Quote Originally Posted by Sonya610 View Post
Its great that your snake will generally "let everyone grab it" and all, but errrmmm....if your 8 year old got tagged and you have not, maybe you should consider teaching everyone in your household about being gentle and as non-threatening as possible.

Just because the bp does not strike, it doesn't mean he is not frightened and stressed out.
WARNING: This is a long explanation.

Just to clarify again...I guess I am not expressing my ideas very well.
I never said our BP 'lets everyone grab it'.
We had the baby BP home for only a few days...(yes should have left it alone for a week)
hubby came home from out of town...
took baby BP out to show hubby...
hubby held Baby in hands for 3 minutes...
8 year old offered to put baby back...I said sure...
son reached out towards baby BP...
baby BP struck out a full foot from where my husband was holding him...punctured sons hand (4 teeth marks)...bled a bit...
son said "well he must have been scared and used the only defense he has...

We have had corn snakes for over 5 years...I am very respectful as are my children of all our animals. We have spent a lot of time teaching everyone in our household to be gentle so as not to stress out the animals.

But I obviously missed reading the BP body language...that is why O came here to ask for help. Our corns are very predictable in their postures, movement and signals.

I was NOT saying that just because the animal does not strike it is not stressed. Truth be told all of the BPs being held most everywhere are experiencing stress. They are a secretive snake (like most) and it is not in their genetic code to seek out human interaction...

Obviously the BP is a completely different snake than a corn.
I wish some of the folks I spoke with who own both would have mentioned that. They said the BP was bigger but more docile than the corn...They said the two snakes were both 'beginner snakes because they are so docile' 'the doggies of the snake world'
Yes. It is ALL MY FAULT...that is why I came here for clarification and help. I have read 4 books, talked and quizzed people for the last 6+ months and have searched here too. Mostly around feeding and humidity issues since those are the 2 things that I was told were the tough parts of caring for BPs.

Thank you to everyone for their help.
I hope you now understand we are not just yanking the snakes out and running through the house with them for something to do. We really care about our animals and consider them a part of the family and a valuable part of the world to be respected.