Excited New Owner

[tdcamp]

Well I just had my first attempt at feeding Apollo. I got him on black friday and today was the frist time I've tried to feed. He ate two fuzzys. When I first offered them to him he seemed a little scared of them but once he found out what they were, bam! I will admit, I have been a little timid with him. Im a little scared of him biting me. Not the pain but the actual thought of a snake biting me kinda freaks me out. After he was done eating, I was kinda scared to pick him up to put him back in his cage because I was worried he might think I was more food. haha. But he did absolutely fine. He smelled me a little and he coulda bit me if he wanted to but he let me pick him right up with no problems! :-) is it normal to be a little scared of the bite at first? I really dont think he will bite me but Im still a little timid. Is this normal?

Thanks for reading!

[JLC]

Welcome to BP.net...and to the addicting world of snake ownership! LOL

Yes, it's perfectly normal to be a little timid at first. I commend you for your willingness to just put it aside and scoop him up when you needed to.

I've got a pretty high pain tolerance, and am never afraid of the pain of getting bit...but I also startle easily, so my fear is simply being caught off guard and I was afraid if a snake struck at me, I'd react poorly and drop it simply because I was startled. Turns out I was wrong about myself.

My first bite was from a wee baby that I was holding in my palms...never came close to dropping him. In fact, the whole thing happened so fast, the only possible delayed response was, "Ohhh cool...he bit me!" Since then I've been bitten by a few small ones, and one adult...and none of it was any big deal. And even when I was bitten (and wrapped) by an 8' burm (and that one DID hurt!) I reacted with calm collection and just waited out the 20 minutes it took to get her to let go. (AFTERwards, I got the shakes pretty good! LOL)

Anyhow...my point with all my ramblings is that it's a perfectly natural fear or timidity....but we're almost always capable of handling way more than we ever thought we could. With a little time and experience, you'll get over it.

[tdcamp]

thats exactly what worries me. The pain doesnt worry me at all but I know when it does happen, it will be so fast and it will startle me. and im worried i will jerk away or pull back and possibly hurt the snake by pulling his teeth out or something. haha. he seems like a good boy though. the second night i got him, he got sick (it was kinda like coughing or sneezing) and his body was contorted up in a way. and i moved him away from where he was in his cage so he wouldnt hit his head on his hide or log and he didnt bother me at all. i think hes a really good one. he has never snapped at me or anything but still im worried for some reason. haha. im sure ill get over it.

[Tidus10]

first off whats the lil ones name?

and secondly always be more cautious after feeding especially until you get to know how much he wants to eat at a time.. but when hes well fed and fat all he wants is a nice warm spot in his tank to relax and enjoy being fat...

bites happen.. nice video --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21UBS...layer_embedded

in the mean time just enjoy him get him out offen and really get the relationship off to a healthy start and you both will be happy..

welcome to the site.. hope you learn as much as i have here..

[steveboos]

thats exactly what worries me. The pain doesnt worry me at all but I know when it does happen, it will be so fast and it will startle me. and im worried i will jerk away or pull back and possibly hurt the snake by pulling his teeth out or something. haha. he seems like a good boy though.
the second night i got him, he got sick (it was kinda like coughing or sneezing) and his body was contorted up in a way.
and i moved him away from where he was in his cage so he wouldnt hit his head on his hide or log and he didnt bother me at all. i think hes a really good one. he has never snapped at me or anything but still im worried for some reason. haha. im sure ill get over it.

This worries me, do you see any mucus or drainage coming from his mouth? It might be nothing, but if he was sneezing or coughing, it could be a Respiratory infection.

It could also just be farting . Did he defecate or pee at all when you heard this "sneezing" or "coughing?"

[tdcamp]

haha. yes he did. excuse me for being to so gross but be had diarrhea and it was splattered on the side of his cage. I took him into the vet the next morning and he stayed there for about 3 days and they said he was good and healthy. he was prob just stressed because i live two hours away from where i bought him and it was a pretty long ride.

[steveboos]

haha. yes he did. excuse me for being to so gross but be had diarrhea and it was splattered on the side of his cage. I took him into the vet the next morning and he stayed there for about 3 days and they said he was good and healthy. he was prob just stressed because i live two hours away from where i bought him and it was a pretty long ride.

Oh ok, phew! Yeah a lot of my snakes fart and it's pretty nasty, but just a part of owning a snake. It probably was just related to stress, and if he has a clean bill of health from the vet, then no worries!

[spitzu]

is it normal to be a little scared of the bite at first? I really dont think he will bite me but Im still a little timid. Is this normal?

I was the exact opposite at first. I was never scared of them biting me until one day I reached down to grab one off of my wife's shoulder and the little bugger nailed me. It didn't hurt at all, but I did have a thousand little red puncture marks and a little blood. I think that freaked me out a little because I am a lot more cautious now than I used to be

[Dundee]

Its normal to be scared from snake bites. Ive been bite several times the babys dont hurt but when you get tagged bye the larger ones it hurts really bad, and after being bite im still leary of getting bite. But the key is dont show fear remain calm and just deal reach in and deal with your snake. I have a baby ball and a adult ball that will both hiss at you at times but i just reach in and grab them and they calm down. If your worried about getting bite you can also feed them and avoid a good chance of it. Which im alot more cautious around my reticulated python than any other of my snakes i deffanently would like to avoid getting tagged by him.