How gently to handle snakes

[Bogertophis]

Thanks guys, I will try the tickling trick. I know BPs are more hardy and tree snakes in general are fragile, but I definitely dont want to hurt my babies. I think now I will handle a bit more gently, it just never occurred to me until now that i might be handling her too rough.

Yes, you can injure most any snake by pulling on it > dislocation of spine etc, just as squeezing a snake can break ribs or cause other internal injuries. This is why it's so important to closely supervise children when handling snakes, but even many adults don't know either. I'll 'second' the trick of tickling the tail to make a snake go forward...but if you have a stubborn snake, you may have to gently unwind it starting from the tail.

Given some snake experience, you'll soon learn where NOT to allow your snakes to go: such as into couch cushions, where they always seem to find a tiny hole thru which to enter the inside structure & become "one" with the couch stuffing. Never allow a snake to enter something that you might have to pull them out of, including holes they might get stuck in (like in bird/garden netting, some kinds of fencing, even holes in driftwood used in their enclosures). As a snake owner, you have to think ahead for your snakes and never pull on them.