Venom - IMG Motley Progression Thread

[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.