*Taming* MBK

[shelpen]

My Blackie is still only 27g (+/-), still has white splotches on her chin and still eats a mice pinky every 5 days.
In other words, she is still a very young snake.

I handle her every other day on average and only 10-15 min. But manage to get bit almost every time. Sometimes twice.

I don't see she does it out of the meanness of a character, more like a feeding response. But still!

When can I expect her calming down on this? Do I need to handle her less? More? Differently?
Feed her in her enclosure (now)? Or outside?

Any piece of wisdom is appreciated greatly!!!

[bcr229]

Feed in the enclosure. While they are young and growing MBK's will often mistake your pinkie finger for a mouse pinky, my female chewed on me quite often as a youngster. Also while mine is an adult and slows down eating over the winter even though I don't brumate her, in the spring her appetite comes raging back and she'll end up tagging me at some point.

Try rubbing some lemon-scent hand sanitizer on your hands and arms if you're not wearing long sleeves, the smell should discourage her from thinking of you as food.

[Craiga 01453]

I 100000% agree with feeding within the enclosure. My King has a pretty insane feeding response regardless of season but has never even lunged at me inside his enclosure. He's an adult and over 4 ft and 675 grams and will occasionally, though very rarely, rattle when I reach for him. I just leave him alone those days. I handle him usually 4 -5 days a week for anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. He was out tonight for about 45 minutes and was chill as can be the whole time.
Every animal is different, but most Kings chill out pretty well once they get a little more size and confidence. I say just keep doing what you're doing and you'll be fine.

I also agree with washing your hands and forearms before handling any snake. Coincidentally, I like lemon scent so usually use that.

[shelpen]

Roger that!
Thank you so much, guys!

[Godzilla78]

Any pictures? I love to look at snakes!

[EL-Ziggy]

Try feeding her a tad more. Give her 2 pinkys for a couple of feedings then move her up to fuzzys. I've found that with young or new snakes a few good meals goes a long way towards helping them settle in and mellow out.