Ditto what skip said with a some additions.
1. I got a pair a while back from Glades, I estimate their age when I got them at about 18 months. Glades is a big opperation and they were probally only handled for shows and the like so they were "snappy". They are bout 30-35 inches and both have tagged me a time or two. The result NO BIG DEAL, just don't recoil if they bite and even those close to an adult size are not a problem if they bite.
2. More often then bite they bluff, several times taking a wack at my forearm with mouth closed, etc. Again by not reacting they are pretty cool.
3. Even with very little handling as babies they are pretty chill now. I did get a bite about a week ago putting one into the viv, he was wrapped around my fingers and I did the finger shuffel to get him off and he tagged my ring finger and even chewed a second or two. Again no big deal and while there was some blood by an hour later there was not even a visable mark.
So like with bitting I would just not worry, start with a baby (make sure it is on mice, they can be picky at first as hatchlings and want lizzards) and if handled I bet you won't even have an issue, the nice thing like I said though is if you don't jerk back even an adult can't really harm you.
Something else I learned here (from skip I believe), they tend to be more snappy if you pull them out of their hides in the day. They are quite active in the evenings and pretty friendly to boot. And consider if you were a small snake and rippped from your safe dark hide you might be on edge too.
The other issue is a feeding response you won't believe. They will eat as much as you will feed them, I have mine big enough for small adult mice now and that helps. You need to use care in picking them up so they don't think they are being fed! When I open the sliding door both come out looking for food, once they realize it is not feeding time they are chill but until then they are ready to rock. For this reason I generally get them out with a hook just until they realize it is not feeding time.
Care is easy I have a very small heating pad for them to keep their temps lower then the rest of my tanks (all on one system) and they still spend most time on the cool side and only warm for about an hour or so after eating. You will love they way they eat! Think mini retic! They about crush an already dead mouse so hard I think they are tenderizing it. In nature they eat lizzards as babies then mosty bats as adults (hence the agressive constrictioin I guess).
A note on my snappy guys, please note I think I have a pair that are on the worst case senario for this species as far as biting and even with that they are very easy to deal with. If you get a hatchling and handle it gently often and perhaps feed in a empty tank to minimize the door open time to eat conditioning you will probally have a snake that acts mostly about like a corn snake. I would go for it, they are different, cool and have enough unique needs to be interesting with out being overwhelming.
Again let me just state they don't like to be ripped out of their hides. Makes em a bit fisty. The other isssue is with cage maintence. When I need to remove poo or something like that I rotate the hide so the opening is AWAY from the view of my hand. Moving just outside a hide is a deffinite way to get tagged! Not out of mallaice it is a clear feeding response, they don't see that well probally and see movement around the hole and think, LUNCH!
So I wanted to let you know the worst end of things, which isn't bad at all. All in all I love my spots, probally more then my Tais, House Snakes and Boa combined,
Shhh, don't tell them I have favorites,
Originally Posted by jjspirko
Ditto what skip said with a some additions.
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