If not then like I said, a towel did the trick for my girl. Good luck!

both my het axanthics are hisser and nippy all the time. I use to the biting but i also tap their head ( lightly with a finger ) as in that not nice warning. but I also got a het pied who gets like this a lot most the tiem it when he hungry and does not want ot eat ..