handling- I screwed up

I'm so enamored with my guy. He is so mellow and just frigging awesome. I have wanted a BP for, well decades, honestly. I didn't have the luxury of research before I got him though. It just sort of happened (He was a stray). I admit, I do not handle him (or my corn snake) as much as I should. Today, the BP, Sterling, let me know I have [screwed] up by striking at me. Today was feeding day. I try to stick to a schedule as much as possible, but with MY work schedule, it's bound to get screwy. I KNOW I should handle BOTH of them beyond feeding day, But what do you DO? Does one like sit on the couch, watch TV whilst holding their BP? How many days after a feed should I wait? Is there a window PRIOR to a feed? I'm torn between not wanting to stress him and not wanting him to associate me only with food!

Don't panic !!

If I were you , I'd provide a bit more info on what actually happened and what / how you feed .

Feeding strikes / bites are pretty common I'd guess ... although I don't necessarily think he associates you with food tbh

It can happen. My newest addition, a hatchling, was anxious the first week we had her. She struck at my wife a couple times when she was cleaning up her tub. She's chilled now, had her for about a month and a half now. Day before yesterday I was changing out her water and she came out of her hide to say hello. It was more like, "hello, where's my food?" I could tell she was after a meal. I finished up to avoid any possible striking and fed her the next day. She wasted no time getting after her prey (I do feed live, btw).

We haven't handled her as much as we would like, mostly letting her get completely acclimated; our male juvenile hasn't been held in a while either but he is totally chill while being a picky eater, so we don't mess with him too much right now anyway since I'm trying to get him back on schedule.

Wait 24-48 after feeding to hold. Don't hold on feeding day, some will even say the day before.

We feed in a separate enclosure and always handle each snake for 5-10 minutes prior to feeding. Their tanks are cleaned and water bowls topped off or changed while they are ingesting.

No we don't sit on the couch with them. The temperature of the room with the couch is ~65 degrees Fahrenheit. It wouldn't be fair to unnecessarily subject tropical animals to that temperature.

Re how many days after a feed to wait for handling - the larger and more infrequently you feed the longer is the duration required for digestion and, of course, vice versa.

I handle my snakes on an every other day basis. Only for about 10-20 minutes at a time usually. I let them crawl around and get a little exercise. .. my kingsnake is the one that really loves to chill outside of the cage. I'll bring him to the man cave and he pretty much has free roam. I try to keep the ball pythons stress levels low so I try not to overhandle them. Just enough to maintain/establish trust.

I try to wait 36 hours at least after feeding though. But just a few minutes ago, one of them made a mess of her cage so I had to take her out. I saw a foot/leg pushing out against her stomach though from last nights feeding, so needless to say, I gently laid her down while I cleaned and then right back into the tub she went.

My leopard female is NOT tolerant of me whatsoever yet. It's only been about 3 weeks since I've gotten her, almost a month. So yeah, I have to use the snake hook w her.

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Young snakes can sometimes be a little nippy. Most of them tend to mellow out as they acclimate and grow. I don't handle my snakes much at all and they're all still pretty docile. I usually wait 48 hours after a feeding to handle them.

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

Young snakes can sometimes be a little nippy. Most of them tend to mellow out as they acclimate and grow. I don't handle my snakes much at all and they're all still pretty docile. I usually wait 48 hours after a feeding to handle them.

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I don't handle mine much either and they are all still the way they have always been. My Ball, BRB, ETB, and big Blood have never tried to tag me. My young Bloods all got me many times when they were young but it has been a long time since they have tried as well. The GTP will bite anything...at night. During the day he is great...once he got over biting my arm because of my arm hair.

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Originally Posted by Macropodus

We feed in a separate enclosure and always handle each snake for 5-10 minutes prior to feeding. Their tanks are cleaned and water bowls topped off or changed while they are ingesting.

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Why do you do these things? Feed live?

I have never understood trying to move a snake when it is ready to eat. I cant even imagine trying that with some of the snakes I have. I would end up all kinds of bloody. It would be a circus.

On feed night I try not to do anything but feed them. Then I give them two days alone before I will take any of them out. I check them a few times a day and will give them water or take needed action then. During the night I try to do nothing more than I have to.

We feed Sunday night and don't even attempt to go in the closures until Tuesday night, (unless there's a visible mess that needs to be cleaned.) Sometimes, we go to handle tuesday and see obvious signs of extended feed mode, so we wait until Wednesday. We then handle them for 5 to 20 min either each night or every other (spot cleaning and water changes as well,) until Saturday night. Once Sunday hits, the most we do is spot clean and water change, but we try to get that done Saturday night so we can leave them alone on feed day.

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Originally Posted by KMG

Why do you do these things? Feed live? I have never understood trying to move a snake when it is ready to eat. I cant even imagine trying that with some of the snakes I have. I would end up all kinds of bloody. It would be a circus. On feed night I try not to do anything but feed them. Then I give them two days alone before I will take any of them out. I check them a few times a day and will give them water or take needed action then. During the night I try to do nothing more than I have to.

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Well, KMG, if you have to ask the question then you probably won't understand the answer. The short answer is cause I want to. We could stop here, but I'm waiting for the rain to let up a bit before we take out the garbage and pick up the mail.

We keep pet snakes, not DNA coiled up in drawers waiting to be proved out. Our enclosures consist of 10, 20, and 40 gallon tanks with high visibility and so we are aware of when snakes venture from their hides. We then can take them out for handling, feeding, and maintenance.

Hope this helps, and sorry to hear about your difficulty understanding, lack of imagination, and your bloody circuses - hopefully your situation will improve. If it's any consolation I'll give you a bow for your "useful post" :bow:

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Originally Posted by Macropodus

Well, KMG, if you have to ask the question then you probably won't understand the answer. The short answer is cause I want to. We could stop here, but I'm waiting for the rain to let up a bit before we take out the garbage and pick up the mail.

We keep pet snakes, not DNA coiled up in drawers waiting to be proved out. Our enclosures consist of 10, 20, and 40 gallon tanks with high visibility and so we are aware of when snakes venture from their hides. We then can take them out for handling, feeding, and maintenance.

Hope this helps, and sorry to hear about your difficulty understanding, lack of imagination, and your bloody circuses - hopefully your situation will improve. If it's any consolation I'll give you a bow for your "useful post" :bow:

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Wow, that was a really nice response. I can see you are going to be a true asset to the forum.

I asked a simple question but I see there is no simple answer. "Cause I want to" is a great answer though and certainly is doing what is best for your collection. Step outside the world of docile Ball Pythons and get a snake like the ones in my collection. I bet you will no longer "want to" feed that way.

Except when feeding live it is not the recommended method and is only asking for trouble. Not to mention the complete waste of time and energy.

I hope your response to me at least made you feel better.

I'm with you KMG. There's no way I could try to move my large bull snakes or carpets when they're in feeding mode. That's just asking to get tagged. I definitely couldn't imagine trying that with your Bloods or GTP. Like you said not to mention the waste of time and energy. To each his/her own though :cool:.

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Originally Posted by KMG

Wow, that was a really nice response. I can see you are going to be a true asset to the forum.

I asked a simple question but I see there is no simple answer. "Cause I want to" is a great answer though and certainly is doing what is best for your collection. Step outside the world of docile Ball Pythons and get a snake like the ones in my collection. I bet you will no longer "want to" feed that way.

Except when feeding live it is not the recommended method and is only asking for trouble. Not to mention the complete waste of time and energy.

I hope your response to me at least made you feel better.

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Macropodus is quite combative. It's his way or the highway. ;) he's worse than me! Lol

All humor aside.. it doesn't take "imagination" to realize that the risk of taking a hungry snake out of its home and putting a hungry snake back in is increasing the odds of getting tagged. It only takes common sense. And it adds unneeded stress to the snake.




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Originally Posted by Mangiapane85

Macropodus is quite combative. It's his way or the highway. ;) he's worse than me! Lol

All humor aside.. it doesn't take "imagination" to realize that the risk of taking a hungry snake out of its home and putting a hungry snake back in is increasing the odds of getting tagged. It only takes common sense. And it adds unneeded stress to the snake.




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:rofl:

They may be my real "opposing force," huh!?! :sabduel:

sorry it took me so long to get back to you guys! I do remove him from his enclosure for feeding. Why? It started off with me using that time to make proper adjustments to his tank, like I said, I didn't have time to do research before I got him, so things had to be fixed. I use the time he is eating to clean his water bowl, remove fecal matter (if it's visible I remove it right away, but usually it's in one of his hides), and add water to his substrate. When I went into his cage to pull him out, he came out of his hide super fast. My brain must have recognized this as wrong because I was able to avoid getting bit, but not fast enough to avoid him striking at me. I then covered him with a hand towel and picked him up, he was fine and let me do my usual inspection. The only thing that was different this time was feeding was a day later than it has been. I'll have to get better about handling him more and maybe when I have to alter his feeding day, feed him a day earlier instead of a day later.

If you were handling their food, it's definitely possible he just thought you were food because you smelled like it. That's the first time my corn snake tagged me- when I went to move him(which I no longer do) for eating and I smelled like food.

I admit I do move my new ball when it comes to feeding- when I didn't, he dragged his meal aaaall along his enclosure and got it coated in aspen like it was supposed to be shake 'n bake. :rolleyes: So now I move him. I wouldn't do it with a bigger/more aggressive snake(hence not moving my corn, he's bitey as hell) but it works alright for this little guy. I could always just use paper towel instead of aspen but I'm a sucker for how nice the aspen looks.

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Originally Posted by sufficio

If you were handling their food, it's definitely possible he just thought you were food because you smelled like it. That's the first time my corn snake tagged me- when I went to move him(which I no longer do) for eating and I smelled like food.

I admit I do move my new ball when it comes to feeding- when I didn't, he dragged his meal aaaall along his enclosure and got it coated in aspen like it was supposed to be shake 'n bake. :rolleyes: So now I move him. I wouldn't do it with a bigger/more aggressive snake(hence not moving my corn, he's bitey as hell) but it works alright for this little guy. I could always just use paper towel instead of aspen but I'm a sucker for how nice the aspen looks.

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I feed all mine in their vivs , all on orchid/ reptile bark BUT on temporary pieces of card .

It's part of the territory. You own a dog, it might bark. You own a cat it might scratch. You own a snake it might snap. Learning how to minimize the possibility of a strike by reading the body language and knowing individual snakes helps but once in a while one will reach out for you. No need to worry

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Originally Posted by Izzys Keeper

It's part of the territory. You own a dog, it might bark. You own a cat it might scratch. You own a snake it might snap. Learning how to minimize the possibility of a strike by reading the body language and knowing individual snakes helps but once in a while one will reach out for you. No need to worry

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I think that's great advice. I def agree.

Yes, knowing the individual snake is paramount. Only one of my 7 balls has ever "reached out" for me. She does every time I open her tub. But that's what snake hooks are for. :)

That doesn't mean that I don't make sure my hands smell like soap before dealing with the others though.


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Originally Posted by Mangiapane85

Yes, knowing the individual snake is paramount. Only one of my 7 balls has ever "reached out" for me. She does every time I open her tub. But that's what snake hooks are for. :)

That doesn't mean that I don't make sure my hands smell like soap before dealing with the others though.


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A snake hook for a Ball Python....you crack me up. :rofl:

Im just kidding. Im just super stubborn. My younger Bloods were very snappy when I got them. They made me bleed on the daily. I never used gloves or a hook. After awhile they learned I didn't care about their little bites and started to tame down.

I also had a Biak GTP that was a terror. Now that snake was just the devil. Long sharp teeth and he loved to make me bleed and did it every time.

Don't let that lil Velcro mouthed Ball Python rule the snake room. Show him who is boss. ;)

I know it wasn't food smell. I'm really good about that. I've had the corn longer, she gets fed first. I double bag the mice for defrosting (I find a single bag allows water to get in...). I drop her mouse in her feeding bin holding it with the inner bag, then wash my hands and put her in to feed. Take care of her maintenance and return her to her tank, wash my hands, put sterling into his bin and then pick up a mouse using tongs. I don't know why I decided he needed tongs. His first feeding attempt he didn't eat, he was close to shed though, which I didn't realize because he'd been with me a couple days, so I decided instead of laying the mouse down, I would use tongs. He seemed to expect the mouse to come from the air too, so maybe that is what he was used to? And no, not just one mouse, he gets two large mice. Yes I know he should be on rats, I just want to use up some of my mice ( I think I have 200 left...) and he has had zero problems with the feeding method. I know, I'll probably get bit at some point. I've had my corn a little over a year (also a rescue) and she's nailed me good once and grazed me once.

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Originally Posted by KMG

A snake hook for a Ball Python....you crack me up. :rofl:

Im just kidding. Im just super stubborn. My younger Bloods were very snappy when I got them. They made me bleed on the daily. I never used gloves or a hook. After awhile they learned I didn't care about their little bites and started to tame down.

I also had a Biak GTP that was a terror. Now that snake was just the devil. Long sharp teeth and he loved to make me bleed and did it every time.

Don't let that lil Velcro mouthed Ball Python rule the snake room. Show him who is boss. ;)

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Well, she's gotten me a couple times. I'm aware that a 200 g BP bite doesn't hurt. And I'm not afraid of her, but I use the hook because i don't want her to think it's ok to bite and I don't want her injuring her mouth or teeth on me.

Hater. ;)


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