Been busy...no time to handle them

[L.West]

Does not handling your bps for extended periods of time (like 4 days in a row) cause any potential problems like them becoming agressive?

I check on my snakes every morning and every night for any messes in their cages and always change out their water but lately I've been soo busy I haven't really been able to spend quality time with each of them. I feel guilty about it.

Will this cause any problems with them or is this in any way neglectful towards them.

Thanks.

[ballpythonluvr]

Four days without handling will not cause any problems in my book and I don't consider this neglect either. I only handle my snakes once a week and I don't have any problems at all.

[Rob]

Four days, my guess is they have enjoyed the alone time.

[L.West]

I just feel quilty. I only have 8 snakes and still find it hard to spend quality time with each one. I will just have to make more time for them - to ease my own guilt.

I realize that bp's don't mind spending all their time holed up in their tubs but I wanted to be sure it wasn't detrimental in any way.

Let me ask you this, is it fine for an established collection to all come out at the same time and just crawl around - supervised of course. This way they would all get some "out" time and some exercise at the same time.

Is there any down side to doing it this way??

Thanks for the help.

[BPnewguy]

I have been told to leave my ball pythons alone for a week at a time to adjust to things or try to get to eat..... ect. I don't think leaving them alone for four days is that big of a deal. You are still checking on them, so I think it is fine.

[warlord]

idk if i would take all 8 out at once thats alot to look after who knows where 1 could get to while your paying attention to the others...i think they could get a little angry towards eachother to but im not positive

[L.West]

Well, I guess I will just continue as I have been. I try to alerternate every couple of days to get at least one of them out for t.v. time with mom - lol.

I'm sure I'm making this more of a problem that it needs to be - guilt will do that.

I just want them to all be happy and properly cared for.

[Slim]

Not handling them for 4 days is no problem at all. Honestly, the snakes probably don't even notice. I'm not sure snakes have the same concept of time that we do anyway, LOL.

BPs are such docile snakes by nature (most of them, anyway) that even extended periods of not being handled usually won't cause any long term issues.

I used to travel quite a lot for business, and when I would return home from a 5-7 day trip some of mine would act like I'd never been gone, and a couple of them would look at me like, "Hey, where you been, and have you forgotten how to thaw a rat?"

[Mike41793]

It wont effect your snakes in the least bit. As long as your keeping them clean and giving them fresh water its ok. I probably only hold my snakes, like for enjoyment, once every 7-10 days. The rest of the time im just taking them out to clean tubs or weigh them.

[Anatopism]

Each of our snakes probably only gets out to sit with us for an extended amount of time once a month or longer (more frequently in the summer when we take them for local outreaches/educational events), the bigger girls rarely get handled during breeding season, and everyone else gets 'looked over' (as in actually picked up and moved around, rather than just glanced at) once or twice a week during cleaning/general maintenance. We very rarely handle hatchlings unless they are immediately great eaters, as they seem a bit more relaxed/secure when left alone.

Interestingly, our nicest/most docile snakes are the ones who get handled least (I am constantly prodding the enchi, because he keeps getting prettier as he grows, and he is a little snot). I don't really think this is related to frequency of handling though, it seems to be more of a combination of age/comfort level, and individual personality/behavior.

All in all, I don't think BPs mind one bit if you never handle them, and none of ours, anyway, have shown any increased fear or defensive behavior when taken out, if they haven't been handled in a while. They are a docile enough snake that if handled appropriately when you do get them out, they seem pretty content to just go with the flow.