waking up my snake

[YungRasputin]

I never wake up my snakes, reach into their enclosures to handle them, or take them out of their hides unless it's an emergency. Doing so is called 'flooding' (a term used in behavioral science) and it doesn't build a trusting relationship with them.

i disagree - i don’t mean to sound uncharitable but i think there is a distinction to be made between say, for example, a 10 year old reaching into to rustle out their beloved BP and respondent conditioning or “flooding” i.e. an intentional behavioral modification process via the consistent exposure to (strategic) stimuli - so i would argue, re: socialization of reptiles/snakes, this can be extremely effective and in some cases, be critically important to the ownership of particular snake groups and the keeping thereof

you know, like with corn snakes or some other sort of small colubrid snake species, for example, things like tap training and exposure exercises may not be something that would be effective or you know, needed and there is probably a better method by which to socialize those snakes

however! on the opposite side of the spectrum, those techniques are critically important to the *safe* keeping, socialization, handling, etc of large constrictor snakes like Burms, Retics, Anas, Afrocks, etc much in the same way that socialization, training, etc is essential to the keeping, training, handling, etc of big dog breeds

this does not mean however that you should be disrespectful (not respecting their hide as their personal private space and more broadly, the enclosure as personal territory) or that such techniques would be transgressive and so on - it can be a simple as opening the enclosure and gentler touching the snake with the hook for 1 minute and then closing the enclosure, and consistently doing this while increasing the duration until a point is reached when you can start doing this with your hand - then you could move to picking them up and staying stationary for 1 min, etc

again, may differ between species and there’s more than one way to skin a cat but for me and my keeping i think it’s been tremendously important to establish this as early as possible - it’s going to be v important safety to wise that my Burms and Afrocks are familiar/comfortable with hooks, my hands, the familiarity of my heart beats rhythm, of moving them around, handling, etc

which of course this thread is about BPs, so it’s a little different than the above in a way so this was more of a tangential comment

[London]

You need to make your ball python feel more secure in his enclosure. There are a couple things you can do. First, leave him alone. Ball pythons need time to adjust to their new home. We suggest you wait until he's taken three meals from you before you handle him. When you do start handling him, start with short sessions and slowly build up to longer ones.

Second, you need to make some adjustments to your enclosure. Those glass sides have him feeling awfully exposed. Cover them. I hear foam poster board works well for this. If you haven't already, cover the top too. Some use tin foil. Others use aluminum tape. Use something that won't catch fire from the heat lamp. Speaking of the heat lamp, it's too bright. Replace it with a ceramic heat emitter or a deep heat projector. They give heat without light.

These things should make your ball python feel more secure. In time, you won't need to grab him out of his hide. He'll come out on his own.

thank you for the handling advice, and the enclosure adjustment section.

about the sides being covered, is it fine if it is just white, or does it have to look as though he is out side.
we were actually just talking about getting a new one without light, so i will look for the bulb, thank you


i don’t mean for that to sound like i don’t appreciate the rest of your replies.
thank all of you for your advice, i will be sure to change things with what all of you have said.

[Homebody]

about the sides being covered, is it fine if it is just white, or does it have to look as though he is out side.
we were actually just talking about getting a new one without light, so i will look for the bulb, thank you

I'd be concerned that the white sides would reflect the light making the enclosure even brighter. So, use something darker. Foam poster board will also insulate your enclosure helping you to maintain the ambient temperature. If you're not having any trouble maintaining the ambient temp, you could use construction paper.