Can a mental scrubbie be calmed down?

[PilbaraPythons]

jairusthevirus21
As crazy as some people might think your dominating approach is, I actually know there is some merit in it. I use the exact same approach with pythons that have bad reputations and it seems to work for me. Many people have been totally surprised when I have managed to pull out and handle their snakes that they swear would bite anyone who tried. Having said this , I am not sure I would do this with someones bad mannered 18 foot scrub python lol. Wild female Perenties seem to do the same ( as in totally submit once they think you have the better of them ) after first carrying on like a pork chop threatening to maul you. I thought this behaviour when I first experieced it was quite amazing. Awesome monitor, but thats another subject.

[StellaDoore]

Oh my goodness, what are people doing up at this time??

I've seen the dominating/confidence thing as well. I had to clean the enclosure of a darwin and I was relatively new to snake keeping, so was a little nervous with the bites. The darwin kept striking at me until I chickened out and got an experienced keeper to get it out. He just scooped it up, let is crawl around on his hands and there was no biting, striking, nothing...very cool to see.

I'm sourcing an enclosure to put this scrub in (he's not mine, but I'll babysit soon, and he's currently in an enclosure bank) and when I do, I'll be sure to get him out for a "play". My game plan is to act confident (er, with gloves...), never underestimate him, always be on alert, and have him out for a few minutes at a time, or at the very least, until he looks to have calmed down a little bit. I might try the bag method first though, I've heard good things about it and considering this snake has had minimal human contact (just to clean his enclosure), slow and steady might be the way to go.

Can't wait to get some cool pics up here =D

[caliherp]

jairusthevirus21
As crazy as some people might think your dominating approach is, I actually know there is some merit in it. I use the exact same approach with pythons that have bad reputations and it seems to work for me. Many people have been totally surprised when I have managed to pull out and handle their snakes that they swear would bite anyone who tried. Having said this , I am not sure I would do this with someones bad mannered 18 foot scrub python lol. Wild female Perenties seem to do the same ( as in totally submit once they think you have the better of them ) after first carrying on like a pork chop threatening to maul you. I thought this behaviour when I first experieced it was quite amazing. Awesome monitor, but thats another subject.

I have not read through the whole thread but I agree with you about approaching a snake with confidence. It is the best way to get it out of the habatat. What I do with my more aggressive pythons is let them know I'm there then I approach at a methodical pace never pulling back wether or not the snake is hissing or striking. Then I gentley pick it up and support its bodey. One huge mistake people make is getting afraid and pulling there hand back. 9 times out of 10 this technique works for me. Also I have never used gloves to handle any of my reptiles. I feel it stresses them out more then it stresses you out getting bit.

[disintegratus]

This entire thread has just made want a scrubbie more.

[caliherp]

+1

[Joemal]

LOL nice one Joemal! my Scrubbie delivered the same after i had to grab its neck coz someones stupid King Charles Cavalier wanted to sniff the pointy end! nuthing like trying to handle a large snake thats covered in your own blood....StellaDoore. what worked for me was approaching my Scrubbies and treating it like a Rottweiler. Dominate it! Your the boss and you have no fear! i noticed my 4 meter Scrubbies were hesitant to bite if i went straight in and touched its head and stroked it (with a welding glove). then quickly shook off the glove and it was fine to grab a take out of enclosure. Animals do respond to the energy you give off. As stupid as it sounds they do 'smell your fear' so to speak. Thats why i love my Scubbies. Its a Psychological game as soon as i open the enclosure. be confident.
this worked successfully for me so who knows it might work for you too....

LOL .. your approach is the way i do it jairusthevirus21 i call it the shock and awe tactic .I use a hook to "wake"her up then just bare hand wrestle that sucker out of her cage to shock her and catch her off guard then stand back in awe at a job well done .Works for me and yes i believe the pussy footing round approach just gives them time to react in a manner that will affect your health lol . With my girl now in a large enclosure and a large log to lay on above head height i have to now come up with a new way to get her out .When she is in her dog kennel it's only a matter of carrying the whole thing out through the sliding door but when she is out and about in the cage there are too many places where she has the advantage over me and the last thing i need is to be in there with her and her doing a Mike Tyson on me .

[-Peter]

Few years back, looks can deceive.

[MR_IAN_DAVO]

I got one once as a part of a cheap deal that the guy did not want. I can understand why.
It was about 2 yrs or so age & about 2.5 metres long. Well they are probably the most agile & strongest Aussie python that i have ever come accross. Their bite is huge & they are very fast.

Well if i was to keep this guy, i had to do something with him to settle him down as he was pretty agro, so i persisted with bruising bites for a short time until he started to accept me & from there on we formed a relationship with a lot of respect.

I got him to a stage where i could handle him with great ease & i feel that the process was all well worth it. As my wife did not me to keep it because they can grow to 4 to 5 metres in length, we onsold it to someone in NT. After that i missed the adrenalin rushes.

Cheers
Ian

When I first got this guy, I thought these photos would have been impossible,
But after 3 months or so of persistant handling, he became just like a puppy dog that you could scratch behind the ear...
But they do deserve a lot of respect & don't trust them for one minute.



Call me a Daredevil or just stupid, whatever tickles your fancy, But the photos show the story.

Cheers
Ian

[Addam]

congratulations APS you have gotten me even keener to get my scrubby! looking forward to the challenge!

[Striker]

This entire thread has just made want a scrubbie more.

Damn it disintegratus! I just read through 7 pages of scrub python behavioural descriptions, advice, photo's, war stories and of course fights. By the time I got to about page 3 and after reading Jamie's early descriptions I had decided I wanted one and that once I make it to the end of the thread I'll announce it for all the world to read (or at least, those in the world who bother to read this thread). So I finally make it to the end of page 7 only to find that you have stolen my line.....

Where are we buying from?

[MR_IAN_DAVO]

Who cares, just buy one & tame it down.
What a great challenge. But buy a little one. LOL.

Cheers
Ian

[ArgentinoAussie]

Hey guys, just glancing over posts re- scrub pythons, my latest scrub is a beautiful little female called Buffy,she has calmed down from being an aggressive biatch to quite tame 99 percent of the time, but there is always that chance that no matter how "tame" I think she is she still has her wild defensive instincts. Motto of the story...... Even the best behaved student can turn out to be a bad nut.

[MR_IAN_DAVO]

Hey guys, just glancing over posts re- scrub pythons, my latest scrub is a beautiful little female called Buffy,she has calmed down from being an aggressive biatch to quite tame 99 percent of the time, but there is always that chance that no matter how "tame" I think she is she still has her wild defensive instincts. Motto of the story...... Even the best behaved student can turn out to be a bad nut.

So True.

[disintegratus]

Damn it disintegratus! I just read through 7 pages of scrub python behavioural descriptions, advice, photo's, war stories and of course fights. By the time I got to about page 3 and after reading Jamie's early descriptions I had decided I wanted one and that once I make it to the end of the thread I'll announce it for all the world to read (or at least, those in the world who bother to read this thread). So I finally make it to the end of page 7 only to find that you have stolen my line.....

Where are we buying from?

Hehehe... I do my best

I can't have one yet I literally don't have the room to house a snake that big. I just got a loft bed so I can get an Olive python, but I don't think there'll be enough room under it for both.
If I get an adult, I could probably empty out the garage and use that as it's enclosure, but the dogs have figured out how to open the roller door...

I'm kind of attached to the dogs, so I think I'll wait for a little while yet

[Joemal]

Who cares, just buy one & tame it down.
What a great challenge. But buy a little one. LOL.

Cheers
Ian

This is true for new Scrubbie owners and another thing which most of us should practice and i'm a big culprit of doing it with my bigger snakes is "Keep them off your neck" and try and get someone to give you a hand or atleast be close by if things take a wrong turn for you .By the time alot of new Scrubbie owners have snakes this size and bigger they should be well aware of the dangers but as in my case and quoting words from the famous Forrest Gump "Stupid is as stupid does "