Now I know why you like 40” tongs.

[Bogertophis]

I really wouldnt complain much if Caesar didnt shoot out of his cage about 2-3 feet with mouth open flailing all over when he smells food. Being on the bitey end of an 8 foot hungry male retic isnt much fun.

Well that behavior is really cute when my little Aussie Spotted python does it... 'Course she's only about 3' long, but she goes nuts, biting her cage or anything, even herself once...yeah, flailing is a good word for it. She read the manual, she just isn't that big, thankfully!

[Sauzo]

Well that behavior is really cute when my little Aussie Spotted python does it... 'Course she's only about 3' long, but she goes nuts, biting her cage or anything, even herself once...yeah, flailing is a good word for it. She read the manual, she just isn't that big, thankfully!

Haha, yeah it is cute when the little boas get all worked up for food. Louie goes crazy and strikes the glass doors but he is also only about 3 feet. Rango just goes into hawk mode and turns his head left to right, up and down and spazzes out for food. Little Luna will come up to the front and look all over too...so much for ambush predator lol. But Caesar just lunges and Vicky and Rosey will coil up and stand up a little, kind of intimidating haha.

[redshepherd]

Omg those are some tiny tongs in your pic!! LOL

40" sounds massive, but I have just 18" tongs for my tanimbar scrub. She is absolutely insane on feeding day and alert to every movement. A few times, she flies out of the enclosure the second I open it a crack, and has to grab the rat outside the enclosure! Then I pick her up with the tongs and place her back in somewhere. I need to take video of it eventually. Pixie is about 4.5'~5'.

I really wouldnt complain much if Caesar didnt shoot out of his cage about 2-3 feet with mouth open flailing all over when he smells food. Being on the bitey end of an 8 foot hungry male retic isnt much fun.

I just saw your comment after I made mine, and this is exactly what Pixie does. She shoots just 1 foot out of her cage though, or I'm afraid she'll flail bite everything within a foot radius of her LOL

[Sauzo]

Omg those are some tiny tongs in your pic!! LOL

40" sounds massive, but I have just 18" tongs for my tanimbar scrub. She is absolutely insane on feeding day and alert to every movement. A few times, she flies out of the enclosure the second I open it a crack, and has to grab the rat outside the enclosure! Then I pick her up with the tongs and place her back in somewhere. I need to take video of it eventually. Pixie is about 4.5'~5'.



I just saw your comment after I made mine, and this is exactly what Pixie does. She shoots just 1 foot out of her cage though, or I'm afraid she'll flail bite everything within a foot radius of her LOL

Well here is a comparison i posted a while back of the new 42 inch tongs i use for my big guys compared to the BBQ tongs i was using which have nearly gotten me bit i dont know how many times. The last straw was when i was feeding Vic and she missed and i literally felt a couple of her teeth scrape my fingernail.

Rosey bit me before when i scared her and she is 7 feet. Didnt hurt, actually didnt feel like anything really but that was a startled 'who the hell are you and why are you above me' bite vs Vic's was a 'OMG THAT IS DINNER!!' strike which if it was may hand would have hurt. I have been bit by Vic also when i was messing with rats and thought i could sneak behind her to move a hide a little to make more room. Didnt work and i ended up with a nicely bruised hand as she latched on and pulled a little, then realized my hand wasnt a rat and let go.

But anyways, here is the pic. The new tongs are hefty. I can literally hold onto the prey from Caesar, Vic and Rosey and make them actually wrap the prey on the tongs. Love em and well worth the $40 or $50 i paid for them.


For the little boas and stuff, i just use some 18 inch Zoo Med metal forceps which work just fine.

[Team Slytherin]

Hahha that’s funny ... awesome and scary all at once!!

I just started a post about feeding rituals prior to reading this !!

guess I know your answer Lolol

Haha, I wish it was easier to post videos here, because his feeding rituals are peculiar, indeed. If he thinks he's getting food and it's not coming fast enough, he looks you in the eye and just opens his mouth. I have never seen another snake indicate like him. It's not a yawn....but he does it every single time! Like, "this is where dinner goes."

Maybe I'll figure it out just for kicks...because it's so bizarre. He definitely has figured out our "feeding ritual." I usually thaw the prey on top of his cage and take him out to play while that's going on. Our handling session is always extra long on feeding days, because I can hardly bear two days without scrub-snuggles! I usually put him on my bed while I go give the mouse/rat/quail/chick a quick blast with the hair dryer...and by the time I walk back in the room, it's on like Donkey Kong. He's such a spaz.

[Team Slytherin]

Well that behavior is really cute when my little Aussie Spotted python does it... 'Course she's only about 3' long, but she goes nuts, biting her cage or anything, even herself once...yeah, flailing is a good word for it. She read the manual, she just isn't that big, thankfully!

She bit HERSELF?! That is some serious enthusiasm!

[Team Slytherin]

Omg those are some tiny tongs in your pic!! LOL

40" sounds massive, but I have just 18" tongs for my tanimbar scrub. She is absolutely insane on feeding day and alert to every movement. A few times, she flies out of the enclosure the second I open it a crack, and has to grab the rat outside the enclosure! Then I pick her up with the tongs and place her back in somewhere. I need to take video of it eventually. Pixie is about 4.5'~5'.



I just saw your comment after I made mine, and this is exactly what Pixie does. She shoots just 1 foot out of her cage though, or I'm afraid she'll flail bite everything within a foot radius of her LOL

Hahaha, I am LITERALLY just realizing that! I've never had to use tongs to feed a snake before, but as you know, any precaution is worth it to avoid the bitey end of a hungry scrub! My 12 inch tongs clearly need an upgrade

And YES, I need this caught on tape! Apophis has only once demonstrated the legendary strike distance of a scrub python. I was REALLY pissing him off one day trying to transfer him back into his big enclosure and I was knocking things over like an elephant. He raised up at me like, "what are you doing with all my STUFF?!?" When his evil stare didn't deter me, he struck all the way from the top branch at the back of his enclosure 8 inches out the front glass door...not to bite me, but just to prove he could if he wanted to.

I can't imagine if I had food near me! You are one brave woman! Do you know Pixie's approximate hatch date, btw?

[Team Slytherin]

Well here is a comparison i posted a while back of the new 42 inch tongs i use for my big guys compared to the BBQ tongs i was using which have nearly gotten me bit i dont know how many times. The last straw was when i was feeding Vic and she missed and i literally felt a couple of her teeth scrape my fingernail.

Rosey bit me before when i scared her and she is 7 feet. Didnt hurt, actually didnt feel like anything really but that was a startled 'who the hell are you and why are you above me' bite vs Vic's was a 'OMG THAT IS DINNER!!' strike which if it was may hand would have hurt. I have been bit by Vic also when i was messing with rats and thought i could sneak behind her to move a hide a little to make more room. Didnt work and i ended up with a nicely bruised hand as she latched on and pulled a little, then realized my hand wasnt a rat and let go.

But anyways, here is the pic. The new tongs are hefty. I can literally hold onto the prey from Caesar, Vic and Rosey and make them actually wrap the prey on the tongs. Love em and well worth the $40 or $50 i paid for them.


For the little boas and stuff, i just use some 18 inch Zoo Med metal forceps which work just fine.

This will definitely be the next toy on my list! I have a feeling my "dwarf" is not going to stay so small

[redshepherd]

Hahaha, I am LITERALLY just realizing that! I've never had to use tongs to feed a snake before, but as you know, any precaution is worth it to avoid the bitey end of a hungry scrub! My 12 inch tongs clearly need an upgrade

And YES, I need this caught on tape! Apophis has only once demonstrated the legendary strike distance of a scrub python. I was REALLY pissing him off one day trying to transfer him back into his big enclosure and I was knocking things over like an elephant. He raised up at me like, "what are you doing with all my STUFF?!?" When his evil stare didn't deter me, he struck all the way from the top branch at the back of his enclosure 8 inches out the front glass door...not to bite me, but just to prove he could if he wanted to.

I can't imagine if I had food near me! You are one brave woman! Do you know Pixie's approximate hatch date, btw?

I'm really jealous of how docile Apophis is every time you talk about him! Everywhere says that tanimbar scrubs are the more docile and rarely bite, but my Pixie has developed an inclination to be a typical defensive mainland scrub... The bigger she grows, she seems to just want to be a princess who hates me LOL. I don't think I can handle her with my bare hands without possibly getting like four or five bites in a row in under a minute! She kind of just turns her head downward to my hands that she's sitting on, even if everything is calm, and bites down... :|

Also yes, their strike range is so far for their size! Always takes me by surprise.

If I remember correctly, her hatch date is October 2015.

Well here is a comparison i posted a while back of the new 42 inch tongs i use for my big guys compared to the BBQ tongs i was using which have nearly gotten me bit i dont know how many times. The last straw was when i was feeding Vic and she missed and i literally felt a couple of her teeth scrape my fingernail.

Rosey bit me before when i scared her and she is 7 feet. Didnt hurt, actually didnt feel like anything really but that was a startled 'who the hell are you and why are you above me' bite vs Vic's was a 'OMG THAT IS DINNER!!' strike which if it was may hand would have hurt. I have been bit by Vic also when i was messing with rats and thought i could sneak behind her to move a hide a little to make more room. Didnt work and i ended up with a nicely bruised hand as she latched on and pulled a little, then realized my hand wasnt a rat and let go.

But anyways, here is the pic. The new tongs are hefty. I can literally hold onto the prey from Caesar, Vic and Rosey and make them actually wrap the prey on the tongs. Love em and well worth the $40 or $50 i paid for them.


For the little boas and stuff, i just use some 18 inch Zoo Med metal forceps which work just fine.

wow that is huge! The pic of the tongs. I'll bet it's worth it for your big species, I think I'd buy it too if I had 7-8 foot snakes, especially active ones. I don't think I'll ever need tongs longer than my 18" or maybe 24" even if Vigil gets to 7-8 feet though, just her as an individual... She has a short strike range and is very "I'm just gonna sit under the substrate and wait" lol, not to mention really slow compared to BC or retics.

[Team Slytherin]

I'm really jealous of how docile Apophis is every time you talk about him! Everywhere says that tanimbar scrubs are the more docile and rarely bite, but my Pixie has developed an inclination to be a typical defensive mainland scrub... The bigger she grows, she seems to just want to be a princess who hates me LOL. I don't think I can handle her with my bare hands without possibly getting like four or five bites in a row in under a minute!

I think I just got lucky because he's my mini-spirit animal. I've met plenty of keepers now who say their nautas are the meanest in the bunch! She's got to be a serious handful at that size and sass! It's almost impossible to make mine go anywhere he doesn't want to and that's without me even worrying that he will bite. Those teeth are the things of nightmares. Every time I get tagged for being annoying (always 100% deserved...) I squeal like a little girl and am always just incredulous that such a quick nip can hurt so badly! A bite from a Burm his size is like being slapped with a feather.

I am ready to see more pictures of her! Even if she is sassy, Pixie is a stunner and I want mooooore!

And thanks for the date, as well! Does her growth seem to be slowing at all? As nautas become more available in captivity, I am interested to see the things we know about them change.