BP hissing???

[slither9192]

Hi, my little girl Abbi who I have only had for a month is pretty nippy. (which I don't mind at all and will probably go away with handling). She normally only strikes me when i open her cage and try to take her out. Most strikes are closed mouth with the occasional open mouth strike. Once I take her out and hold her she is usually alright unless I startle her. But today when I took her out she was extra pissy and she was actually hissing, I still took her out and she semi calmed down. I didn't realise BP's hiss. Anyone else have a hissy BP?

[hoo-t]

Yup. I have several that will hiss at me occasionally.

Steve

[Kagez28]

when my guy is in shed he gets extra pissy, and tends to hiss a lot...

[bearhart]

My BP is very laid back so I don't have much to share there except that I make it a point to handle him regularly. He seems to like being gently stroked on the side of the neck a little ways back from the head.

My JCP hasn't struck at me yet - but he will start hissing when he gets aggravated during a handling session. I figure its better than getting chewed on! Also, I use a glove on one hand to take him out. Even though he hardly hisses any more and hasn't ever struck at me, it allows me to not worry so much about getting bit and therefore use more confident movements when reaching for him.

FWIW, my wife's brother has a real knack with animals in general. He always wears a glove on one hand when handling any predator. He reckons it helps convey mastery.

[Swingline0.0.1]

I'm also lucky to have a completely chilled out BP... he hasn't struck at anyone or anything except hoppers! One time my girlfriend tried to pick him up by the neck and he pulled back really fast, but that's it.

I guess that's the only good thing about getting him from a pet store- he was already used to being handled when we got him. We held about 5 snakes before choosing Milton... he just had the best personality and temperament.

[frankykeno]

We have a few hissers. Couple of them are just little babies so that's to be expected. I'm sure we scare them witless just by being nearby at this point. Two of our adults are hissers. Malachi, an adult male, has always hissed. His baby name was Mr. Hissypants LOL. Always grumbles when you touch him but that's just his way. He never bites or tries to. Dori, an adult female, is a big time hisser but not too bad to handle at all. She's a bit of an aggressive feeder (to put it nicely) and would likely bite if we weren't very careful with her on feeding day.

I just go by the type and sound of the hiss. Some hisses are just snake grumblings, others are a sort of lazy "oh leave me be" hiss, some are deep, low and you best pay attention to those, they aren't fooling around. Funny enough the snake that was the most aggressive biter in our collection....never hissed first...in fact she's never hissed at all!

[slither9192]

Ya she is just a little girl, fits right in my hand, so I am sure she is scared ****less by me or anyone. She gets scared sometimes when I look into her cage, but who can blame her she is small and I'm big.

[frankykeno]

The thing too is, Jacob, that even if captive born these are always snakes with all their natural and highly instinctive behaviours hardwired into them. So they may hiss, nip, jab, coil, flee, whatever as their instincts drive them to do for whatever the reason is. We might not understand that behaviour at the time because we judge it against our human experience. The way I look at it is this...

If my snake is reacting, even if I don't understand it, that means the snake is aware and engaged in a healthy participation in it's environment. I don't want our snakes stressed and highly reactive of course, but the occasional reaction isn't something I worry about. I consider it just the snake being a snake, am glad they are involved in their life and go about my business. (okay I've been known to murmur "oh darn aren't you just too cute" when one of the little babies hisses at me...but darn...it is cute!)

[slither9192]

I absolutely agree.