How to gain more confidence....

[PCOOLEY13]

Another way besides "hook training" is to make sure your snake gets your scent (& don't handle rodents first, LOL!) I've always had long hair & have used it for this (dangled it to where the snake can sniff & realize I'm not incoming food), or you can use a sleeve from a worn shirt (same way), or for many snakes, just by blowing air across your hand into their direction (from a safe distance when your snake is "hoping for food"), you'd be surprised how fast most snakes "get it" and back off. This identifies you both as NOT FOOD, and as someone they know isn't a threat (ie. unknown predator) heading their way. I've known an awful lot of snakes...I find they appreciate not being startled & being given this information. They don't like being scared any more than we do....this is just good "snake manners".

Hook training is similar, but instead of scent, you are "talking" to their sense of touch. Both ways work. And you can do both if you want. Most snakes get
more relaxed in time, they seem to learn to trust us, just as we learn to trust them. Try to imagine how they feel: nearsighted (not identifying you or anything by vision; they are attracted to motion thinking it might be food, & instinctively they must be ready at all times to grab prey in order to survive) and deaf (they feel bass notes only) and WAY smaller than us. Remember: the only thing that normally picks up a snake in nature is a predator that's about to EAT them...so be patient & do everything you can to convey they are safe with you. A little patience & "communication" makes for a calm pet snake.

I have thawed out his mice in the fridge the night before and then before feeding place it in a cup of hot water for a few minutes to get it warm, then i use forceps to grab it and feed. Then I don't handle/bother the snake at all the next day. This way the mouse scent isn't on me at all.

When i pick him up I always try to do it from the back side and never approach his head.

[bhsurf4]

Did I mention how gorgeous that snake is? I thought I had my mind made up on my next one (albino black pastel) but good god, that one you have blows my mind!

[Craiga 01453]

That is a GORGEOUS snake! Congrats! If he's 100 grams , let him tag you once. You'll realize a mosquito bite is more annoying!

As good as it would be to be able to learn that their bites typically don't hurt much (a papercut is worse) I wouldn't intentionally let the snake tag you. You risk the snake losing teeth and potential infection. Just not worth it. The snakes well being needs to come first.

It's really just about gaining confidence in yourself and learning to learn the animal's body language.

Make slow, calculated movements, with confidence. Avoid going downward with your hand towards the snakes head, don't look like a predator attacking from above.

If you're nervous, the snake will pick up on that, and will in turn be nervous itself.

You'll be fine, just work at a pace that is comfortable for you and your snake. BPs are an extremely docile species and you're just getting acclimated to one another.

[PCOOLEY13]

Did I mention how gorgeous that snake is? I thought I had my mind made up on my next one (albino black pastel) but good god, that one you have blows my mind!

Thanks, my wife decided to finally pull the trigger and get it after i stood in front of the display case for the 5th time drooling over it haha.

[Bistem]

One of mine tagged me this past Sunday on feeding day. As is usually the case, if you get bit, YOU probably did something wrong and in my case I am guessing that I didnt have the FT Rat quite warm enough. My body was warmer. I had the rat on the end of 8" hemostats and she struck right past the rat and tagged my thumb on the hemostat handle. She turned loose instantly. Her bottom jaw teeth connected on the print side of my thumb and did not bring blood. The top teeth got skin where it is thinner just behind the thumbnail and it Barely broke the skin enough to make 1 big drop of blood. This was from a 400ish gram female Pied. Like I say though....I did something wrong to cause this. When I re-heated the rat to a higher temperature, her aim was perfect and she got what she was really after.

[tttaylorrr]

You beat me to it. My suggestion was going to be to go visit a friend that has a defensive snake and take a bite. As long as the friend's defensive snake isn't a 10+ foot animal, you will find out that even if you do get tagged, there is nothing to it. Then with this knowledge, your nervousness will go away.

i kind of agree with this. my 0.1 Super Cinnamon paradox was an 80g firecracker as soon as she settled. she would strike the side of her tub if i got too close, and generally never relaxed out of her S pose when held or i was near. it got to the point that i was actually anxious to deal with her, and kind of started to not even like her tbh.

well, then i got bit. it was totally my fault, as my hand "snuck up" behind her while she was posing to strike. she was the first bite i ever got in 3 years of keeping beeps. here's the result of my bite, and what it looked ~24 hrs later. i will mark this NSFW for the children:


as you can see: there's not much to it. the quickness of the actual bite is what's startling, not the pain or the hit. i had to laugh at myself for getting so worked up afterwards. anyway, this happened when she was 170g; she's now ~600g and has grown out of her "aggressiveness" (that's not the word i want to use, but can't think of another way to say it atm). she's easily handleable, except when food is around.

confidence comes with practice and knowledge. keep reading, go watch Brian Barczyk get bit 100 times on his YouTube channel, and don't sweat it. paper cuts are worse!

[Bogertophis]

I think one of the best ways to gain confidence is to remember that snakes are DEFENSIVE, not "aggressive". When you consistently remember that, you'll be in the right frame of mind to alter their attitude: first, fix your own perspective.

If a snake is really defensive, coiling & trying to strike when you approach, try putting a towel over them & picking them up in the towel. I've never heard of a snake biting through a towel,though you would NOT do this with a venomous species (obviously). The towel is there to prevent the snake from seeing you: we are big scary predators as far as they know, & until we prove otherwise. It may take minutes, days or weeks, because snakes have individual personalities & maybe were even abused before you got them (so they might have good reason to assume the worst from you), but gradually once the snake gets used to your scent & touch through the towel (-their best senses!), you can gradually let them peek out & see the "real you".

Remember that snakes do NOT recognize us by sight alone...a snake that accepts handling (because they recognize our scent & touch) may still act "aggressive" when we approach their cage, simple because they don't know us for sure until they get our scent and/or touch. Don't take it "personally".

[Momokahn]

Collecting and catching wild snakes when I was young, getting bit was part of the hobby. I've been bit by every size of garter snakes, full sized bull snakes, and black snakes. I'm very fortunate I never got an infection but back in the day that stuff never occurred to me. Fast forward to today, I've been fortunate and became a lot smarter how to avoid bites with my ball pythons and my Burm. Hook training, reading their body language, slow fluid movement, etc. are all keys to avoid being bit. But if/when you finally get bit, any nervousness you had will rapidly wane. You will realize at that point you were nervous for nothing. Now giant snakes, that would be a different story. Those teeth pack a punch. Your BP in the picture I agree 100% percent with the mosquito bite reference. I would take bites from a small BP all day long over damn mosquito bites.

[Scott.S]

I got my first Ball Python about 3 months ago, at first i was nervous as well, my first mistake was thinking my new snake wanted to be friends right away, after initially putting him in his new enclosure i kind of put my hand in front of him in hopes of him wanting to crawl up it, well i learned quickly that was wrong. The bite didn't hurt, its more of a sting, but the feeling of how quickly they snap was startling for sure. He hasn't tried to bite me or bitten me since then. My suggestion for getting over the initial anxiety of putting your hand in and picking him up would be to use a paper towel roll or a clean rolled up cloth to sort of direct his attention while you move your hand behind him to pick him up. Also try to handle him a little bit every day (Besides feeding day and two days after or in shed) and he/she will learn your scent and associate you with something that wont kill it. My BP was a little hissy and stikey at first and i won't lie i was a bit nervous for maybe the first two weeks but now i am very confident not only with handling and picking up but also knowing what he wants. Usually if he's out and about in the evenings i will open up the door and let him come to me. He has truly been great curious and friendly snake. For example i took him out 3 days ago and noticed the signature pink belly and slight dulling of the skin, that was my cue that he is going into shed and wants to be left alone, sure enough today his eyes are clouded and he hasn't moved from his hide, the last thing i will do now is disturb him until he's done his shed (besides of course checking temps, and misting to bump up humidity) As long as your husbandry is good and you have confidence and handle often but not to often he/she will warm up to you just fine. They are really friendly snakes that really only will strike out of fear and distrust. Unless of course you smell like rodents, which brings me to my last point, sanatize your hands before attempting to handle or pick up, not only is it clean but the smell is sure to let the snake know that your hands are not food. Hope this helps.

[PCOOLEY13]

I got my first Ball Python about 3 months ago, at first i was nervous as well, my first mistake was thinking my new snake wanted to be friends right away, after initially putting him in his new enclosure i kind of put my hand in front of him in hopes of him wanting to crawl up it, well i learned quickly that was wrong. The bite didn't hurt, its more of a sting, but the feeling of how quickly they snap was startling for sure. He hasn't tried to bite me or bitten me since then. My suggestion for getting over the initial anxiety of putting your hand in and picking him up would be to use a paper towel roll or a clean rolled up cloth to sort of direct his attention while you move your hand behind him to pick him up. Also try to handle him a little bit every day (Besides feeding day and two days after or in shed) and he/she will learn your scent and associate you with something that wont kill it. My BP was a little hissy and stikey at first and i won't lie i was a bit nervous for maybe the first two weeks but now i am very confident not only with handling and picking up but also knowing what he wants. Usually if he's out and about in the evenings i will open up the door and let him come to me. He has truly been great curious and friendly snake. For example i took him out 3 days ago and noticed the signature pink belly and slight dulling of the skin, that was my cue that he is going into shed and wants to be left alone, sure enough today his eyes are clouded and he hasn't moved from his hide, the last thing i will do now is disturb him until he's done his shed (besides of course checking temps, and misting to bump up humidity) As long as your husbandry is good and you have confidence and handle often but not to often he/she will warm up to you just fine. They are really friendly snakes that really only will strike out of fear and distrust. Unless of course you smell like rodents, which brings me to my last point, sanatize your hands before attempting to handle or pick up, not only is it clean but the smell is sure to let the snake know that your hands are not food. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the help!

I'm not nervous about picking him up, and he only really hissed the first couple times I tried to pick him up. Now he is usually pretty calm about it and i always go from behind and avoid approaching his head. My nervousness is from the unknown I guess. Because I haven't been tagged (yet), I have that nervousness. And when he stays somewhat balled up then I'm fine. I get nervous when he relaxes and starts to smell my hand and kinda explores. I think I just need to stay confident and realize that if/when it happens, It's not that big of a deal.

I believe the husbandry is pretty much on point. He has eaten for me 2x and ate F/T for the first time with no issue. He has yet to shed for me so not really sure when to expect that. He is in a 16qt sterilite tub with a 3'' heat tape on side controlled by a JumpStart Thermostat. I have a small plastic hide and an appropriate sized water dish with paper towels as substrate. I just got some 6'' heat tape i'm going to use and will probably be buying a Herpstat 2 tomorrow since the Jumpstart doesn't really regulate the Heat Tape that well for me. Currently i'm keeping the room warm with a floor heater however I will probably need to get a glass tank soon so I can use a CHE to maintain the cold side better since it is kinda not fun to be in the room (computer office) right now