pastels tempement?

hello i have a lil pastel, and everytime i lift his rock or anything he looks like hes gunna strike...should i be scared or just go in and pick him up? ive only had him for a lil over a week.

:( anyone?

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

young like an 2010 clutch lol..ive owned other bps before..including my killer bee but i got then when they were like 2 years old so i knew what i was doing...this is all new to me lol...but water wont make him all pissy when i mist down the cage as well?

Try to pick him up from behind. Don't go straight into his hide from the front of his face. Being a little guy, he could be scared or it could be a feeding response. You don't say that you've ever been bit, so I would just go in from behind, pick him up gently about one third of the way down from his head. Once you reach in, don't stop, keep on going. Once you pick him out of the enclosure, you may find you have a little cuddle bunny.

But sometimes you get a pit viper in training. I've got a Lesser Platty that has always been a biter. I got her when she was 300 grams, she's now over 1000 grams and she still likes to take a bite of of me some times. She's also a hisser. But if you show fear, they can sense it. Just go in and pick him up and show him who's boss. MOST snakes will not bite once you have them out of their enclosure, but you don't know until you try. Getting tagged doesn't gurt as much as it's shocking.

Embrace every bite you get as a Red Badge of Courage.

Good Luck!
Jim Smith

It's not a morph thing, it's a baby thing. Hatchlings tend to be nippy, my youngsters this year are all pretty laid back, it's nice change :) I'm not sure if it's true, but I've noticed that young/baby reptiles tend to be more aggressive/nippy than adults of the same species. I'm thinking it's because they are an easy food item for many other animals and they have to keep from being eaten until they get bigger. IDK if it's true, but it makes sense.

ok thanks so much..yeah hes never bit me but when i held him right before i put him in the cage for the first time he tried to strike my brother while i was still holding him so it kinda freaked me out lmao:O

You should leave him alone until he has eaten a couple times for you first! He needs time to settle in. Babies are naturally defensive as they are so small and easy targets for predators in the wild. He sees you as a big monster that wants to eat him! After some regular handling, he will settle down!

i just fed him 2 fuzzzys yesturday and he ate with no problem! i was so happy lol..ive heard its hard to get babys to eat when thier in a new enclosure..i was gunna try to handle him friday night ...that gives him about 48 hours since he ate

^^ Waiting 48-72 hours is typically a good rule of thumb to follow when it comes to handling after feeding. As others have posted, once he's ate for you a couple times, you can start handling more regularly. I start with 5 minute sessions and work up to 15-20 minutes sessions.

BPs are notoriously shy and solitary animals that don't particularly like being handled. Most of the time, they will tolerate you, but hissing and posing in a defensive position is a good indicator that your snake is scared and/or stressed. When it does come time to handle, use calm, confident movements and don't dally around, e.g., do not move your hand in and out of his viv numerous times. This will only stress the snake out more and you will have a greater chance of getting tagged (which will not hurt). Pick him up on your first attempt.

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?

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.)

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!

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:)

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!

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...hlight=willgti

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.

Good luck!
Jim