How to win a Diamonds heart??

[beknluke]

Hey Guys

Well, the inevidable has occurred - I have lined myself up to puchase my second python!! It's a beautiful Diamond yearling.
What I want ppls advice and opinions on though is the following:

a) she hasn't been handled a lot (was going to be a breeder, not a pet I think) and 'handles ok'. What is the best method of (if their individual personality allows it) calming them down? Nightly handling (not for the first week or two), lots of cuddles, hooking her out?? etc etc.
b) at the moment, 9 times out of 10, she'll only take live food. Obviously I would like to get her on to thawed. Now I have read up on feed them thawed STRAIGHT after a live feed, rub live food on the thawed, starve them ( :roll: ), brain things (again: :roll: ) etc etc. Do you guys have any other suggestions/methods??

I want to be as well prepared for this lil chickidee as possible. She will be quarantined for 3months + and will get wormed straight away due to the live feeding thing.
And whilst I understand that she may NEVER be a cuddle pot like Samurai, I would like to try

Thanx huns!
Bex

[zard]

hi Bex, i cant help with advice but ill be watching with interest as the darwin i just got lines me up everytime im close i feel like a pincushion (photos later guys )

[beknluke]

lol
Thanx for your support Zard
I just don't want to be afraid of the lil hottie!! lol

[farmdog]

well congrats Bexs another 1 how does Luke feel about this, you have to handle her Bexs and deal with the bites, wear a pair of rigger gloves if your not keen on being a pin cushion.

[beknluke]

Yeah - Luke wuite likes her, but said he's not touching her LOL
Nah, I don't wanna don the gloves, I wanna get used to it, deal with it, and hopefully have her end up loving me!! awwwww

[dugadugabowbow]

Bex the only thing you can do to try and calm her down is persist with handling but even that may never work.
Some snakes are just snappy and no amount of handling will change that. One the pythons i have is 7yrs old and i've had since it was 2 weeks old handled it every couple of days until it was about 2 yrs old, it's just a mean snake.
It thinks everything is food and constricts your hand as soon as you touch it closely followed by a bite if you can't get your hand out, he is a evil snake but i love him

As for try to get it on thawed prey you may find a change of cage will start it feeding perfectly well, this has happened to me many times.
If not persist with thawed prey, try buming the prey around it's head i've found that a good way to get a feeding response.
Just persistence is the best thing the more live prey it eats the harder it will be to get onto thawed.

[beknluke]

Anyone else??

[farmdog]

what about

[farmdog]

no I'm not afraid I like getting bitten atm I thought it would be amusing, being that your asking ppl for advice Miss Bexs

[ponybug]

hi bex,
not sure i can help with the bitting bit, as i get tagged all the time, after a few you get used to it, lol, well i did, not that my snakes are that bad, but i'm just not that worried about getting tagged and that seems to make me a target, the other thing i've thought about is that i'm the one that feeds them, so when they see or smell me they know there is food coming, my brother who doesn't feed them can put his hands in their cages and they don't even move, but if i just stick my hands in, bang, i'm tagged, (mostly only by my coastal male)
as for getting them on frozen, we breed our own food so it was easy to feed live, after reading lots of posts here about the better ways of feeding, i started stunning the rats first to get them used to dead food, i then moved onto frozen and this worked for me, now all my snakes will take live, stunned or frozen,
hope this helps you out, but as you will find out when getting more then one snake that they are so much different to each other.

cheers,
steve.......

[africancichlidau]

Duga Duga is right on the money here Bex! The only thing I would add is that when you handle be confident. If you are hesitant in any way or if your nervousness is noticed by the snake it is far more likely to bite.

[diamond_python]

Yeah, put up with the bites if you can and handle as much as possible. Wear gloves for a while if need be. My coastal tags me non stop. I copped a constriction the other night followed by a feeding bite and another constriction last night. He always has a go at me but I never let it worry me. Tonight, for the first time ever, (actually about 20 mins ago) I donned a pair of gloves and got him out and although he was a tad flighty he never struck once (cheeky devil). Knowing my luck, if I had of taken the gloves off, he would have tagged me umpteen times as per normal. I might don the gloves for a couple more weeks and play with him heaps to calm him down and that way you don't have to worry about running to and from the sink washing little bits of blood from your hands while he is still tagging another part of your hand. Go with what you feel comfortable with

[beknluke]

Thanx guys
Much appreciated!
I spoke to the seller today and apparently she's not a biter at all, but is flighty and doesn't relax completely when she's being handled. BUT we'll see what I get her By the time that my import permit comes through etc, I am hoping that I will have her by the w/end!! SO excited!
In the way of food, I will try her on thawed as her first feed with me and if she refused, try thawed again in a few days time. THEN try the dead and live.
I will post a pic for you all

[serpenttongue]

Forget if she's slightly snappy, she'll change soon enough and become docile. Dont bother with gloves, they're not needed. I would hook her out and onto your arms instead of reaching into the enclosure to pick her up. I suggest you start handling her as soon as possible and for 5-10 mins each time. Walk around the house with her or watch TV with her. She'll tame up quick.

As for feeding i would stop with the live prey now. Let her get hungry and then offer a fresh kill or thawed rodent. Present it to her and if she follows it she'll most likely take it. If not leave it in the enclosure overnight. Just dont go back to live prey. Let her give in to you, not you giving in to her.

[teza]

Bring back, "love the glove" lol