Angry Darwin Story

[lycanthropica]

i thought i would share an experience i had/am having with a snake.
i got a super hot darwin from snake ranch late starters deal.
she got delievered to my work last tuesday.

when i got her to work i opened the box and bag to see if she was ok
(my work area is pretty quiet and not much movement or many people)
as soon as i opened the bag she started to come out
"oh what a fun curious snake" i thought (as my bf's blonde mac is super curious and friendly and always wants to go for 'walks')
but no! as soon as it got it's head out of the bag it took a strike and then kept on striking
i couldn't get my hand near the bag to get the snake in propery and it was taking strikes so hard and fast it came out of the bag onto my desk. i quickly fashioned a hook from a caot hanger and got him back into the bag.
after that i left her safe and quiet under my desk.

when i got home i put her straight into a click clack with a hide and some heat and water
she was still upset and was taking strikes at the plastic sides. i put the snake bag over the click clack so she wouldn'y get freaked out by any movement or light.
the room is not overly noisey or have much thru traffic as it's just me and is a small one bedroom apartment.

i took a peek under the snake bag late that night to see if she was ok and she had not even been in her hide. she was sitting on top and took a strike at me as soon as i lifted the bag up.
'i am not going to even look at this snake for a few days' but the next morning i noticed that the tanks was humid, i looked inside and she had done a poo in her water and spilt it everywhere.
i took her out with the hook put her in a box changed the newspaper substrate and water and put her back (still upset with her mouth open and taking more strikes)
that day i emailed snake ranch to ask them if this snake had been upset before and what i should do.

that afternoon i moved her to a bigger clicky with paper taped on the outside.
(this is 1/3 on a heat mat with the hot end 34-36c and the cold end 20-25 a bit cold for the cold end but i can't get it hotter unless the hot end gets to 40+)
still upset

i got an email from Marylin from Snake Ranch sayin Kane was on holiday and that she would talk to John for me.

my main concern was that the snake didn't seem scared as it wasn't ever in the hide.
i got more worried and worried until on firday night i got a phone call... it was John Weigel.

according to my bf i have never sounded more nervous on the phone in my life.
John asked me to tell him the story of what had happened and then asked me a million things about how i was keeping the snake.

He told me the snake is scared not angry and everytime i look at it or it hears something it thinks it's going to die, i guess it's like fight or flight and this snake is just fighty....to my plesant surprise there wasn't much i was doing wrong. I needed to offer more hides in a range of temps and maybe put the bag in so the snake could hide under it too (he also sugested paper towel rolls squashed a bit flat apparently snakes love these) also that my cold end was too cold (something i have had to remedy by actually increasing the room temp in my loungeroom) John also suggested i try to feed the snake as it might feel a bit better and safer if i fed it instead of just staring at it. it hadn't occured to me to feed it as it had been fed 6 day before and i didn't want to stress it by it having to look at me.

I tried to feed her on friday night and she took a fuzzy mouse into her hide but on saturday the mouse was outside the hide uneaten
i took out the dead mouse and tried to feed again on saturday (feeding one fuzzy mouse) She ate all up and went into her hide.

John also mentioned that for now i should move her using the hook but eventually i should handle her and she will bite me but once she has biten me a few times and realises i am not going to hurt her she should settle down.

at the moment she is still upset but has calmed down a lot since last tuesday

i was so happy with the level of support i got from Snake Ranch and that they took the time to call me

has anyone had the same issues and done something similar or different?
NB: i am very nervous around anyone who knows a lot about things i like (even a lot people on this site make me shy)

 

[Cheyne_Jones]

I have 2 new darwins i got from snake ranch this year. The male is a softy but the female is a nutter, thinks my hand is the enemy. I only handle her on a hook and try not to handle too much as imo she hates it. Just a nervous snake.

She isnt such a great feeder either, if distrubed she will drop the prey item and flare up at me.

Sounds to me like your doing it all correct, she will come around one day once she realises ur not the enemy. Dont hold your breath, may only happen once it is a lot larger.

 

[itbites]

Sounds fairly typical...I had a coastal like that took me a good 6 months of solid handling for him to relax lolz he would just sit there posed to strike and follow me around the room! He was a little psycho . Most young snakes are unsure of things and take a while to settle in.... I guess it doesn't help that the li'l one has been freighted ect...he just needs some stability, I'm expecting the same thing to happen when I get my new li'l ones from SR . Good luck with your new little friend i'm sure he will settle down for you once he feels more comfortable. Cheers K

 

[tfor2]

Yep we have a darwin that we thought was pure evil from the egg. Im sure she spent the first year of her life mouth open just waiting for us to open the enclosure so she could nail us (not literally but it seemed like that anyway)
and now well shes a little better, but never misses an opportunity when you least expect it to get you.....We bought it from a private breeder, but some of the others from the same clutch were fine. LOL we got the skitzy one i guess. Either way shes a beautiful snake... we love her

 

[Chimera]

Unfortunately Darwins are known to be a little snappy, my Jungles are still very much the same (only with bigger teeth )

The hardest part of getting a new hatchy is resisting the urge to look and play, but it is the best thing you can do for it. Sounds like you got some good advice from John, just leave it to settle in for a few weeks, use a small hook to handle (only when absolutely necessary, i.e. cleaning) and leave the enclosure covered. As with most reptiles, patience will bring the best results.

 

[tan]

Hi Holly,
Just give the little fella a few weeks to settle down into his new home. Freighting and moving homes can be quite stressful for them. The important thing is that it is feeding so thats a plus. Just feed it weekly for a bit and when it seems to be a little more relaxed in its cage then start gradual handling, perhaps only 10 mins at a time initially. You will cop some bites but think of it this way, a cat is much worse, IMO. Gradually he should come around, with patience and persistance. Just handle him confidently (not pulling away and jerky). I like to think of snakes just like humans...some are wonderful and friendly, and some are just pr*%ks.
Good Luck
Tan

 

[Chris89]

When I first got my M.D He was exactly like that however he refused to eat for about 7 weeks. Took about 6 months for him to calm down. Now he's a big sook lol.

Good luck

 

[lycanthropica]

thanks for everyones input

i am defintitley going to leave her setting in for a while before i try to touch her

i guess i am just lucky that my Bredli and bf's Mac are totaly fussy sook snakes hahahahha

the only thing i have been bitten by so far is my mates blue tongue

 

[Krystal]

I have left my new stimson alone for quite awhile now! He is always out and about looking for food but is constantly striking at me. If he poos and I need to clean his cage out he just cruises around while I have his click clack sitting in front of me... an hour or more later and he finally goes into his box so I can take that out in order to clean it! We don't handle him because I am scared of the tiny little bugger and he constantly strikes and launches himself off our hands or laps and I am afraid he will get hurt/lost/caught by the cats.

My female stimson was always an angel! Never has bitten or looked like she wants to - she will sometimes climb out onto my hand and doesn't mind when I just lift her out of her cage. Totally different personalities but we will wait and see what happens as he gets bigger.

 

[Lockie]

I've got a 5 month old jungle hatchy - i've had her for 3 months, and she's like the Devil re-incarnated!! (no suprise really.....its a Jungle). I named her Fluffy... she's my little psyco!

Over the last 3 months she's calmed down quite a lot - I can get her out of her click clack and she doesn't strike as much (now i'm only losing 1 litre of blood instead of 5 litres). Recently she's started head-butting my hand instead of striking - I've come to the conclusion that she's getting used to me.

My advice is to stick with it and be patient - the more positive handling you do, the better he will be... by positive handling I mean that you can get him out, let him have a slither without any striking or thrashing or anything bad occuring that could scare him into attack mode (like accidentally touching his tail) then you can put him back into his click-clack without any fuss. Soon you'll notice a huge difference, then you can move onto riskier stuff like getting him used to being touched on the back or head.

It took me a while to recognise bad handling techniques for hatchies - like carelessly touching their tail, back or head, or making fast movements... and they really love wiggling fingers! Hatchies are very responsive to movement - so try REALLY slow movements (esp. when picking them up - move slow and let them have a lick or two so they remember that its just your hand).

A good rule of thumb for handling them is if they stop feeding... that means you're over-doing it so leave him alone for a while until he feeds, and then reduce the time/frequency of handling.

good luck - make sure you keep us posted!

regards,
Lockie

 

[Ramsayi]

I dont think she is settling because "she is getting used to you" lockie.More likely now that she is getting some size to her she isnt feeling so vunerable.Remember to a baby snake EVERYTHING is out to eat it.

In my experience the vast majority of snappy young snakes will calm down with age/size with very minimal or even no handling.

 

[Lockie]

You're probably right Ramsayi - I guess maybe I've perceived it as getting used to me, but in reality she's feeling less vulnerable.

Surely some of her calming down (even a little?) is due to being handled? Now you've got me wondering.

 

[Australis]

In my experience the vast majority of snappy young snakes will calm down with age/size with very minimal or even no handling.

I totally agree with Ramsayi.
I don't think handling is necessary to calm your python down.

Outside of cleaning i very rarely handle my pythons, most of them were very defensive, now all are very calm
with out any intense handling effort, just age/size.