ok so even tho he ate for me and hes been in there for a week i wait one more week after i feed him again?
02-05-2011, 01:59 PM
loonunit
Yeah, it's the age. Just keep feeding him until he grows out of it. You can handle him with gloves in the mean time if you're tired of getting chomped.
...I bought my pastel from Heather's Herps at the Anaheim show in 2009. We ooh-ed and ahh-ed over the pastel for all of Saturday... but when I finally asked to handle her Heather said, "Sure, but I gotta warn you, she's a little bleep." And sure enough the pastel scooted right out and bit my thumb. And then bit my finger. And then tried to bite some random lady pointing at the pretty yellow snake.
So I bought her and named her Glinda, because she was such a pretty little blonde WITCH.
Glinda must have bitten me 50 times on Saturday and Sunday. But then I drove her home to Phoenix and fed her two mice, and that was it. That was what she wanted all along. She just didn't know mice from fingers yet--she was only 6 weeks old when I brought her home. She hasn't bitten me since.
(... now, the 2009 PEWTER I bought from Heather, THAT one kept biting me for a good 6 months after Anaheim. She's really only chilled out in the last year or so. But she's HUGE.)
02-05-2011, 07:10 PM
seeya205
Your fingers have a heat signature and that is what they sense when they are hungry! When one of my snakes hiss or try to bite, I pick them up even if I had no intentions of picking them up just to show them that they don't scare me. They will stop usually pretty quick! Most the time, they don't want to bite, they just want to scare you off!
02-05-2011, 07:55 PM
8-Ball
Re: pastels tempement?
Quote:
Originally Posted by HerpIsAhobby
How little are you talking about? If it's a young snake the bite really wont even be more than a tiny nip. However my best advice would be if it's a new snake and you have given him/her the week or two to get acclimated to his surroundings and he's eating properly then I would say get in there and try and get the snake out of the enclosure. Most snakes and this is true of most snakes including bigger pythons as well they usually calm down outside of the housing especially the hide. If you really worried about getting bit then try misting the snake a bit I find that it at a minimum gives the snake something else to think about other than striking you.
Best of luck
I second this post! I recently bought a male pastel and he was acting the same way as you described. But he's coming around. just make sure he's feed GOOD and able to digest his food for a couple of days before you try to handle him. feed in separate enclosure is a must. Show no fear.
Take care:)
02-05-2011, 08:37 PM
jamesa2580
Re: pastels tempement?
Here, read this thread. Almost the identical problem with a guy last week and a young Spider. A lot of the same advice you've been given already and a bunch more. It should prove helpful to you!
Also, go on youtube and watch the snakebytes episode entitled answering questions or something like that. About 3 minutes in, you'll see how to handle a nippy snake. Brian demonstrates on a very feisty clown.
