Quote Originally Posted by BuddhaLuv View Post
When he flees from me when I approach the tank I always then just leave him alone. Is that best? Or should I open the lid and handle him anyways? I just hate to stress him out anymore then I need to....eek!

What is a recommended handling schedule when you have a new BP??? As an example: Once everyday for 5 minutes etc...
What I used to do with my corn snake was wait around the tank quietly after I spooked her. After more handling and "peaceful" exposure with me outside her tank she stopped recoiling as harshly when I walk by and sometimes seems to express interest in what I'm doing. But maybe that's just her being hungry...who knows?

Handling her every time after she hides may have a training effect on her but I'm skeptical. And depending on how many times you do this a day it may stress her out.

More exposure to you in general will ease her up a bit and in time she may stop the recoil act. But they are secretive by nature so don't be disappointed if she never stops doing it. Each snake is different.

I was told to handle once a day for ~15 minutes at first. Keep that up for a couple weeks while gradually increasing handling time. Gauge your animal's reactions to you and see how stressed out she gets. If she isn't taking well to being handled keep the handling sessions short and keep to gradual increases. I always try to put my snakes back in their enclosures when they're in a chill mode as to not reward spastic escape behavior with being left alone.

Hope this helped?

Dennis

p.s.
Maybe you should just stop clomping around the room to get your snake to not recoil.