Originally Posted by Sugarfoot
I have a similar (slightly larger) Australian Spotted python- I've had her for 14 years (she's now 15) & only had one nip ever- my fault. She's calm (likes to wrap in/on warm hands) & even did great being handled by a bunch of strangers at several public "meet & greets" that I've done.
In terms of nipping, I agree though that reviews appear to be mixed on either of these snakes, & might also be made better or worse by one's own snake experience (I have a lot...) as well as the snake's own genetics & experience in life. I think it can be said that nips from these snakes are mostly prey-confusion (they rely on heat-sensing pits, like BPs) & they are easy to feed (ie. have a GREAT appetite & are much easier to feed than BPs). They also start out very small- so you have to figure they're going to be instinctively self-defensive (or they would never survive in the wild).
Many snakes start out very tiny & nippy, but they outgrow nipping by the time they get bigger (to where the nips hurt more), because with gentle empathetic handling, they learn not to fear us, & they learn we're not edible. All snakes have their own personality though- they're not all the same, any more than dogs or people are.
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