Handling

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Originally Posted by BPdad

I'm a newbie of only 3 1 /2 weeks and I can't say enough of how much of a difference there was between week one and week two and even more so with week three. It was like a whole diffferent snake after that first week. The first week was disappointing to say the least. The snake was VERY defensive when just walking by its enclosure. My son tried filling his water bowl on day two and got nailed by him on his finger. Talk about being disappointed.

We were fortunate enough to have a friend who has 7-8 snakes, 2 being BP's, who was willing to stop by after the first week and work with my son and I on handling him during this acclimation period. I highly recommend if you have such a person to ask them to help you out the first week or two.

Someone mentioned earlier about not "second quessing" your attempt to pick him up. I would have to agree with that statement. The more you move your hand back and forth wondering if you should pick him up, the snake will get nervous at your motion and no doubt strike/bite. Dive in there with a "steady" motion and lift him out. Make sure you support the mid/heavy body section. The snake will learn to trust your support/lift technic eventually.

After week 3 recently we have a NICE & doscile BP.

Hang in There!

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BPdad, I must say after reading your post Im much more understanding of her needs. Patience is the key...

I think I will wait after her 2nd feeding next week before I makr the attempt.

Quick question for you all. I have heard that if prior to picking up your snake you gently blow in its face to give them a heads up it's you that it actually helps. I tried this a couple of times yesterday and noticed that she lifts her head then flick her tongue. Does this work?

Thanks again to you all for the advise. Man I love this community.:rockon:

As you have received many great suggestions, I won't really add anything on waiting a little longer.

If she really gets into her defence position every time, the recommendation of going by behind her and grabbing her body usually is good for them not to strike at you. If for any reason you really have a little aggressive one, the more handling the quicker she will be tamed (once again do wait for the acclimatising period). By the way as a side note it does not hurt more than a needle pinch when they strike, specially if they are small. It is more the surprise than the damage. Of course on the other hand the snake usually gets more stressed after this so if this happens I would give her a break to recover from the scare.



A trick I use with mine after I have fed them and they still want more is that I will slowly approach a handkerchief/towel with one hand and them grab their body with the other and once I have them in my hands they know feeding time is over and stop striking.



With a newcomer probabilities are once you hold her she will take her ball position. So just be very patient holding her in you hand until she is ready to start looking around but try to stay away from her face just pet her body the furthest away from her face.

Thanks Snakey, nice of you to say.

Lon, I can't say I've heard of that blowing on them thing myself, maybe someone else here has though. One of our handling habits we do with all the snakes each and every time we are going to handle them is to just reach in quietly and slowly (but not hesitantly with jerky or fast hand movements), lift the hide if they are in it and just stroke their coils a few times. We speak to them even though they can't hear our voice ranges and just let them have a moment to realize we are there and the stroking means it's time to come out and visit. If I'm just doing cage maintenance and have to move one of them to clean I just do it quickly and get them tucked back in. On feeding day we don't handle them at all as they are all pretty primed to eat and more likely to strike.

After enough simple routines they seem to clue in and react pretty much as we expect them to. Of course, being snakes they like to toss all the rules out the window once in awhile and you just deal with it LOL.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Of course, being snakes they like to toss all the rules out the window once in awhile and you just deal with it LOL.

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:laughing: Intresting way to look at it.

So I fed her friday night, 2 pinkie mice...

She took to the with ease. I was wondering if maybe I should have fed her only 1. Anyways she ate both. Im hoping that after her 2nd feeding maybe Thursday she will be less defensive. I have noticed last couple of days during the night time that shes exploring more. She still gets into her defensive mode when I near her cage.

I was wondering though, if she stikes at me when I make an attemp to pick her up. Will she think "doesn't look like my bite affected him, maybe I'll let him pick me up from now on" mentality take over. Or will she still try to strike me if I make a 2nd attempt.

I read somewhere here that consistant handling is the key to taming her down.

Is that true ? :confuzd:

Congratulations on a successful feeding. I'm no expert, but that's a good sign you're doing things right. My snake, which I've had for six weeks, didn't eat for the first three weeks owing to shed, and, I suspect, acclimatization. Probably didn't help that I couldn't resist the temptation and handled him a lot early on, but he's eating fine now, striking at the F/T mouse almost as soon as it's dangled.

Not sure if consistent handling "tames" them--I haven't had enough snakes to really know. For what it's worth, here's my experience, and I think that they do get acclimated to an owner's touch. As I say, I probably handled him too much when I first got him, but he's "handled" it (no pun intended) very well. The first day or two, he would roll into a ball when I took him out of his cage, After ten minutes or so of being in a ball, he would uncurl himself and start exploring, investigating my face with his, sticking his tongue in my hair and ears. He stopped balling up about the third time I took him out and now stretches out right away. He's six years old and, according to the previous owner, has a history of being handled. Except for 48 hours after he eats, I handle him every day and he doesn't seem to mind. He even tries crawling back up my arm when I lower him back to the cage after a visit.

I don't think anyone should do what I did in handling so soon after acquisition, but my snake hasn't seemed to suffer for it, although I suspect he would've eaten a week sooner if I'd resisted the urge. He has definitely gotten more comfortable with me handling him as time has passed. From what I've learned on this forum, every snake is different. I'm lucky enough to have a "social" snake that probably doesn't know me from Adam, but allows me the illlusion of thinking of him as a friend.

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Originally Posted by saltcreep

So I fed her friday night, 2 pinkie mice...

She took to the with ease. I was wondering if maybe I should have fed her only 1. Anyways she ate both. Im hoping that after her 2nd feeding maybe Thursday she will be less defensive. I have noticed last couple of days during the night time that shes exploring more. She still gets into her defensive mode when I near her cage.

I was wondering though, if she stikes at me when I make an attemp to pick her up. Will she think "doesn't look like my bite affected him, maybe I'll let him pick me up from now on" mentality take over. Or will she still try to strike me if I make a 2nd attempt.

I read somewhere here that consistant handling is the key to taming her down.

Is that true ? :confuzd:

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I think the key to your question is time observing your snake. Snakes are hard to read and it takes time to cater to the individual needs of each particular snake. My suggestion to you is that you should feed, wait three days and then handle. 3 days is enough time for your snake to fully digest its meal, handling withing the 3 days might lead to a snake with a partially full stomach, that feels vulnerable and thus acts defensive. With time and handling, I would say 15-20 minute sessions each day would help tame her down. After having a tame snake the art becomes knowing when to stop. Some snakes are fine with a lot of handling and others are not. If your husbandry is perfect and you experience feeding problems you might want to not handle that week to better gauge the extent of handling your snake is willing to tolerate. Be observative, be respectful, and above all do not let excitement cloud judgement and put the snakes well being at risk.

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Originally Posted by Spaniard

I think the key to your question is time observing your snake. Snakes are hard to read and it takes time to cater to the individual needs of each particular snake. My suggestion to you is that you should feed, wait three days and then handle. 3 days is enough time for your snake to fully digest its meal, handling withing the 3 days might lead to a snake with a partially full stomach, that feels vulnerable and thus acts defensive. With time and handling, I would say 15-20 minute sessions each day would help tame her down. After having a tame snake the art becomes knowing when to stop. Some snakes are fine with a lot of handling and others are not. If your husbandry is perfect and you experience feeding problems you might want to not handle that week to better gauge the extent of handling your snake is willing to tolerate. Be observative, be respectful, and above all do not let excitement cloud judgement and put the snakes well being at risk.

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Well put Spaniard. Since yesterdays post, I have seen him out of his hide more often for the last few times I have visited his cage. He is exploring more....

I do agree with your advice Spaniard regarding observing the snakes behaviour. I was intent on handling him 2 days after feeding but now I think I will wait for 3. Also I was beginning the handling phase for 5 minutes. I need to spend more time handling him so I will bumb it up to 15.

digcolnagos, thanks for your words of encouragement. Is there really such thing as handling a BP too much. I plan on handling my snake for hours.:partyon:

Man I love this community and my new family member. Thanks all for your words of encouragement and advice. Any additional recommendations.

Oh, one more thing. Is it a good idea to feed 2 mice fuzzies at once or 1 adult mice. Instead of mice fuzzies shoud I be feeding rat fuzzies. Also Im feeding the fuzzies live, the only reason is because I know they can't harm my pet at such a young age so thats why I do that.

As to whether you feed mice or rats you may find it's your snake that makes that decision. BP's are known to be pretty prey specific. Doesn't mean you can't try to offer whichever you wish to feed (mouse or rat) but the snake may well dictate what you end up feeding. BP's raised on mice or rats seem to do just as well as long as the volume of prey is sufficient for their needs to grow appropriately.

Just choose your prey size based on the largest girth of the rodent (usually it's hips/butt area) compared to the largest girth of your snake. Try for a prey item about the same or slightly less than the girth of the snake. Try not to switch prey types, feeding methods or size of prey too quickly too often - it tends to freak them out a bit so changes need to come slow enough so they can adjust.

As far as the choice to feed live, pre-killed or frozen/thawed part of that will be your decision based on what you feel you are best able to handle and get on a regular weekly basis from a good supplier. Part of it will be what your snake will accept with a good, aggressive feeding response. All those feeding methods are fine as long as learn the right way to do it.

a week is spot on but when ur going to pick him up just do it dont hesitate or it will teach him that the behavior hes displaying will stop you from picking him up thus reinforcing his behavior goodluck