Any advice on how to work with Natsu on getting out of his cage?

I just follow the better safe than sorry route, I don't really want to risk a bite at all from an adult. Lol

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I have an anxiety issue and some people I know have told me horror stories where they have hooked their burm or boa and cracked their ribs with a hook on accident and one died and so that now has me worried that would happen with Natsu. I would rather be bit any day than be the cause of my animal dying. I know I worry a lot but it's part of the anxiety disorder so I try my best to do what I can and find ways to ease the anxiety and my snakes help as long as I don't have people telling me that what I'm doing might kill my animal (i.e. using the hook, also had someone tell me that using the rack system for my balls would kill them but I know a lot of people on this forum and people I know use them with no problem so I just keep telling myself that and it helps).

Have you tried covering up his head with a small hand towel before picking him up? I've done this with other defensive snakes - if they don't see your hand coming they don't nip, and once you get a hand on them they are ok.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Have you tried covering up his head with a small hand towel before picking him up? I've done this with other defensive snakes - if they don't see your hand coming they don't nip, and once you get a hand on them they are ok.

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Yep, I sometimes use the hide to block their head a bit while I grab the middle, once I've got a hand on them good and get them over to the door they have settled enough to grab safely with hands. I use the towel trick on my iguana if I need to grab him in a bad mood lol, calms him down really well. That's one animal I don't want to take a bite from though.

I'm going to try the towel trick thanks for the suggestion!

The towel trick worked!! Thanks so much makes me feel more confident and he's not as stressed either! He barely huffed at me on the way out of the cage and then was his usual explorey self :)

This is the 'female' that I might be bringing home in a few weeks (she's in shed so looks more white than she normally is plus waiting for her to finish her shed to make sure she is a she because one of the owners told me male and the other female so they are not sure until they can probe after she sheds):

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...psqn1ozan5.jpg

Glad it worked! I took my baby blood out today, he's definitely a jumpy little guy but didn't manage to connect at all and did pretty well for his first handling with me. He's right around the same age as yours probably, born this summer.

I have raised a bunch of Bloods from fresh hatched babies till they were adults. I can say from the hundreds of baby blood bites I have had all of them were over it way before being adults. I am talking about devil babies. They all had plain cages their hides were folded newspaper substrate was also newspaper. Plain handed I would open the cage and immediately pick them up from their backside never going toward the face. Hooks make them more jumpy from my experience I think its the cold steel. I would hold them a few minutes everyday never moving anything in front of their face. Even the nastiest Cherries I had would always calm down usually puppy dog tame. They huff and puff that's a Blood thing! Its when the tounge is straight out hissing you know your getting bit!!!They will get used to you then you know you achieved greatness :-) That's really just meanning your adding more to your collection!!!Good luck and support your new addiction!!!

I'm glad things are working.

I just thought I'd point out one thing. You may be misunderstanding the use of a hook. Many of us use it to alert the snake with a body rub, and then use it to redirect the head should they turn and want to strike. Once alerted and in position, the snake is still picked up by hand.

Occasionally with lighter, semi arboreal snakes you can let the front end of the snake crawl through the hook and cradle the rest of the body on your free arm which is similar their use of branches in the wild. Arboreal and semi arboreal snakes are more accommodated to reaching with less support.

In your case, with a completely terrestrial and heavy bodied snake, it would be used to alert and redirect only.

The advantage is a hook will get you a little more added distance VS paper towels or something else. The disadvantage is if they strike the hook hard, it could hurt their mouth.

It sounds like things are working out, but thought I'd clarify that using a hook doesn't necessarily mean "hooking" the snake.

Beautiful python you have.

Enjoy!

Wish I had advice / something to contribute other than what others have said, but gosh darn it, you guys!!!! The photos of Natsu waiting to get spritzed are almost enough to convince me that we need to add a blood to our collection pronto. :D