I swear my Spider BPs are the Pugs of the snake world

[CCBaer]

..... and I love them so much.

But I was wondering if anyone else has seen differences in "personalities" in different morphs. (I'm new, so excuse me if this has been discussed before, I also want to share my experiences with these scale babies) And also a little help with their weird eating habit.

Persephone - My spied girl is so docile and mellow, she pretty much allows me to do whatever and is always, always curious. She lies in the hides of her tank and pokes her head out to watch what I'm doing when she's awake. When she's sleeping she wedges herself in a warm spot covered by leaves. She's even surprised me once or twice when I'm cleaning her tank because I turn around to her with her neck extended to see what I'm doing, in a completely non-aggressive stance, flicking her tongue slowly. I imagine she doesn't mind me much because she doesn't really flinch if I go to handle her either. She even stays in my hand as she drinks from her water bowl.

Julian aka "Apollo"- My super-fire spider coral glow babyboy chills in his water bowl pond sometimes like he's lounging in a pool. He'll peek his head out of his hides to watch me too. I know when he wants to be fed because he does his head wobble/tongue flick thing, other-wise he's up for being handled. He's also a climber, throws a rave in his tank at night and sleeps it off.

For both of them, I always have to put them down into their tank or they won't get off me. (I know some people say it's a heat thing, but my hands are not always warm, sometimes cold or clammy from anxiety)

..... they also eat their food butt-first 70% of the time... I've tried every which way to dangle the mouse so this doesn't happen... but they're derpy as hell and keep doing it Is it because they're spiders? This only concerns me because I want to start feeding them bigger prey, wanting to transition from small mice to rat pups. (someone please tell me that's a viable transition because I've been researching sizes and so many different food suppliers, so many numbers ) I don't want them to choke on bigger prey or give up because they're too big to go in butt-first. Apollo gives up sometimes if he can't get it in. I still don't know what is the best way to feed them, by width, by bump, by weight, by age, etc... The small mice right now are definitely getting too small for them because there's no bump after they eat and they can take 3 at a time if I haven't fed them in a week. I'm just finishing up the 50-pack for now.

Persephone has gotten so spoiled (and unafraid of me?) that sometimes she'll eat the mouse straight from the tongs without striking. And that's about the only time she'll eat it head-first... when I position the mouse on the tongs and she eats directly from it. Is this weird? should I be worried she sometimes doesn't strike? Is that indicative of something? She will strike at the first mouse and then at the second she just like, "ok, I did it, I did the snake thing in case anyone was watching, now just stick that one in my mouth".

[they're both great eaters and full-sheds] But I just wanted to share... and maybe someone can point out what I'm doing wrong, if I'm doing something wrong, for them to act this way or if it's just a silly snake thang. Should I be worried or are they just "special"? lol

I'm honestly curious because I have a normal- acting snake, Emerson, who's a grey matter that is the anti-them. He strikes hard, doesn't bother with me, tolerates being handled, eats everything I give him. But he is also new to the family so who knows...after a few weeks of the good life he might mellow out too. But he definitely came more aggressive than the other 2 and is a straight shooter. I hardly see him out and about his tank at night, unlike the other two.

[ladywhipple02]

I have a personal theory that spiders are a bit "different" in terms of their temperaments. I'm not sure if it's something linked to the neuro issues also seen in the type or not, but every spider I've ever kept and/or experienced was far less shy than your typical ball python, and most were also good eaters. I've not done any research on the subject - I don't have time nor a large enough collection at all - but I would certainly be interested if someone did.

In any case, spiders are probably some of my favorite morphs despite their issues, and that's simply due to their awesome 'tudes.

[Dianne]

I only recently added a spider morph to my collection, but he’s a stellar feeder...at least so far. He’s quite a bit shyer than my other bps, but I don’t believe the prior owner handled him much. I’ve done minimal handling as I want to get some weight on him before starting regular handling sessions. He was a bit thin when I got him. For the few times I’ve fed him, he’s grabbed the rat and doesn’t seem to have any issues starting from the head.

That said, I have other snakes that have eaten prey butt first. They usually figure out it goes down easier head first, but some are a little more special than others.