Hey all,
So I've recently acquired my first ever python. 2 of them in fact. I've always wanted to own a python but because of my angel of a mother's disgust at them was never able to until I moved out of home.
So I acquired these two beauties unexpectedly while trying to sell a fish tank and someone offered to swap me a Darwin carpet and coastal carpet with enclosure etc. Obviously jumped at the offer.
As far as I know based off the information of the previous owner they are both approximately 3 years old and are both male. They can't be handled together for whatever reason, and the enclosure is split in half because of this. The Darwin carpet has "never had a water bowl" in his half of the enclosure which is slightly larger and on the bottom. They both shed, eat and handle well.
HERES WHAT I WANT TO KNOW.
1. Why would he have never had a water bowl and should I add one?
2. Why can't I let them interact?
3. Why does the Darwin hiss at me when I try to remove him from his enclosure then stop once he's out? (mostly anyway)
4. Why do they seem so inquisitive of my face when handling? They always start off trying to escape or explore, then start wrapping around my arms etc, then move towards my face. And when they get near ny face they seem to tense up, get squirmy and start hissing? However I've read that tongue flickering is a good way to tell if they're feeling defensive or just curious. Long slow flickering = curious, short and fast flickering = stress or defensive? Dunno if that's true but they both seem to do a lot of long slow flickers when handling and even when hissing near my face so not sure if it's a sign to put them back or what? Very confused about that one and honestly a little frightened.
I have a lot of other questions but I'll get to those later if need be.
I've had them for about 10 days now, handled them both from the day after I got them home, fed them on the 7Th day, gave them 24ish hours before handling again.
I'm just really confused so any in depth advice would be much appreciated.
So I've recently acquired my first ever python. 2 of them in fact. I've always wanted to own a python but because of my angel of a mother's disgust at them was never able to until I moved out of home.
So I acquired these two beauties unexpectedly while trying to sell a fish tank and someone offered to swap me a Darwin carpet and coastal carpet with enclosure etc. Obviously jumped at the offer.
As far as I know based off the information of the previous owner they are both approximately 3 years old and are both male. They can't be handled together for whatever reason, and the enclosure is split in half because of this. The Darwin carpet has "never had a water bowl" in his half of the enclosure which is slightly larger and on the bottom. They both shed, eat and handle well.
HERES WHAT I WANT TO KNOW.
1. Why would he have never had a water bowl and should I add one?
2. Why can't I let them interact?
3. Why does the Darwin hiss at me when I try to remove him from his enclosure then stop once he's out? (mostly anyway)
4. Why do they seem so inquisitive of my face when handling? They always start off trying to escape or explore, then start wrapping around my arms etc, then move towards my face. And when they get near ny face they seem to tense up, get squirmy and start hissing? However I've read that tongue flickering is a good way to tell if they're feeling defensive or just curious. Long slow flickering = curious, short and fast flickering = stress or defensive? Dunno if that's true but they both seem to do a lot of long slow flickers when handling and even when hissing near my face so not sure if it's a sign to put them back or what? Very confused about that one and honestly a little frightened.
I have a lot of other questions but I'll get to those later if need be.
I've had them for about 10 days now, handled them both from the day after I got them home, fed them on the 7Th day, gave them 24ish hours before handling again.
I'm just really confused so any in depth advice would be much appreciated.