Handling Advice appreciated! Newbie here!

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Slo_fuzz

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Hey everyone, I'm looking for advice on handling juvies that haven't been handled too much. I'm about to bring home my very first snake ever, an 11 month old hypo carpet. He's absolutely beautiful, will post pics asap!!

Anyways he hasn't been handled that much, but doesn't appear to be too snappy, more flighty and unsure. I have handled his father who is a dream and have been told his mother is fairly evenly tempered. Anyways I'm just looking for advice on how to get him to calm down, take more to handling, tips and tricks, all that business as I really want a snake I can have out and enjoy. Thanks guys :)
 
I've been told is if your worried use a snake hook to get it out and then you can handle, And don't hesitate when picking it up.
 
yes act confident and dont take no for an answer
make sure your hands dont smell of food
and snakes sort of move from the head so when he/she 'takes off' make sure they are sort of going through your hands just go hand over hand and get the snake to just slither through till it calms down

and only handle for short periods of time

and i find about three days after a good feed is best this way they still have a full belly and are a bit more settled

hope this helps
 
Snake hooks are good to use, I use them on my more nervous snakes, I have a yearling Bredli that is still a little scared and flighty, and will have a go at you when you first get her out. If I use a hook I can direct her head away from me, and once she's in my hands she settles down. Remember to be gentle, don't squeeze the snake, just let it move freely around your hands, and don't move too quickly or you'll scare the snake. Try handling every few days except after a feed, snakes will sometimes regurgitate their food if they get stressed and feel threatened. Good luck ;)
 
Agreed hooks are fantastic for flighty/snappy snakes. I'd never get any of mine out without them now.
You could read Longqi's thread about his bag method too. Haven't done it myself but it sounds like it works well for him.
 
Couldn't agree more with the part about confidence.
I recently got a yearling jungle python. Initially, I was quite scared and hesitant to handle her. She definitely picked up on
this and would snap whenever I approached her. After a while of being annoyed and wanting to handle her, I finally caved in and
built the confidence to jump right in and pick her up. Immediately she stopped biting. Now she'll just act a bit flighty and try to slither away (or wrap herself around things) when
I try to get her out. She hasn't snapped for a few weeks now.

I think that eventually her biting and realising it didn't work (although it did initially)
has made her settle down quite drastically and realise she's not achieving anything. The other day, I found if I was extremely quick to lift her rock cave and pick her up & take her by surprise, she just sat there and didn't even attempt to get away (well, she didn't have much of a chance).

In addition, when I first got her, I put a dirty shirt of mine into her enclosure (as suggested by longqi). This may have also helped. It was quite cute trying to get her
out of the shirt and hearing her hiss.
 
Dont you love it when they hiss....my son kept telling me he could hear her and i couldnt for ages.....Mine always do when they are cranky and about to have a shed.
 
Agreed hooks are fantastic for flighty/snappy snakes. I'd never get any of mine out without them now.
You could read Longqi's thread about his bag method too. Haven't done it myself but it sounds like it works well for him.

Similar to the bag method mentioned above but i prefer my method for not bleeding everywhere.

if you dont want to cop a bite but want them to get used to fingers coming from above as opposed to hooks from below then wear gloves. i wear thin polar fleece gloves when i know im going to handle one of my more snappy fellas and i'm about to go work at a hospital. this way i can get them out to clean their enclosures or just have a bit of a handle and not have to worry about catching hepatitis or aids whilst at work. this gets you used to your hand being struck as well. on occasion there will be some blood afterwards but they are very thin open fingered gloves... im sure if they were 2mmthick closed fingered gloves there'd be no bleeding at all.
 
Snakes bite its what they do its gunna happen to everyone that plays with snakes at some stage, so hate to say it somtimes ya just gota suck it up and blood is a part of the game.

Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk
 
Dont you love it when they hiss....my son kept telling me he could hear her and i couldnt for ages.....Mine always do when they are cranky and about to have a shed.

My little water python hissed when I fed her the other day. She did it when she took the rat, and then again when I put the newspaper down (she was hiding under it) I must say it was a very loud and impressive hiss for such a little snake :)
 
Hi, I'm also fairly new to owning and handling my Children's python but I've learnt a lot just through observation and handling.

When I first started I was nervous (keep in mind i gave him 2 weeks to settle in first and a meal before trying anything) I would use the snake hook to just gentle rub his scales, and this was just to wake him up and let him know that it was me. I did this for the first week or so, and my confidence slowly improved. The very next week I just used my hands, firstly using my index to rub his scales (Head to Tail!) to let him know and wake up, then proceed to lift his hide off him, then just pick him up from the mid section.

Other words of advice, My snake feels most comfortable with his tail wrapped around my left wrist, he does this to feel secure and not fall-fall, I also like this because this way i know he'll be fine. He is rather inquisitive and likes to slither in my hair the most, its funny because he moves so much and it feels like a light massage :).

ALSO when he's on my lap I don't lift him straight off, especially when he uses his body to grip my jeans, instead i found that "sliding him" forward it the way his head is and lifting up is the easiest way of getting him off my jeans.

Try to support most of their body, left them do what they want, so let them climb on you till they can find a comfortable place to relax. Don't touch their head or the first part of their neck, apart from underneath them, it feels unnatural and can make them feel threatened.

But the one thing i realise with most people is that they use a hook, pillow case or other things to get their snakes out. I just find that as long as he is forewarned (rubbing of scales to wake up) he is fine to be handled.

Again ,wash hands before and after handling helps minimise the possibility of bites.

And the fear of being bitten is worse then being bitten (first hand experience xD).

So just do what feels right to you, but for now i recommend using your snake hook until you build up your confidence, be confident and don't pussy-foot around when picking up your snake, straight in, straight out.
 
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