All bark? (hissing BP--and need some cleaning/handling advice)

[dkspftw]

I know, I know, I'm a wuss--but--I've yet to be bit by either of my BPs, and I'm still kind of afraid, even though I know it won't be that bad.

Anyway, I've got two juvenile gals, one a bit bigger than the other.

I've decided to focus on handling the smaller more, as the larger one is completely insane and tries to run away in very un-BP-like fashion whenever she's picked up. The sprinter (as I'll call her) is by far the more expensive of the two, so I've decided to not really handle her too much as I'm worried she'll jump right out of my hands and end up injured, and I need her to breed successfully. I figure I can better acclimate one of her offspring that I'll have from birth, and as for the mom, as long as she lets me do stuff in her tank and move her about for cleaning, that's fine.

Aaaaaanyway, I went in her cage to clean some poop this weekend and for the first time ever, she hissed at me! I've never even seen her try to strike, just evacuate at full speed or occasionally ball up, and the hiss was totally new to me. I was surprised how loud it was!

So my noob question is: how seriously should I take the hiss? Does that mean she's more likely to strike at me now?

Lastly, she's in a fairly new enclosure and I was about to do her first monthly full-tank cleaning. Obviously I'll have to completely remove her from the enclosure for this. Since she doesn't handle well and I'm terrified of dropping her (again) if she freaks out on me, I was thinking of trying to prod her into a pillow case, and then using that to transport her to a plastic tub for the time I'm cleaning.

Thoughts? Should I get some kind of snake hook to pick her up if I'm concerned?

Again, I'm a self-admitted noob with snakes, so even the most basic advice is helpful!

Thanks!

[bcr229]

Take this with a large grain of salt, but... my two BP's who are confirmed hissers are all talk and no action. They've never even tried to strike at me.

OTOH the 1000 gram confirmed biter, who will come flying out of her tub aiming for your nose, has never made a sound.

[MootWorm]

Your big girl sounds a lot like mine I just want to say that you CAN work with her, so don't give up just yet! Anyway, my girl squirms all over the place when she's out, I just have to make sure I've got a good hold on her and am low to the ground lol. She's also VERY hissy. As in, she hisses when I pick her up, when I open the tub, or just when I walk by. Sometimes she even hisses if I move too quickly when handling her.

With your girl, I'm going to assume the hiss was a warning: if you kept messing with her, she most likely would have struck. This is a new environment for her, so are you sure her temps and humidity are spot on? How many hides does she have? How cluttered is it? She may just need some more security. Also, is she going into shed, or is feeding day coming up? All of these can contribute to a feisty ball

That said, the bites aren't that bad. Trust me, I've been bitten more than my fair share lol. If you're really scared, get a snake hook, or put your hand in a pillow case and pick her up like you would dog poop :p

[jclaiborne]

IMO hissing is like saying leave me alone. How are the temps in the tank, humidity, hides etc? She could be grumpy if the temps are off, or she just may need to be handled more. IF all the settings are good, but handling her makes you nervous you could put on long sleves and wear some gloves then as you get comfortable over time you can loose the gloves etc...

Just saw the above post after I posted mine...

[dkspftw]

Take this with a large grain of salt, but... my two BP's who are confirmed hissers are all talk and no action. They've never even tried to strike at me.

OTOH the 1000 gram confirmed biter, who will come flying out of her tub aiming for your nose, has never made a sound.

Oh I'd believe it. Like I said, she hasn't tried to strike. But maybe counter-intuitively, the one I'm actually trying to handle more has struck several times. She has incredibly bad aim so I'm not too stressed, and I'm more concerned about me hurting the snake than vice versa, hence not really handling the one I really want to breed.

Whoa! Got like 3 responses whilst typing this. Will respond more thoroughly.

[sorraia]

A few of my snakes are/were hissers. My axanthics were really bad hissers when I first got them, but have calmed down a bit (sometimes hiss). A few of my snakes have even struck out, but haven't connected (even though they could have if they really wanted to). So far, for MY snakes, this has been all bluff, trying to make big to scare me away. Your snake may or may not be the same, but just showing it doesn't mean she is going to bite, or even if she strikes that she's necessarily trying to bite.

I have been bit before (not by any of my current snakes), and it really isn't that bad. The surprise of the moment is worse than the bite itself. That being said, I'll probably scream like a little girl the next time I get bit.

[dkspftw]

Your big girl sounds a lot like mine I just want to say that you CAN work with her, so don't give up just yet! Anyway, my girl squirms all over the place when she's out, I just have to make sure I've got a good hold on her and am low to the ground lol. She's also VERY hissy. As in, she hisses when I pick her up, when I open the tub, or just when I walk by. Sometimes she even hisses if I move too quickly when handling her.

With your girl, I'm going to assume the hiss was a warning: if you kept messing with her, she most likely would have struck. This is a new environment for her, so are you sure her temps and humidity are spot on? How many hides does she have? How cluttered is it? She may just need some more security. Also, is she going into shed, or is feeding day coming up? All of these can contribute to a feisty ball

That said, the bites aren't that bad. Trust me, I've been bitten more than my fair share lol. If you're really scared, get a snake hook, or put your hand in a pillow case and pick her up like you would dog poop :p

She's been in the cage about a month and a half now, so the cleaning is overdue. I keep it very spotless on my own, but still. I prefer a naturalistic look to the tank, so I've got a bunch of rocks in there arranged to make a series of hides. There's only one pre-made hide in there, which I keep on the cool side. Sometimes she hangs out in it. I'd say there are technically 4-5 good hide spots, although she mostly hangs out in the back corner, not really under the rocks per-se but hidden amongst them.

She's a weird shedder, in that she's been growing a lot but has only shed once since the end of may. That was maybe a month ago. So she's probably due for one.

And I've got her on a 5 day feeding cycle right now and she's got crazy intense feeding response, so I suspect she thinks every day is feeding day. Sigh.

IMO hissing is like saying leave me alone. How are the temps in the tank, humidity, hides etc? She could be grumpy if the temps are off, or she just may need to be handled more. IF all the settings are good, but handling her makes you nervous you could put on long sleves and wear some gloves then as you get comfortable over time you can loose the gloves etc...

Just saw the above post after I posted mine...

Right now she's in an AP T8. On the hot side it ranges between 88-92 depending on how recently the thermostat has turned the heater on. The cool side might be a little warm, probably never dropping below 77 or so. She frequently stays on the warm side during the day and seems to like to thermoregulate on the cooler side at night, mostly. My humidity is managed by a mistkings system connected to a herpstat, and I keep it at 60% with an 11% swing.

[Punkymom]

My pastel is 3 years old (I think) and he still hisses every single time I pick him up. In my experience, hissing is just a bluff. I tell them to get over themselves when I pick them up. Out of my 7, if I were to pick each of them up right now, probably 3 or 4 of them would hiss at me. I've been bitten once out of defense.

[WarriorPrincess90]

A hiss can be nothing or it can be something, it depends on the animal and the circumstances. But for the most part, I take my BPs' hisses to mean, "I'm not in the mood today for whatever activity you are attempting!" One of my BPs never hisses, but when I took him to the vet to get a swollen eye checked out, he hissed for the first time ever...at the vet. He only hissed once before admitting defeat and attempting to hide. That tends to be the norm. It's just their way of saying they don't like something. Now...when my boas hiss at me...that I take more seriously. Why? Because it's usually followed by a strike. But that's them. The BPs are much more relaxed.

My male mojo strikes first, hisses when I still won't leave him alone, and once he's out of the tub he just gives up. Lol.

[bcr229]

Now...when my boas hiss at me...that I take more seriously. Why? Because it's usually followed by a strike. But that's them. The BPs are much more relaxed.

My boa hisses are also much more intimidating. Fortunately they are very, very rare!