how often should i handle?

[BiGBaLLiN]

my friend handles his snakes alot and he said that this is good for the relationship aspect. but i read somewhere to handle no more than 2-4 times a week. i handle my good snake about 30 mintues a day everyday. is this bad?
in fact he is curled on my leg as we speak...

[tigerlily]

I think it depends on your snake. 30 min/day sounds fine. Excluding the 24-48 hours after a feed. If your snake seems relaxed and has it's tongue flicking, then everything is ok. On the otherhand if your snake remains balled up and frozen the entire time it's definitely too much. Of course I'm relatively new to snakes so it's not like an expert, but that's my opinion.

[rex322]

i hold my boas almost every day i can. they have different moods on different days though. like today i got my male out, and he didnt wanna go back, and messed his enclosure up so i had to take him back out. my female on the other hand, kept trying to get back in the tank. but yea 30min a day sounds fine, however if he starts to get stressed you might wanna cut down a bit

[BiGBaLLiN]

thanks. i dont know what i would do without this forum... i would be lost...

you guys rock!

[frankykeno]

We handle our 3.5 month old b.p. every day now for about 10 minutes or so. Usually in the late evening when Baby is out and about rather than taking her from her hide, we just wait till she's woken up for the night. We don't handle her for two days after she's eaten at all.

We're enjoying letting our children hold her gently (with supervision of course). It's really so cool to watch kids learn that snakes aren't "slimy" or "scarey" like they somehow assumed they would be.


~~Joanna~~

[daniel1983]

Once you have handled a few snakes, you can start to realize when the snake wants to be held and when it doesn't. That is just one of those things you can pick up on by paying attention to the animal. Just remember that each snake is different. My female will move around faster and start reaching out for things when she does not want to be held any longer. Pay attention to the behavior and you will know when enough is enough.

[Ginevive]

Yeah, I would just "play it by ear." If your snake is eating well and healthy, I see no problem with taking it out each day for a reasonable amount of time (less than an hour.) I let my snakes have two days without handling after a meal though, and I do not handle them when they're in shed mode.