Wiggles, the Children's Python

[Homebody]

That I've gotta see- I have some doubts. (Not that you aren't deserving, just that will be .)

Personally, I'm happy just to have these essentially-wild animals feel comfortable & safe with me. I wouldn't really call it love or admiration though.

Indifference, then. I know that one day Wiggles will feel as indifferent to me as I love and admire him. Better?

[Homebody]

Wiggles’s target training went well tonight. This comes as something of a relief because his past couple sessions haven’t gone well. August 24th, he didn’t react to the target at all, so I didn’t feed him. I checked my calendar and decided that he must be going into a shed. Funny thing though, he remained active. Came out every night for his activity session. I started to wonder if he had just failed to recognize the target. August 31, still didn’t react to the target. Still didn’t get fed. My doubt grew until a couple days later, he went into his pre-shed hiding.

He came out of hiding yesterday. Tonight he relocated a short distance in his enclosure (training stage 5 of 7) to the target both times before being fed. The difference in how he reacted to the target was stark. The two previous sessions, he didn’t react at all. Tonight, he stalked it. Very cool.

[Bogertophis]

That's great. I can sure see how this requires patience for the periodic frustration, but hey, you're getting there, & apparently he knows what he wants.

[Homebody]

I've recently started using this insulated paper that Amazon Fresh uses to pack frozen foods in Wiggles's enclosure. It's soft and insulating like a blanket, but I don't have to clean it if Wiggles soils it. So, it's very useful.

[Homebody]

[Homebody]

The video above is something of a graduation from target training for Wiggles. The seventh and final stage of target training is to target out of the enclosure and onto an activity station. That is essentially what happens here. Although it was only two weeks ago that Wiggles was at stage 5 (post #172), stage six was not really a challenge for Wiggles. Stage six requires him to target across the threshold of his enclosure. This can be quite a challenge for a shy snake, but Wiggles is a confident snake that eagerly leaves his enclosure nightly for his activity session. So, I decided to skip that step.

I will continue target training him. Not all our target training sessions go that well. So, he can grow in his proficiency, and I will also teach him to target over greater distances.

Also, one of the reasons I decided on such an ambitious session was that I wanted to get a weight on him. As you can see from the video, he weighed in at 187 grams. That is 23 grams more that his last weigh in on June 25th. His rate of growth has slowed significantly. His June 25th weight was 44 grams more than his March 26th weight which was 39 grams more that his January weight. As he matures, I expect the rate of his growth to slow even further. I’ll keep weighing him quarterly, though, for as long as he shows significant growth.

[Caitlin]

You and Wiggles are doing SO well together! He's made really wonderful progress in target training, and it sounds like he's enjoying his exploration sessions.

I also have a couple of snakes that, while they aren't afraid of me at all and don't mind being in close proximity, simply prefer not to be handled. That's fine. I'm just happy that they trust me. I keep handling down to only necessary situations and even then I try to give them the option of maybe shifting to a container or climbing onto a pet bed, branch, etc. to be carried rather than held.

[Homebody]

Look who's hunting microbats.



"Any minute now, a bat's gonna fly out of that cave. I just know it."

[Homebody]

Last night, I learned that I need to be more flexible in my target training. Lately, I've been pretty rigid. My thinking has been that Wiggles knows that if he touches the target he gets fed. He needs to learn that, if he doesn't touch the target, he doesn't get fed. For you logicians out there, he knows that touching the target is sufficient to get fed. He needs to learn that it's also necessary. So, lately, if Wiggles didn't touch the target, he didn't get fed. That's what happened last week, and if I stayed rigid, it would have happened again this week.

Last night, when I presented the target, he showed some interest, but didn't move toward it and didn't touch it. I became concerned that he was going to miss another meal. He's healthy enough to do it, but I started to wonder if it was my training and not Wiggles's appetite that was the problem. I decided to compromise on the goal. I cut off the mouse's tail and simply presented it with the target. This is stage 1 stuff. Wiggles is supposed to be at stage 7, so this is a big compromise. It worked. He ate the tail. When I presented the target again, he quickly and confidently moved out of his enclosure onto the station (stage 7), just like he's supposed to. I'm not entirely sure why Wiggles needed to take that step back to move forward, but I'm glad to worked.

[Homebody]

According to Serpwidgets.com, Wiggles is 31.29 - 31.79 inches long.