Ahoy hoy!

[prettyinmetal]

Hey everyone!!

My name is Vicki, I have just started using this forum! Im new to the world of reptiles, and have just aquired a baby coastal carpet female. I also have a bird eating spiderling, Anyone who has advice on the best way to start handling my baby snake im all ears, cause i get jumpy every time she tries to bite me. I know I shouldnt but its just a reaction i have god dam it! :shock:
Anyways hope to be speaking to you guys alot more on here, i have read posts from some very interesting people on here with so much experience!

 

[pythonlover]

Ahoy there!!

I have a couple of coastals myself, would love to see pictures of yours. My best advice for handling is to let her settle in for a week or two then graduly handle her in her enclosure and let her get use to you. My female coastal is a nutcase lol i mean it but when i take her out into the bright sunlight she dosent seem to be the slightest bit annoyed at me picking her up.

I dont know if this was any help but good luck lol

OH OH OH and Welcome.

 

[oxyranus]

welcome to APS.I also have a costlal hatchy,mine was a bit physcho when i first got it but after leaving it for 2 weeks to settle in and then handling it he is know the most docile snake wont even rear up.This is a great site with heaps of really experienced herpers who are really helpful.

cheers chris.

 

[prettyinmetal]

hey

Ive had her for about two months, and she is still really snappy, but i know half of why she is snappy, its because everytime she looks like she is about to bite i back away from her instead of just grabbing her out. but being inexperienced i freak out.

 

[elapid68]

Once you get nailed a couple of times you'll realise it's not as bad as it looks so eventually you'll probably be less worried about when she has a go at you and less likely to get nervous and pull away.
There could be countless reasons why she strikes. You just might be unlucky and she might just be a biter. I've got several snakes that I've had for years and they still bite. It's just their nature. Then again as she is in new surroundings, it might be she's still a bit skittish but given time could be a good handler.
Just keep trying, you'll get there. Oh yeah, welcome to the site.

 

[prettyinmetal]

pictures

Here are some pictures of Tisha

 

[pythonlover]

Gorgeous looking snake.
Just give it time and get used to a few bites you should be fine.

 

[bredli84]

the best advice i can give is to put your hand in the enclosure and let it bite you a few times (make sure not to pull away as this can injure the snake), after a couple of nips you will realise it dosn't hurt at all and you will get over your fear.

 

[prettyinmetal]

Yeah, she has bitten me a few times, and before she did that i was confident in just picking her up at any time, but as soon as she bit me once, i recoiled and am now to scared to just stick my hand in. But you guys are right i should just stick my hand in and get used to it.

 

[Recharge]

hahahahha you'll have to get used to getting bitten
just think how little it actually hurts I'm pretty sure snakes smell fear

you'll get used to it in time I lost count years ago of how many times I've been bitten
doesn't even bother me now (well, big ones still hurt )

 

[Miss B]

Welcome to APS!

She's a very pretty little snake.

 

[prettyinmetal]

ooohh I dont like being bitten

Thanks every one for the welcome, and the compliments on my little baby girl. I know that i should let her bite, but everytime she is about to i do the whole girly thing and go oooohhh dont bite me little snakey you scare me thing. lol how embaressing!

 

[Tsubakai]

I have really started to appreciate coastals recently and yours is quite nice. I have a pair of coastal hatchies with the female being very placid and the male a highly strung little nutjob. After I finally got him feeding well, started handling him, mainly for cleaning and checkups. Counted the tags last night and he got me 43 times in 12 minutes. Put him back then cause he started getting stressed. He's improved heaps in the last couple of weeks :lol:

The point of the above ramble is that a few months ago I jumped everytime (triggered by the sudden motion rather than pain) but have conditioned myself to ignore it and now its fine. I just used the 'stick my hand in and let him bite' training method to get used to it. Others will likely have more sensible suggestions for you

Good luck and stick with it.

 

[prettyinmetal]

bitey snake

yeah i think thats my problem too, cause Tisha and I have just moved from the Gold Coast to Sydney, and she is still settling in also.
I only got bitten a couple of times when i first got her, but now that we have moved she bites like a tiger! grrrrr baby.
Yeah i am going to try the whole stick in ye old hand and see what happens trick but she is a cranky little thing right now.

Coastals are gorgeous, i fell in love with them when i saw my mates 12ft one named lil. she is so placid and just so beautiful.

 

[eladidare]

welcome to aps, you will hear alot of nonsense about how you should only handle your snake once a week... dont listen to that! i handle most of mine 2-3 times a day ever since they were hatcho's and they are all great handlers! ppl who only handle their snakes once a week wonder why they dont have handlable snakes.
good luck with it all!

 

[prettyinmetal]

hahaha

No I couldnt just take my snake out just once a week,
1) i am over protective of her as it is, i couldnt just watch her in her enclosure
2) she would turn completely feral!!!

its wierd that some people dont even take their snakes out at all unless its to feed them or to clean their enclosures, i could never do that, even my kakariki comes out every day to fly and poop all over the place! and my spider has a good couple of hours out crawling all over me every day too.

 

[Chris89]

Hello and Welcome to APS.

I've had my little MD for 3 weeks today, and he is still a little nut case. He goes at you through the enclosure, and is quite happy to give you 20 odd bites in less than a minute. I think that he is somewhat calming down, but he's in the middle of shedding so he's acting up again.. Time will tell what his temperment is like.

Before Zorro started shedding he was coming out around once per day, but after he's shed I'll try and get him out abit more.

My stimson (Ziggy) She comes out 2 - 3 times a day.. In the morning, afternoon and sometimes at night time. She loves to come out and loves everyone, she's never bitten or striked at anyone, she made an awesome first snake and I love her to bits! I might get her out now!. ...

Time will tell with your new coastal. Might be one of those snakes that you can look at but not touch, but it'd be hard to determine that as you haven't had her for that long.

 

[spilota_variegata]

Welcome to the site. Nice looking snake Snakes usually calm down a bit with age. Getting bitten is never nice, even when the snakes are small. Sure there is little pain, but they still can draw a little bit of blood (a drop or two). I don't put my hand in to get bitten intentionally but if they bite I try not to pull back. With time, your snake will stop biting as much. I can't say it will stop completely - noone can tell you that.. Good luck.

 

[prettyinmetal]

time will tell

see thats the thing when i first got her she was placid, the place that i got her from always handled her and she was spoilt rotten, however when i bought her home about two weeks after having her she was a mental case, what im thinking is that the enclosure is just too big for her, and she is getting a bit hostile now cause she thinks she is queen bloody latifah or something, so me and my dad are going to half the enclosure and see if that helps any. But i am getting really sick of the biting cause i have young sisters and they are scared of her, and i do not want them to ever be scared of snakes, so if halving the enclosure does not work, i will give her a couple more months to settle down and if that doesnt work, im afraid im going to have to sell her, it will break my heart to do, but i just refuse to have more people scared of snakes because im an inexperienced handler and cant control this should be placid snake.

 

[Chris89]

Maybe place her into a click clack set up.