Handling issues

[Highline Reptiles South]

He's nippy because he's not used to being handled.

Handle for short periods to begin with, then increase handling over time.

This...

[Bp_Lee_2011]

I work at a privately owned petstore and run the reptile dept. and We have tons of people that ask the same question and we have had people drop their snakes off to us due to aggression issues.

Most aggression issues all stem from the same cause...
1.) Feeding IN the tank (major No No)
2.) Not handling
3.) both
4.) species is just tempermental

I have found that in the more aggressive snakes whether it be bloods, carpets, burms (havent had an aggressive ball yet) the more you dawdle on picking them up the more oriented they are on you and the more time they have had to decide "Yep Im biting you"

Like everyone else has stated just grab it dont sit there and hesitate or touch it and change your mind then try to grab it again

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but my BP eats 1 small rat every 14 days.
How do you feed 4 jumbo mice?
And how heavy/large is your BP ?
Do you introduce them 1 at a time or some other method? (all at once) ?

Harry

^^ My 1yr old bp eats 2 smaller medium rats a week no problem.

[Skiploder]

I work at a privately owned petstore and run the reptile dept. and We have tons of people that ask the same question and we have had people drop their snakes off to us due to aggression issues.

Most aggression issues all stem from the same cause...
1.) Feeding IN the tank (major No No)
2.) Not handling
3.) both
4.) species is just tempermental

I have found that in the more aggressive snakes whether it be bloods, carpets, burms (havent had an aggressive ball yet) the more you dawdle on picking them up the more oriented they are on you and the more time they have had to decide "Yep Im biting you"

Like everyone else has stated just grab it dont sit there and hesitate or touch it and change your mind then try to grab it again



^^ My 1yr old bp eats 2 smaller medium rats a week no problem.

Feeding in the tank a major no no?

I don't think so. Feeding in the tank is fine. It has nothing to do with aggression.

Conditioned feeding responses? Maybe - but those can be easily dealt with and have nothing to do with aggression.

With regards to aggression - never met an "aggressive" snake. I've met and had defensive snakes and hungry snakes, but never an aggressive one.

[Jeo123]

Yeah, feeding in the tank isn't nearly as big of an issue as people think it is. Agression has a lot more to do with the individual snake's personality than it does things like tank feeding.

I feed my snake in her tank and she wouldn't bit me even if I poked her in the face while she was in her hide(did that by accident when reaching to pick up her hide thinking she was in the other). She's been fed in tank for about 9 months out of the year I've had her and I've never been struck at.

Then again, she's also not head shy at all and is willing to tolerate me poking around her mouth with no issue other than eventually pulling back to get away. And before you think I'm just this weird guy who like poking snakes in the face, I was checking her mouth becaue it looked black.