Ball Body Language?

[ViciousBliss]

Do you use a snake hook?
Or just plan for the best

i personally cannot IMAGINE using a snake hook with a BP. unless it was like, a schizophrenic BP who like, attacked like a cobra.... haha no jk, i just can't imagine using a hook with a BP. they're so cuuute. they're so niiiice. a hook? hehe.

of course i have not been bitten yet (and i'm sure the first bite i get will come around when i decide to indulge in a morph and get a BABY snake ) so maybe you shouldn't listen to me, but i think a hook is a scoach overboard. haha i'm a lucky untagged BP owner, but i'm pretty sure, the first time i get bit, i will feel much more experienced in the BP world lol...

[Sonya610]

Vicious if he is an older boy why don't you pop him? It might be pretty obvious.

[SPJ]

Here is some body language for you.
This means "I'm gonna bite you if you come near me".

[SPJ]

i personally cannot IMAGINE using a snake hook with a BP. unless it was like, a schizophrenic BP who like, attacked like a cobra.... haha no jk, i just can't imagine using a hook with a BP. they're so cuuute. they're so niiiice. a hook? hehe.

of course i have not been bitten yet (and i'm sure the first bite i get will come around when i decide to indulge in a morph and get a BABY snake ) so maybe you shouldn't listen to me, but i think a hook is a scoach overboard. haha i'm a lucky untagged BP owner, but i'm pretty sure, the first time i get bit, i will feel much more experienced in the BP world lol...

Let me introduce you to one of my large breeder girls. A hook is my best friend when dealing with her.

[ViciousBliss]

Let me introduce you to one of my large breeder girls. A hook is my best friend when dealing with her.

haha lol see girls are hissy pissy-ier than boys lolol.

do you think the amount the snake is handled plays into the tudes the snakes develop?

hehe... i guess i'd never heard of anyone using a hook on a BP so i didn't think about it hard enough.. thanks for educatin me

[ViciousBliss]

Vicious if he is an older boy why don't you pop him? It might be pretty obvious.

gosh ya know, i just don't think he'd be too happy if i did that. he's almost 4 feet... haha.

all i know is that snakes are popped when they're babies (which mean they're not NEARLY as strong...) and i just haven't ever heard of anyone poppin an adult.

wouldn't it just be wise to have a professional do it? i mean, if it's as simple as "poppin" him, i suppose i could give it a shot when he's not in blue (which he is atm) heh i just don't want to give him a reason to tag me!

[littleindiangirl]

I still don't know where people got this idea that females are more aggressive? When it comes right down to it, I haven't noticed a difference between my males or females that can be concluded as a gender issue. I think it's all on their personality and how they been brought up.

[littleindiangirl]

gosh ya know, i just don't think he'd be too happy if i did that. he's almost 4 feet... haha.

all i know is that snakes are popped when they're babies (which mean they're not NEARLY as strong...) and i just haven't ever heard of anyone poppin an adult.

wouldn't it just be wise to have a professional do it? i mean, if it's as simple as "poppin" him, i suppose i could give it a shot when he's not in blue (which he is atm) heh i just don't want to give him a reason to tag me!

If you don't feel comfortable, then dont do it. Check out 8ballpythons for popping videos. Adam does some big old snakes in there, looks like he's going to squeeze the bits off.

[frankykeno]

Cam, I'd like to say first off that I think your child is great! What a wonderful and appropriate response to getting tagged. No blaming the snake or freaking out about the "evil snake" and all that. Just an "oh well, it's a snake and that's what snakes sometimes do" attitude. Very good! That's a future confident herper if I ever saw one.

Here's my take on handling and body language in ball pythons. BP's don't use a bite first ask questions later defense mode as much as other snakes, however, they can and will tag you sometimes without warning. It's just not that common once they mature out of the freaked out baby phase.

What we do with all our snakes (BP's, the boa's, the milksnake) is get them used to simple routines. Routine #1 is the "don't mind me I'm just cleaning up your poop" routine and doesn't entail us touching the snake or bothering it - we're just there as the housekeeping staff LOL. Routine #2 is the "let's share some time" one - for this one we might remove the hide if the snake is in it, we take a second to observe the snake's body position, rate of respiration and tongue flicking, we speak to the snake and gently stroke it well down it's body (avoiding the head), this allows the snake to become alert to us and this stroke is the signal that we are going to lift you out of your enclosure, almost all our snakes begin to know this touch and some will immediately start to go up our arms themselves. Routine #3 is feeding night - the snakes aren't handled, they are all primed to eat, most in full strike positions, we just slide out their tubs, introduce the live prey at the fullest point away from them and that's that, WHAMP! dinnertime!

We just basically repeat the three simple routines. The snakes are pretty smart about picking up what each means. If the tub opens and the rat is there....it's dinnertime....if the tub opens and somebody strokes my back, it's handling time....if the tub opens and somebody's not bothering me but is removing my poop, heck I've got a pretty good deal in life and can just go back to sleeping and dreaming of fat, juicy rats.

Learn to observe your snake in it's home. Watch it's body when it's hunting, watch it when it sleeps, when it's having a drink and out for a roam. You'll all soon learn to read it's subtle signals from that observation. When you do handle the snake, pay close attention to the tenseness of it's muscles, to it's grip on your arm, to the intenseness of it's whole being. It's very hard to describe but you can just look at a snake after awhile and know you are going to get nailed. Sometimes they surprise you but most of the time you know what's coming and can re-direct it or just choose to handle the snake at another time.

[frankykeno]

As far as your child handling the snake, here's a few things we taught our kids.

We adults handle the snake first and help judge with them if that particular snake is good to handle right now (this would be for our 7 year old, the teens know by now how to figure this one out alone). We make sure their hands are clean and do not smell of rodents (we raise our own). We make sure the room they are handling in is quiet and not our typical family crazy time.

With the 7 year old he's required to be sitting down while he handles as he's a bit hyper and jumpy. We don't want him to accidentally drop a snake if he's walking around. We also have a firm and absolute rule in this house that no child under 18 ever has a snake around their neck. Not even the small milksnake is allowed there. This is to re-inforce to our children that not every snake is safe on your neck - for you or for the snake. Since we do have fairly large snakes in the house, this rule isn't broken or they lose their right to handle a snake for awhile.

They all know to touch first and then lift the snake. If the snake reacts badly, better they get a small finger nip then a snake acting up outside it's enclosure. They all know that snake's react to heat and quick movement so wiggling your fingers in a snake's face is just asking to get nailed. They all know that BP's in particular can be quite headshy so coming over them from above triggers them to think you are a predator. Most of our snakes do better with an under the "chin" rub.

The kids know that they aren't allowed to kiss the snakes. It's a house rule that if something can lick it's own bum or slithers through it's own poop, mom is going to have a fit it you let that pet near your mouth LOL.

The kids are all taught to keep the snake under control without squeezing it's body too hard. With the 7 year old we often sit beside him while he handles to monitor how it's going. We try and keep his handling sessions short so they go well. This builds his confidence and cuts down on the risks of nips.

After handling the snakes the kids know they must go wash and use gel hand sanitizer.