Snake on a walk? Snake on a leash?

[bearhart]

So when I take my snake out to hold him he'll usually sit perched on my hand for about an hour, occaisionally changing his view. But eventually he starts trying to cruise around. When I first got him I'd let him roam around on the bed because he can't get down from it. He seemed very curious to me. Then I read alot about how balls are really stressed all the time and anything like that means they just want to go back to their hides. After that I began just putting him up once he started to move around.

Last night he did this again and I set him down on the bed because I still had to do some work on his cage. I noticed that as soon as he was free to roam he became much less intent on going somewhere quick and more intent on just looking at everything (he started doing his raised head periscope thing that makes him just as cute as any kitten).

Also, every night when I put him back in his cage after handling him he doesn't run right back into his hide. He usually spends quite some time lazily seeing how many cool poses he can make on his grape-wood log.

Could it be my snake is not stressed but simply curious and eager to do a little exploring? Clearly balls don't spend their entire lives in paranoid fear in a little 2x3 area in the wild. Surely they have some desire to explore.

Many times I've wished I could safely give him a greater area to check out without having to worry about keeping an eye on him every second.

Anyway, this thing seems kind of corny but I was curious if anybody here knew anything about it: http://www.snakewalker.com/ The only thing I was able to find besides their page was an Australian herpers forum but they were all acting ridiculous and going on about this thing like it was some sort of torture device.

Does anybody let their snake roam? How do you do it?

[Shelby]

If a BP is super stressed he's going to curl up into a ball and hide his head, not crawl around looking at stuff.. if he looks curious, he probably is.

As long as you keep a close watch on them and make sure there aren't any dogs/cats/etc around that could harm him, there's nothing wrong with letting him roam around a bit.. just be careful that he doesn't get into some tight place that's hard to get out of.

I've heard of the snake walker before... looks pretty silly to me, I don't see a point to it.

[N4S]

Dude.

That looks pretty cool.

[bearhart]

Dude.

That looks pretty cool.

Yea, its a pretty crazy idea but, I agree - a big part of me is going "THAT'S AWESOME!".

[Monty]

i handle my bp almost 5 hours a day let her roam my bedroom of course supervised and when i go to put her back in her tank she crawls right back up my arm and around my neck and she eats 2 mice every week finally got her from one a week to 2 shes gaining weight and loking healthy. people say handling causes stress but i havent noticed any stress related problems. (i.e. shedding in one piece, eating every week.) i think it has to do with the snakes personality more then anything when it comes to handling.

[Sausage]

LOL It's the snake leash again. I always laugh so hard when I see that site. I guess it couldn't hurt as long as you keep an eye on the BP.

@Monty: 5 hrs might be little much for your snake.

[Monty]

@ sausage 5 hours may seem long, but if i go 15 20 mins at a time
with her she crawls around her cage and stays in eye shot of me or trys to climb out. thank god for sliding screens and cage clips. but if i have her out for 5 hours she goes under her tree in her log and stays till the next day when she comes out to do the same thing over again and she comes out the same time every day 12 in the noon and ill have her out till just before 5 and she seems quiet content with the schedule.

and ive asked many people this about stressing the snake out but if she still eats and does everything a bp should do with out stress then why not keep the regiment.

[bearhart]

This would go with the leash for trips to the park :-)

http://www.thisnext.com/item/507B3B26/Snakes-on-a-disc

"Go get it boy!"

[Monty]

i love frisbees i just purchased one