JCP Feedback

[cron14]

Hi all, I just wanted to check in with the carpet people to see how I am doing so far. Since I got Loki (female jungle/Ocelot), she’s eaten two small rats for me. I admit the second feeding was not as spaced out as I’d wanted it to be but my BP refused and wanted to see if Loki would take it. Sure enough, she did. Anyway, here are my questions:

1)Handling: I’ve gone through about 31 pages on the Morelia forum and realize that there is no handling guide (I understand why). So, the first two times I handled Loki I used a back scratcher to get her out. Don’t worry, I used the handle part and not the claw, I just needed something to simulate a branch. I have since gotten a crappy snake hook from a big box store. Any recommendations for snake hooks for when she gets bigger?

This morning, I worked with Loki for around ten minutes before getting her out into my hands. She gets super defensive. This was actually the first time I got tagged by a snake! It really wasn’t bad but took me by surprise cause she caught me by my ribs. After she bit me, I continued to handle her so I wasn’t “rewarding” bad behavior”. When I put her back in the cage, she struck at the glass twice. Are handling sessions like this where they get really stressed out beneficial? I know that carpets tend to tame down with time but would like to keep working with her inhopes of expediting the process.

2) Cage size: I ordered her a T-12 which should be here in about 3 months. I’m not sure how big she’ll be at that point, but do carpets get stressed from being in too big of an enclosure?

I apologize for any glaring spelling/grammatical errors as I am typing this on my phone. This is my first snake I’ve actually had to “work” with taming it down and ive enjoy the experience so far. Loki has quickly become my favorite reptile. Thank you all in advance.

[EL-Ziggy]

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.

[KevinK]

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.

[cron14]

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’m 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’m 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’ll 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.

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!

[RickyNY]

You can handle her 3 or more times a week. They are not ball pythons, they will not stop eating from stress

[cron14]

Good to know! That puts my mind at ease a bit

[EL-Ziggy]

I use a 24" hook but I don't really use it to take my snakes out. Once I tap or rub them with it I can usually take them out by hand.
I don't handle new snakes that aren't eating consistently. I focus on getting them to eat and then I start handing them. A few good meals go a long way.

[WhompingWillow]

I use a 24" hook but I don't really use it to take my snakes out. Once I tap or rub them with it I can usually take them out by hand.
I don't handle new snakes that aren't eating consistently. I focus on getting them to eat and then I start handing them. A few good meals go a long way.

I second all of this. Right now I use a hook with our Dumeril's and one of our BP's (she is a beast in her cage but fine once out) but it's only to gently tap and let them know it's not food time. Although with the BP I tend to keep the hook hovering between her face and my hand...

I'll eventually start hook training the carpets but right now they're so small. I started consistently handling our Bredli after I think 4 or 5 meals. As much as I want to pull out our IJ, she's only eaten once so needs to wait a while.

[cron14]

You and Ziggy make a good point. I guess since she’s eaten twice for me in less than two weeks, I figured she was good to go. She’s due for a feed tomorrow so I’ll see how that goes. I appreciate all the feedback here.

[cron14]

So instead of starting a new thread, I figured I’d post here because I am looking for feedback. I started hook training a few weeks ago and it has gone really well. One of the things that took me a little while to figure out was the difference between defensive behavior and curiosity. I kept confusing Loki’s curiously with defensive posturing and would hesitate to handle her. However, now I can handle her with few issues. I just make sure my movements are steady.

To to the point of this post, Loki has gained nearly 160 grams since I got her (223g on 11/25, 380g on 1/19). I have been feeding a small rat, between 40-50g, weekly. I realize that this prey size may seem big for others but I do not have access to rat pups and she has had no problem taking small rats down. I honestly just wanted to get her feeding consistently, which she is, then worry about prey size. Once she hits 500g I’m thinking of stretching the feedings out to every 10-14 days. Eventually I will go to 3 weeks but that’s not for a while. My biggest concern is overfeeding her.

What do you guys think of her growth so far? Too much/too little/just right? I was trying to post an updated pic of her but it says the file size is too large. If anyone can tell me how to reduce the file size, I’d love to post a picture so you guys can get an idea of body composition. As always, I appreciate any and all advice in advance.