Tricks to taming a feisty jungle carpet?

[Sauzo]

So I picked up a little jungle carpet girl and she is a serious spitfire. She is around a year or a little more and around 3' long. She is mellow in her cage and was exploring all over last night. Well I know its a no no since I just got her yesterday but I couldn't resist and I tried to work with her today. I went in slow and from under her and got her to climb on my hand although she seems to not like to touched really on her back or sides, underneath is ok. Well she was fairly relaxed while sitting on me and crawled around my neck and sat on my arm. My question really is does anyone else who has jungles have the same issue of theirs not really liking to touched on their sides or back like petting? Possibly/probably cause she is new? And she did tag my finger when she made a beeline for the CHE fixture next to her cage and I had to cut her off. Guess a giant hand in front of the face of a new snake will provoke the "oh yeah!? watch this" bite response lol. Luckily she is small and it only drew 2 drops of bloods.

I guess bottom line is how do you guys going about taming a feisty girl? Just give her a week, get her eating well and then just suck it up and let her climb on me until she gets used to it and work on the actual "holding/petting" part? At night when she is on her cruising mode and has her head at the front of the cage, I can touch the glass where her face is and doesn't even respond so shes not like a cage striker. I'm so used to boas and BPs who are more or less "lazy lovers" who couldn't bite lol but this little jungle girl is ready willing and able to bite and isn't afraid to hit 3rd gear for speed lol. Already being kept on my toes and its been 1 day lol. Anyways, thanks all for the help/responses. So far i'm loving her.

[EL-Ziggy]

I think you've got the right idea Sauzo. Let your carpet settle in have a few meals. Out of my 4 carpets only one was a little nippy and he grew out of it after about a month I'd say. Looking forward to seeing pics of your new critter.

[BigLou3]

Let her settle in first. After that you just can't be afraid to get bite. My coastal Isabel was a holy terror when I got her. She would strike 2-3 times at every movement and she basically came out of her skin when touched. You just have to handle her. I learned if you touched her while she was looking it seemed to help. Eventually she will most likely realize that biting does nothing and stop for the most part. Isabel went from biting to head butting lol now she for the most part tame.


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[Sauzo]

Thanks El-Ziggy. Yeah I really need to just go out and buy a dang digital camera. I always say I will and then I end up ordering 3 AP cages with bells and whistles and buying new snakes and now I got another Herpstat on order lol. I'll get a dang camera 1 day lol. Ok so jungles will usually outgrow the nippy/nervous stage then. See I picked up this girl from my local reptile shop that I buy all my snakes food at. The snake came from a friend of the owner who I talked to a lot and she told me the snake was from Inland Reptiles but she didn't know the exact age. She was guessing about a year to 1.5 years old. Its just over 3' and about as thick as my middle finger. She eats hopper mice. I'm thinking she is younger. I mean she looks like a little worm lol.

Also is it normal for them to be like 99% arboreal? At night she comes down and explores all over but day time she likes to perch on her PVC jungle gym I built her half under her CHE. She shifts positions and sometimes semi stretches out on the highest PVC perch or half on a vine and perch but she never uses either of her hides or wants to sit on the ground at all during the day. I mean its only been a day or 2 but she really loves to sit all over the PVC jungle gym lol.

[EL-Ziggy]

Sauzo- If your girl is 3' and as thick around as your finger she can most likely take larger prey. I'd suggest getting her on rats soon. A carpet 'mouser' can be a pain. All my carpets spend a lot of time perching as opposed to staying on the enclosure floor.

[Prognathodon]

Definitely arboreal. My JCP has a 3' tall AP cage, with a basking shelf, and a PVC and rope jungle gym. He'll use his hides occasionally, but most of the time he's on his shelf or the jungle gym.

He was also a nippy youngster, and even after he was getting better for me, he wasn't as good for others. He's grown up into a pretty good boy, although certainly not as mellow as the BPs.


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[Sauzo]

Well a good and bad sign atm. I have a rat fuzzie in her cage right now. Good part is she is intently looking at it like she wants to eat it. Bad part is she isn't eating it lol. Its like she doesn't know exactly what it is but she is definitely hungry and I bet if I offered her a mouse, she would eat it. Thing is like El Ziggy said, I really want to get her to rats if for nothing else, it will make life easier for me as I will have all my snakes on rats instead of the one single mouser.

[Sauzo]

Well after about 6 hours with the fuzzy rat, she didn't eat it. She checked it out quite a few times and definitely was in food mode as she was checking out every move in the cage lol. Guess the rat put her in feed mode but just didn't register with her brain yet. I was told she would only eat live mice and at night. So I guess tomorrow I'll buy a hopper and pre kill it and see if I can get her switched to pre killed as she seems to want to eat. She would slowly lower down off her pvc tree and check the rat out from the top all coiled up haha. Then it was like "wtf is this alien thing!!?" and she would go back up to her perch. Then when the rat moved, she would lower down again and repeat, each time sitting there longer checking it out haha. So then I tried forceps and just put in front of her. She checked it out, grabbed it and dropped it lol. So I tried once more and she got made and just did a defensive quick tag on it so I quit bugging her lol. I really don't want to have to do live mice as I don't want them pissing and pooping all over the aspen in the cage floor. Wish me luck on pre killed working lol.

[Sauzo]

Got an update! Well good news. She took a F/T small mouse today off tongs and during the day. The gal said she only ate live mice and at night. So while the fuzzy rat attempt was a failure, I hit 2 homeruns so far with eating in the day and eating a F/T after 2 days being here. Funny part is she was just checking the mouse out but I accidently dropped it off the tongs and she snagged it in mid air drop and wrapped it up lol. She's such a spitfire too. You open the cage and she is there to see whats going on.

[EL-Ziggy]

I'm glad she ate and took the f/t prey for you Sauzo. That's good progress. You're nicer than me. If any of my snakes refuse a meal they have to wait 7-14 days before I offer them food again. Try thawing a small mouse hopper with a rat fuzzy next time. Feed her the mouse hopper first and follow that up with the rat fuzzy. Sometimes they'll take any secondary prey item that you offer when they're still in feeding mode. Once you get her to take rats don't offer anything else until she has a strong imprint with the rats. After that they'll eat anything. My carpets eat mostly rats but I'll give them chicks, mice, and asfs from time tp time.