Hissing

[Bogertophis]

Out of our four, I only had once hiss - Pumpkin, our Piebald female. She was nervous and actually I don't hear her doing it much anymore as she is settling in nicely. It would be when we were getting her out for handling. Now my Loki, he is always looking to strike. Very nervous and at 1.5 yrs, I was hoping he would settle down by now. He gets handled a bit, maybe I need to get him out more. The other two, Snickers and Heath, have always been "boopable" according to my daughter.

Interestingly enough, the 2 most chill snakes, Snickers and Heath I got from the same breeder a year apart. The other two were from different breeders. So it makes me wonder how much they get handled before they get shipped and if it makes a difference with their personalities.

I'd say it's both "nature" & "nurture". I'm sure some snake breeders are way too busy to do much "handling" before snakes are sold, but if they do, it all helps. Then again, I've bred my share of snakes, & in any given group of neonates or hatchlings, some are always more calm than others. They really DO have their own personalities, but even so, nearly all can be worked with to improve how they act as pets. And that's not just BPs, it goes for all kinds of snakes. A small percentage are really chill, another small % are bonkers (lousy pets), but most of them fall somewhere in between, workable and they improve with empathy & patience.