General BP ?'s

[ajeff]

I often use a baffle, just something like a plastic lid from a shoe box when I need to get to an hungry/fiesty animal. In my left hand, I hold the baffle above the animals head or between their head and my right hand, and use my right hand to grab the animal. Once I get them picked up, I put the baffle away and handle the animal as usual.

You should not need to touch the animal at all with the baffle Works great on those animals that have hair-trigger feeding responses and think its lunch time everytime the draw is opened

[rabernet]

thanks so much for the help. I took her out with success she is a sweet snake once she is out of her home. thanks so much.

Glad to hear it went well!

[JeffFlanagan]

If they "S" their necks when I handle them, I gently straiten their necks out of the position with a couple of fingers against the neck, which seems to get them out of the potential strike mode and they can't strike with a straight neck.

While they can't do their instant strike with a straight neck, I have had a big snake come out of it's bin in a friendly pose and give me the worst BP bite I've ever had. It hurt for a couple of seconds and bled a bit, but I was fine after running it under cold water for a minute. Their teeth are so small that even a large deep bite isn't too bad. My cat is FAR more dangerous.

[frankykeno]

So glad to read the handling went well. You were given some wonderful, common sense advice in this thread to help your family and your snake start down the road to good handling experiences.

Just from my own experiences with our snakes I can tell you the babies are a bit more spazzy about this stuff at first. If you think about it from their basic snake brains...you and your wife are pretty big heat emitting possibly it might want to eat me things. Develop simple routines is the advice I was given when we first got into snakes and we follow it to this day. We have routines that indicate to the snakes "here comes some rats, it's feeding day!" We have routines for "hey want to come out and hang out with me a bit" times. Others for "I'm only here to collect your poop, don't mind me".

Simple routines done over and over seem to work well with ball pythons. As they mature they seem to get that what we do means "X" will now happen in their lives and they are generally pretty laid back about it.

Remember though in the end, captive born snake or not, this is a snake with all the instincts nature gave it. Even the most mild mannered one can and will react negatively to you (it's only negative from your human viewpoint...for the snake...it's business as usual). As you interact with your snake, you'll become more attuned to it and be able to more easily read it's signals. That will help you and your family judge when it's okay to do something and when it's just easier for you and your snake to wait till another time.

[Timbuktu]

thanks for all the support we had her out again yesterday and it went good but I have one more question lol I promise I will try to not ask anymore.

when she was in my hands yesterday she started being more out going and moving more. she would get her head out away from my hands a bit then turn toward my arm with an S shape in her neck and tongue flickering? what is this meaning?(maybe nothing) my main thing is I dont want to be handling her if she is really stressed(I know it stresses them a little) is the S shape in the next a sign of fear about to strike? or is it just a common snake position that means nothing when they are being held? thanks.

Brandon

[ajeff]

If you animal is wound up in the S pose, its a defensive pose. Its hard to say if the animal will bite while in that pose but you can bet its possible. A relaxed animal will act relaxed, it will either crawl around or just sit and chill but if its in the S pose and looks rigid and staring at you, you may get tagged. They don't always give you warning like that.

Ralph Davis posted a vid up on you-tube a while back, not sure which one it was, but he was filming an animal and she was watching him

[claytonfaulkner]

ive got one that ive had for a few week now and after he stroke at me while i was trying to pick him up, i decided to start wearing a leather glove, he stroke at me 1 time after that, i didnt slow down at all and sence then he hasnt struck at all

[rabernet]

It's actually going to take you getting to read your animal. There's a casual, relaxed S pose where they're just chilling while you're handling them, then there's a defensive, hard and stiff S pose with a stare that means they're ready to strike if you look at them funny. You'll learn to read them over time. It sounds from your description, since she was just cruising and relaxed while you were handling her, that the S shape you saw was the former of the two.

[frankykeno]

thanks for all the support we had her out again yesterday and it went good but I have one more question lol I promise I will try to not ask anymore.

Please don't worrry about questions. Helping newcomers is one of the most enjoyable "jobs" of this site. Ask anything you need to know. It will help you and your new snake have a better experience.

when she was in my hands yesterday she started being more out going and moving more. she would get her head out away from my hands a bit then turn toward my arm with an S shape in her neck and tongue flickering? what is this meaning?(maybe nothing) my main thing is I dont want to be handling her if she is really stressed(I know it stresses them a little) is the S shape in the next a sign of fear about to strike? or is it just a common snake position that means nothing when they are being held? thanks.

Brandon

The tongue flickering is just what snakes do. They receive immense amounts of information with that amazing tongue of theirs. It's picks up scent and transfers it into a specialized organ in the roof of their mouth so tongue flickering is pretty much a constant thing with snakes. A really fast flicking can indicate a snake trying to figure out what's going on, a normal slower flick-flick-flick is just a snake keeping track of it's environment. You'll soon figure out the difference when you watch how fast that tongue is moving when prey is nearby or watch a really ticked off snake trying to figure out if it needs to defend itself.

The S position is used for lots of reasons - preparing for a feeding strike, preparing to defend itself or just keeping that vulnerable head back in case the snake gets attacked. Remember these younger snakes are preyed upon in the wild as much as they are predators. Their instincts tell them to make sure they can protect their heads at all times (hence the defensive balling up these particular snakes do). If you think about what your little snake is doing, it's doing everything right! It's aware, engaged and assessing it's new environment just like it should be doing.

When I'm handling a snake I don't know really well and they draw back, I don't worry as much as I just become more aware. I don't wiggle my fingers near that head or anything silly like that when they are drawn back but I don't tense up either. Sometimes it's best to just stay still, quiet and calm and wait for the snake to decide what's up. Sometimes you can just redirect them with a gentle tap from an object like the rubber tip of a pencil to pop them out of it. With big snakes I don't know I might even wear thick gardening gloves in case they do want to try for a quite nip.

Brandon, at this point, just make handling a very short, very calm and gentle experience. Even if it's only 5 good minutes, that's enough. Next time it could be more or just the same quiet 5 minutes. Even if all it is, is the snake coiled on your lap while you watch tv for 10 minutes. The point of it is to just to get your snake used to handling and that handling does not present any dangers to it. Focus on that - a nice handling time, a quiet removal and return to it's home and with enough repitition most of these lovely gentle natured snakes become pretty relaxed about the whole deal.