Do all new BPs need privacy?

I know everybody says leave them alone for a week when they first arrive so they get settled and not stress. I have had 10 BPs and i can kind of tell which snakes a "need" to be left alone and which dont. Do any of you handle your BPs right away?

As soon as I got my girl home she was in my hands immediately. I take her out everyday, sometimes including feeding day, and at least 24 hours afterwards. No problems at all so I can only assume she's okay with it!

She's also very okay with handling during shed, but I opt out of handling her as much to avoid stress.

How long have you had her? Is that the only one you have? I did the handling right away with 3 of my BPs.

I've had her for over a month or so. And yep, she's my only snake for now. :)

I don't really handle any of my snakes right away. I receive them, set them up in their enclosure, then leave them alone for a week.
It's just personal preference. I certainly know others who don't do this. But I do it to give my snakes the best chance to eat the next week. Plus, I generally don't want to stress out my animals unnecessarily. I have a few really sensitive ball pythons.

You can usually tell pretty quickly which ones arrive stressed, and which one are ok with the transition to their new home. I've had some eat within hours of arriving (they were obviously "hunting" and it was feeding day anyway for my others, so they got offered a rat), while others took a few weeks to acclimate.

As i get more experience (and more snakes) im able to read the snakes alot better. Hope to learn as much as i can as the years pass. There is definitely no substitute for experience

It's hard, but I pretty much never handle my new snakes for at least a week after getting them, sometimes longer. I typically wait at least 2 consecutive feedings before handling. While some can be okay on a fast-track to handling, as I've worked with more and more and more snakes, I've come to accept that sometimes I'm wrong in how I'm gauging a snake and how well it's settling in. Rather than push it and potentially cause the snake more stress in the long run, I'll wait the two weeks (or longer) no matter what. Doesn't hurt the ones that settled in fast any, and helps make sure that if I mis-read a snake, I won't mess it up by handling too soon.

-Jen

Great thread I was wondering the same thing. I picked up a Spider het ghost Sunday at Repticon and with the exception of taking him out last night to get a starting weight on him I haven't really handled him yet. He's been in his hide ever since Sunday night though he did come out last night at some point to leave me a little treat.

I think it's purely dependent on the snake and how you have it housed. Some snakes settle in faster than others and will eat for you right off the bat without any fuss and some take a while longer to get comfortable and settle in and take a meal from you it just depends. It also depends on how your housing it if the snake doesn't feel secure in it new home it will prolong the settling process and how quickly he will for you. But even if husbandry is spot on it still just depends on the animal. They are all different [emoji4] I've had some that took a meal with me the next day and others that took weeks to take a meal and settle.


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Most of my snakes have eaten same day or day after they arrive. And I usually handle whenever I want to. I did the whole try to wait two weeks thing with my first but broke down many times just too fascinated to not hold him. I've never had a problem. We'll my problem eater was left alone and still wouldn't eat till she just started eating very well one day. Snakes... well ball pythons..


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those that ball up tight are left alone for a few days, the more confident ones take as little as a few hours to settle in. all of my new balls arrive hungry and most will eat right away because i specifically request sellers to not feed them for a while in preparation for the transport....

as for the handling part, upon unpacking i do a quick inspection of each snake from nose to tail and put them in their bin asap. i prefer to observe new snakes move freely to check for any mobility issues...

how can you know if a snake is comfortable or stressed within the a few days of bringing it to its new home?

When I bought Medusa last year I handled her some here and there within the first week. She was pretty chill and wasn't at all stressed. Although she didn't eat for two weeks after I got her, but that's because she was preparing to go into shed. Which I did not know until after the fact, when she started to become dull in color.

In the future I will gauge how they act before handling, but will more than likely leave them be otherwise until they are settled.

I will wait about a week or two before handling or trying to feed.