New Pastel BP

[CigarMan]

Hey all. First post. Got my pastel BP from royal constrictor designs about a month ago. He was extremely nippy for a while, and I could barely get in the cage or even walk by it without him striking at the glass or anything that moved. I basically just left him alone and only started picking him up about a week ago. He still seems sketchy when I hold him, but I figure that will go away the more I handle him. I had a grey banded king snake years ago that was incredibly docile, so this this has been a much different experience...lol.

Here he is! No name yet. Just calling him 'The Snake' LOL.

[Kjewell89]

Like the name haha. Even though my daughter named ours, i still end up calling him "snakey" instead of what she picked out


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[Tigerhawk]

Yes he should calm down for you with time. He looks nice also.

[BPavery]

I got my male pastel from Royal Constrictor Designs, too! He's two years old now. When I first got him, he was nippy as well. Today, he's a very sweet and docile snake. Congratulations on your new BP!


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[BPavery]

Also, I forgot to mention that mine looks very similar to yours. Maybe they're related!


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[alan12013]

Nice looking snake. My female looks kind of like that too just a little darker and was very mean looking at first and I am still afraid of her more than any of my others. She wouldn't even use a hide, she'd just sit all day ready to strike lol. It sounds like we got some cranky pastels lol. It makes me nervous when I hold her and she seems ok the moves really fast, probably scares the crap out of her and me. I wish you the best of luck getting her to calm down, she's very pretty.

[CigarMan]

Thanks everyone! It's funny, almost every video I saw online about nippy BP's were usually pastels...lol. I've noticed the more I handle him, the more he's out when I'm around. Before I would get home from work late, like around 1am and he'd be out, but then immediately go into his hide. Now I'm around and he's just cruising all over the place! lol

[alan12013]

His light head is awesome btw. His pattern is pretty clean too with way more yellow then the gold coloration. I have to be honest here but neither of my pastels male or female have a head that light. I have seen pictures of supers with light heads. That's great he's getting used to you. How long do you handle him for? I usually pet all of mine daily to get them used to touch but I pick them up and hold them only for about 2-5 minutes after they get comfortable and start trying to get away or explore all over while in my hands. I feel I should do it for longer now that I'm thinking about it.

That's funny about the pastels though, I've seen them on you tube being cranky too. Snakebites did a thing about the white snakes being the most docile and the dark ones being the most aggressive. I guess they have never had a BEL or what we're calling BlkEL bite them in the vast amount of snakes they've dealt with. My male pastel is the only other snake I have that makes me nervous. The others I feel I can reach in at any point in time and pet them but those two, mostly her make me nervous. I need to read up on it but there was something interesting I heard about "dominating" the snake. I guess if you just grab them before they know whats going on and are slightly overbearing with making sure they just stay in your hand that will keep them from being snappy??...

[CigarMan]

Over the last couple weeks, I've been picking him up every 2 or 3 days, for about 10 to 15 minutes. For the first few minutes he'll stay in his ball before moving around a bit. Then I'll let him 'explore' unknown areas like a table or my couch...lol. Then when I pick him up, he flinches, but has not tried to strike me. I've only picked him up when he's under a hide, and not when moving around. I am still a little more nervous about that. I think I'll just keep doing what I'm doing, and I hope he'll get more used to me to where I can pick him up anytime.

[Ogre]

I don't know if th dominating thing is true either but it seems to work on my RTB, I don't have that issue with my BP.