Venom - IMG Motley Progression Thread

[dakski]

Looking good! Cannot wait to see him change over time.

Behira, my ghost BI huffs and puffs sometimes when in shed if I have to move her, change her water, etc. She's all bluff, but it can be disconcerting, especially at almost 7 pounds now .

Yafe, my CP, is notorious for hissing and huffing when I go to pick him up AND I am bothering him or waking him up. I use the hook to let him know I am coming in the tank to get him and let him huff and puff at the hook instead of me. I've seen his teeth and even though he's a gentle soul, don't want to startle him.

Shayna (BP) will occasionally huff/hiss if she doesn't want to bothered as well.

I think many snakes will "bluff" like that. Yafe, Shayna, and Behira have never escalated things. I think it's their way of saying "I am vulnerable and leave me alone." When we call them on it, and they realize who we are, they calm down.

[Bogertophis]

Well, the large BCI I had for many years would (rarely) hiss very loud- open mouth- when disturbed (when I needed/wanted to take her out). She too was bluffing, in that all I had to do was stay out of her face & simply pet her coils while she appeared to remember she knew me- & she never once turned to bite me.

After very few minutes at most, she'd stop hissing & I'd just pick her up with no difficulty at all- she was right back to being cuddly & fully comfortable being held. I think sometimes it's just that their minds are elsewhere- they're not thinking about being "pets"- they just react as the wild souls they truly are, until we "remind them" that they know us & they're safe with us. To me it appears they know us by our touch to a great extent. Some snakes go by our scent too.

[ckuhn003]

Looking good! Cannot wait to see him change over time.

Behira, my ghost BI huffs and puffs sometimes when in shed if I have to move her, change her water, etc. She's all bluff, but it can be disconcerting, especially at almost 7 pounds now [IMG]file:///C:/Users/043881/AppData/Local/Temp/1/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif[/IMG].

Yafe, my CP, is notorious for hissing and huffing when I go to pick him up AND I am bothering him or waking him up. I use the hook to let him know I am coming in the tank to get him and let him huff and puff at the hook instead of me. I've seen his teeth and even though he's a gentle soul, don't want to startle him.

Shayna (BP) will occasionally huff/hiss if she doesn't want to bothered as well.

I think many snakes will "bluff" like that. Yafe, Shayna, and Behira have never escalated things. I think it's their way of saying "I am vulnerable and leave me alone." When we call them on it, and they realize who we are, they calm down.

Thanks Dave for relaying your experiences. Like I said, this huffing sound was a 1st for me because my other snakes never made a peep. I almost did a double take / step back when it happened. After the shed, he was back to his calm self.

Well, the large BCI I had for many years would (rarely) hiss very loud- open mouth- when disturbed (when I needed/wanted to take her out). She too was bluffing, in that all I had to do was stay out of her face & simply pet her coils while she appeared to remember she knew me- & she never once turned to bite me.

After very few minutes at most, she'd stop hissing & I'd just pick her up with no difficulty at all- she was right back to being cuddly & fully comfortable being held. I think sometimes it's just that their minds are elsewhere- they're not thinking about being "pets"- they just react as the wild souls they truly are, until we "remind them" that they know us & they're safe with us. To me it appears they know us by our touch to a great extent. Some snakes go by our scent too.

I think you're right about their minds being elsewhere and catching them off guard. I remember sitting in on a snake demonstration once where the speaker said he always gently taps on the hide to let the snake know he's about to come into his house.

[Bogertophis]

...I think you're right about their minds being elsewhere and catching them off guard. I remember sitting in on a snake demonstration once where the speaker said he always gently taps on the hide to let the snake know he's about to come into his house.

Yes, exactly. Some people use "tap training" (using something like a snake hook or cardboard roll, either to tap the snake or their enclosure) while others (like myself) use a mixture of signals (I blow air across my hand thru the screen so they get my scent- this works especially well for colubrids- & I use my touch (usually hands-on) so they know it's me. You can also use an empty (long) shirt sleeve with your scent on it, preferably- to touch your snake while safely staying out of reach. Whatever you're comfortable with- it helps by communicating to your snake that it's just you (already familiar to them) thereby reducing the chance of a bite to you, & reducing stress to them. It's a win for us all.

Just because snakes don't hear or see well (or more to the point, they don't identify us by vision alone) doesn't mean we don't have a responsibility to communicate with them as best we can. They can certainly tell a friend (either a mate or a harmless creature like us) from a foe (a predator) by how we touch them.

[ckuhn003]

I took some pictures of Venom today inside the house and then decided that this little guy needed to see some sun. Immediately stepping outside, it’s almost like someone sprinkled glitter on his body and a rainbow oil sheen appeared on certain sections of his body. It’s just amazing but also disappointing that it’s so hard to capture on a camera.










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[Bogertophis]

Iridescence- That's part of what I love about dark colored snakes- including the BCI that I used to have.

[Kam]

Good ole iridescence. Venom is beautiful.


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[ckuhn003]

It’s been years since I’ve updated my IMGs progression. It’s amazing looking back at the younger photos where the Motley pattern was so prevalent. He’s been pretty chill over the years and I can definitely tell frequent handling has been a positive effect on his behavior. Although I took him outside this week and allowed him to roam free in the yard….well I guess I let him go too long and when I tried to pick him up he seemed alarmed and showed signs that he was ready to strike. It makes sense…he was probably overstimulated from being exposed for too long.









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[dakski]

WOW! He's a stunner.

Outside can definitely be overstimulating. He might not have even recognized you when you went to pick him up. He might have been on sensory overload.

Maybe in the the future, either keep holding him, or if you put him down, use the hook (if he's tap/hook trained) to let him know it's you and he's going to be picked up.

[mlededee]

He has grown into an absolute stunner! There's just something about a super dark and iridescent snake. Thank you for the updated pics!