Quote Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy View Post
Hi cron,

As far as handling goes just be patient with her. Carpets, like many other snakes, can be a little nippy when they're young but most of them grow out of it pretty quickly. If she's a little too bitey I'd use gloves to lift her out of her enclosure and then take them off once she calms down. Get a few more meals in her, let her acclimate to her new home, and she should chill out. I would also suggest hook training her now. Carpets can be pretty food driven and will strike at the first heat signal they sense when their enclosures are opened. Once you rub or tap them with the hook they're usually much easier to handle. I ordered my hook from reptile basics.

http://www.reptilebasics.com/hooks-and-tongs/

The T-12 is a good cage. I'd order the divider and keep her on one side until she gets bigger but as long as she has plenty of hides and floor covering there's no problem with putting her in an adult sized enclosure. Keep us posted on your progress and share pics when you can.
Ziggy, I honestly think you were the one who put me on to carpets a few years back. I知 glad I waited for as long as I did. Thanks for the link! I checked out reptile basics already so I guess I want to know what size hooks you guys use. For handling, I知 just nervous that the handling will stress her out too much. I keep it very short (less than 5 minutes) so I think I might continue on this schedule for a bit. I値l call AP to purchase the divider. Thanks for the advice! So far, I really like actually having to work with the animal to develop trust.

Quote Originally Posted by KevinK View Post
Ziggy nailed it especially with the caging questions (split it).....carpets are nippy babies typically. I hold mine literally every day during the hatchling stage to get them out of their habits. Just remember they're never going to be able to do as much damage to you as you can do to them. Most will grow out of it within a few months.

I personally, do not use any sort of tool with my carpets to retrieve them when they're babies...instead I just get them used to being picked up but I do hook train my Burm that I have which is a completely different story all together.
To be honest, I knew carpets were bitey as babies so this is pretty much what I expectedly. I guess my real question is if handling her 3x a week for short periods is too much stress for them. My first thought when she started getting hissy was I have no idea how people keep there composure handling a sketchy burn/retic! I have a whole new appreciation for you large snake keeprs!