Confession Time!!

its at 83 on warm side 78 on cool. i can get him to point b, its the back to a part where i have the most trouble! thanks for the tips!

Gorgeous!!!!

i believe his is defense.

im trying. my blood is not my only snake so i know bites are part of it, i just dont want him psycho everytime i need to open the cage.

some snakes can be totaly tame,other can be tamed and other can't be tamed at all.this goes with all animals.
depends of the snakes character and the interaction of owner-snake and methods he uses to gain trust.
from my point of view if you have a snake as you say you have, you can keep trying and trying and eventualy maybe you will get the result you want or close by it.
and when you will do so, you will have a stronger bond with it becose you will spend a lot more time with it trying to make him tame.
i wish you all the luck .
my blood is so damn tame sometimes it drives me crazy. he never striked me or the food.he never puffs ,hisses. sometimes i wish mine was a more cranky and angry.

you may try to lift it gently supporting all his weight on your arms ,that will make the snake more secure.but till you get to this stage you will need to intaract with it babie steps .
try to just touch him at 1st sesions until you will see a lower atack mode . and probably you will have to endure some bites too...
good luck.

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Originally Posted by Agmcmurphy

had him since june, he is about 2 maybe three feet, weights around two pounds. i am terrified to pick him up because he does this every time.

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This tells me people are spot on about the snake sensing your fear. I don't believe snakes have the capacity to think about intimidation. The thing is when you're hesitant in picking up an animal that is afraid you give it a chance to act before you do. If you move steadily, confidently without hesitation you have them in hand before they can react. I have a 3ft female Blood that is fine if I just reach and pick her up. If I mess with anything in her cage, she strikes. She still a youngster like yours though and the more I handle her, the less she seems to see me as a threat.

The Boa I mentioned earlier is one only 2 snakes I've had (both Boas, strangely enough) out of probably 300 that I've owned at one time or another. I just bring it up because if they're adults and acting like that, chances are they won't change. The more you try to force handling on them the more they stress out. Yours is too young to draw that conclusion though. You probably just need to try to lose your fear of her and keep handling her.

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Originally Posted by Agmcmurphy

had him since june, he is about 2 maybe three feet, weights around two pounds. i am terrified to pick him up because he does this every time.

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Well then you definitely want to work on him NOW, because imagine if you end up with a large male ;) (I have a 24lbs blood)

Look at it this way if he bites now it will not be as bad.

It will take positive re-enforcement and in the mean time make sure your husbandry is optimum.

Avoid handling the day or day prior to feeding and keep it short when you do so the experience is positive for the animal and you as well.

Read some super advice already. Just stay persistent, as you do not want to still be working with this issue when he's twice the size he is now. I have a few here that are bratty, and I am also a firm believer that they do indeed sense your fear and/or apprehension! Think of it like dealing with a timid dog.....approach with confidence...

I know this tip was mentioned already, but some bloods are a lot more defensive in their cages. If you really need to, get a hook or something to just reach in and pull it out, then give it time to settle and work with it a bit. Chances are, he'll settle down with time. I wouldn't stress out too much over it. Just give him some time.

Honestly, I'm always extremely cautious reaching into any of my bloods' cages without first letting them know it's not feeding time. Usually I give a nudge on them with something (my way of telling them it's not food coming in), and they relax and get out of feeding mode. I've heard of people doing taps, etc. That's a totally different situation than defensive biting, though. I finally had a feisty baby to deal with a couple years ago (I've had a couple snap at me in the past and bite here and there as babies, but nothing too bad) - this one was my first one I couldn't really handle. I'm not a fan of getting urates in the eyes... She's a 2010, and at her age now with minimal handling, she still settled down nicely. I don't trust her 100%, but I can handle her now that she's grown up.

Hopefully, whether you do or don't work with him a lot, he will at least settle down to where you are comfortable with cage cleaning and stuff. You can't say it's boring keeping these guys! :P

Now to say I was afraid of her would be stretching the truth a little, but my ornate used to make me nervous sometimes.... although after she made me bleed like 50 times I got over it(more like just got smarter about how I handled and approached her lol) My bloods never gave me a problem though. They were angels

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