Snake Routines

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Originally Posted by Megz

Thats awesome yah i do the same with my snake. Handling them from baby to mature i'm sure gets them use to you and reduces bite risk. not to mention they are so docile and well i think lovable lol. My girl actually watches tv i swear. I was watching this show and she was curled up in my lap head on the laptop and then at the commercial she went up to the screen and slithered on it. The minute the show was back on, i couldn't believe this, she came right back and curled up in the same position to watch the show. I was like say whaaat?? I also find that sometimes she will be curled up in her hide but when i am gone for awhile and then come back and enter the room she will pop out :) BP's are so cute/cool that way. I really do think a part of them truly do know who you are you know what i mean.

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Oh I can't wait for my snake to get big enough to coil up on my lap. He's still only about 2 feet long and still needs to gain some weight. But I want him to get bigger so he can wander around the apartment and we don't have to worry about him hiding somewhere tiny where we can't find him.

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Originally Posted by killswitch

Yeah sometimes we let ourselves think that they know us and know exactly what is going on, however I have come to the conclusion its a lot simpler than that. You handle them as a baby, they get used to your scent, maybe your voice or the tone of it so since we have been doing this since they were little they know we aren't a threat. so they have no reason to be in attack mode or cautious. I have 10 bp's now and ive come to the simple conclusion that some are okay to be handled because they aren't as skittish or weary of the big heat signature coming at them. then again I have some that no matter how many times I enter the enclosure they are fully on the defensive. time of year, temps, storms incoming seems to make a big difference in temperament also.

Great pets though imo. I just started collecting about 4 months ago and I have 10 snakes so yeah ... lol im a sucker

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Do you handle all of them often? Or just the ones who are used to you? Seems like the defensive ones may still not be used to being handled or in your presence.

Well im not actively trying to get her to loose weight, just watching how much I feed her now. She seriously looks like one of those dog toys that you throw in to the water that float, they are about 10 inches long and bigger around than a tube of tennis balls. She seriously looks like catdog from that cartoon. she has this skinny little tail and goes to about the width of a tennis ball lol. No im not dieting her no im not making her loose weight. Just instead of feeding her 2 adult mice every 5 days and the extra hopper and adult mice from my others that don't eat ill strictly give her the 2 adult mice.

and she is healthy, she poops regularly everything is great with her, she just has an appetite that dose not quit lol.

I handle them all atleast twice a week not including the time I take them out for tub cleaning etc. As I said im relatively new to the hobby and the ones that are more tolerant of me do get handled a bit more than the others. I do take the extra time to work with the ones that are more aggressive towards me. I also realize that the younger snakes are more flighty and 75% of my collection are less than a year old. when I bought my 1.1 clutchmate pastels the female (the garbage disposal I spoke of earlier) has always been not scared not defensive, just wanting to check out everything where her brother the male was on the defensive side, we have worked well past that and he is nearly as nice as his sister now. I am a firm believer that if you want an animal to behave the way you want it to, you need to put in the time and effort to do so. Dogs are a great example!

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Originally Posted by ViperSRT3g

But I want him to get bigger so he can wander around the apartment and we don't have to worry about him hiding somewhere tiny where we can't find him.

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I wouldn't recommend that as snakes can cram themselves into the tiniest of places. As an example, my adult female Brazilian Rainbow boa managed to work her way through one of the belt loops on my husband's jeans not too long ago, and she was about 6 feet long at the time and a good bit girthier than even my largest adult ball pythons. I thought she'd get stuck but she worked her way through the opening no problem.

I definitely have to agree with that. With some good training, any animal can behave how you want them to.

On a side note, this morning while feeding my snake, I had to handle him prior to feeding him since he climbed out of the tank because I had opened the top in preparation to give him food. Usually I never touch him before feeding but I guess he didn't care. I was worried he might confuse my heat signature with the rat, but it turns out he wasn't as hasty as I thought he might be. He struck once and missed since I was holding the rat awkwardly with the tongs. After having to reach down within his strike range, (while he patiently waited for a reset) I got it hanging by the tail and he struck again and landed. I was pretty happy that he made the transition from F/T mice to F/T rats without a fuss, especially now that he needs larger rats.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

I wouldn't recommend that as snakes can cram themselves into the tiniest of places. As an example, my adult female Brazilian Rainbow boa managed to work her way through one of the belt loops on my husband's jeans not too long ago, and she was about 6 feet long at the time and a good bit girthier than even my largest adult ball pythons. I thought she'd get stuck but she worked her way through the opening no problem.

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Wow, this is news to me. how large around is she at her widest? And how large was this belt loop? I find their ability to squeeze into places somewhat fascinating. I was already surprised at my snake's ability to squeeze underneath my bedroom door.

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Originally Posted by ViperSRT3g

Wow, this is news to me. how large around is she at her widest? And how large was this belt loop? I find their ability to squeeze into places somewhat fascinating. I was already surprised at my snake's ability to squeeze underneath my bedroom door.

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Belt loop was on my husband's Levis. No idea on a measurement of her girth at the time, but she's been eating a medium f/t rat every 10-14 days ever since she was given to us almost a year ago.

Goodness, that's kind of amazing she could fit O_o

My brain is still having trouble grasping that. Perhaps I'll just let him wander around in my room only once he gets too large to fit under the door :P

My first ball python Dammit earned his name through fitting himself (and occasionally getting stuck) in weird places and regular escape. He was the sweetest thing ever but a nearly six foot ball python with girth to match. Over his adult life he managed to fit himself through the handle above a car door, inside multiple sofas and living chairs, a futon, paper towel rolls, the holes on the sides of laundry baskets, and one fun excursion in which he opened the door to and got lost in a walk in closet. Three days later he was waiting on top of his tank to be let back in, lol.

My oldest female Shy has a weird love affair with recliners and has gotten up into any and all she finds. Scary stuff indeed with all those moving metal parts. She also ran away while in the care of a friend as I was studying abroad in Mexico City, she broke out of her tank, then out of the window, then down the street into the hands of a, forgive the phrase, redneck. He was trying to scare his girlfriend/wife/some lady with her by dangling Shy by the tail and swinging her around. My friend saw this and booked it over to retrieve her. <<;;

Adventures in snake keeping, lol.

Oh man, I'd freak if I discovered Jake was somewhere outside (Jake is my snake's name :P) let alone being flung about by his tail.