Handling carpet python hatchling

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rooeyjayne

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Hello ?.
This is my first time owning a snake and I’ve never been around a hatchling before and I just wanted to see how others go about handling their python hatchlings for the first time.
Do I let it settle in first then start handling? How often should I handle?
Cheers
 
i would let it settle in in a low traffic area for a bout a week and then offer it a feed, for hatchlings i would go fuzzy mice or hopper mice (depending how old, but probably the hopper)

let it digest its food and 3-4 days after that you can handle it :)
 
Handling is exclusively for your enjoyment. Most of my snakes don't get handled other than for cleaning/feeding, and most of the others only get picked up a few times per year to have a close look at them or for pictures etc. They almost all handle very well. It's mostly a myth that you need to handle snakes to make them good handlers. The vast majority of snakes will best calm down with zero handling, and most snakes which are snappy will become worse with handling, especially the wrong type of handling. When snakes calm down over time while being frequently handled, it's usually in spite of the handling rather than because of it. There are a few exceptions and someone here might point one out, or more likely they'll demonstrate they don't understand snakes by giving an anecdote of a snake being handled over time and becoming less snappy (these snakes would have calmed down more quickly without handling, but there's no comparison). Many people frustrated by snappy snakes get told to keep persevering with handling, which causes the snake to become more snappy and the person more upset and frustrated. Having said that, most likely you won't have a snake anything like this.

Generally speaking you can handle a snake most days, most of them will tolerate it, though if you do it for too much time and/or you're too active while handling them you can stress them out. Pythons naturally spend most of their time resting, and active handling (moving them around while you're holding them as opposed to having them coiled up in your lap while you watch a movie) forces them to remain active and burning energy, which is a drain on their system and can lead to stress or various diseases due to the snake's immune system etc not being as well resourced. If the snake cooperates, you can have it sitting on your lap all day while you sit at your desk working and it won't hurt at all, but if you were to be actively playing with it outside all day most days, you'd stress it and eventually kill it.

Generally speaking, you'll be find to handle as much as you want to, just let the snake settle into a stable feeding routine first, don't overdo it and keep an eye on it to make sure it stays in good health.
 
i would let it settle in in a low traffic area for a bout a week and then offer it a feed, for hatchlings i would go fuzzy mice or hopper mice (depending how old, but probably the hopper)

let it digest its food and 3-4 days after that you can handle it :)
Okay sure thing. Thank you very much.
With feeding for hatchlings it’s about seven days between feeds yes?

Handling is exclusively for your enjoyment. Most of my snakes don't get handled other than for cleaning/feeding, and most of the others only get picked up a few times per year to have a close look at them or for pictures etc. They almost all handle very well. It's mostly a myth that you need to handle snakes to make them good handlers. The vast majority of snakes will best calm down with zero handling, and most snakes which are snappy will become worse with handling, especially the wrong type of handling. When snakes calm down over time while being frequently handled, it's usually in spite of the handling rather than because of it. There are a few exceptions and someone here might point one out, or more likely they'll demonstrate they don't understand snakes by giving an anecdote of a snake being handled over time and becoming less snappy (these snakes would have calmed down more quickly without handling, but there's no comparison). Many people frustrated by snappy snakes get told to keep persevering with handling, which causes the snake to become more snappy and the person more upset and frustrated. Having said that, most likely you won't have a snake anything like this.

Generally speaking you can handle a snake most days, most of them will tolerate it, though if you do it for too much time and/or you're too active while handling them you can stress them out. Pythons naturally spend most of their time resting, and active handling (moving them around while you're holding them as opposed to having them coiled up in your lap while you watch a movie) forces them to remain active and burning energy, which is a drain on their system and can lead to stress or various diseases due to the snake's immune system etc not being as well resourced. If the snake cooperates, you can have it sitting on your lap all day while you sit at your desk working and it won't hurt at all, but if you were to be actively playing with it outside all day most days, you'd stress it and eventually kill it.

Generally speaking, you'll be find to handle as much as you want to, just let the snake settle into a stable feeding routine first, don't overdo it and keep an eye on it to make sure it stays in good health.
If you were to point out the wrong type of handling what would you say that was?
Thank you for all that it was very helpful. Also I was just curious. It says you are a trusted seller, do you mind if I ask whereabouts at?
 
Okay sure thing. Thank you very much.
With feeding for hatchlings it’s about seven days between feeds yes?


If you were to point out the wrong type of handling what would you say that was?
Thank you for all that it was very helpful. Also I was just curious. It says you are a trusted seller, do you mind if I ask whereabouts at?

Sorry to answer for Herp' (I'm not going to type that fully name!) and he can give you his own good answer, but the once per week thing is based more on the way our week is structured and human schedules than it being the optimal time. It does work well enough though. Ideally I like to feed young snakes of almost all species more than once per week, reducing to around once per month for most adult pythons. Wild hatchling pythons will often eat a lot more than once per week, but will often be eating much smaller meals than we give them. With wild adults it's often the opposite. Having said that, what happens in the wild is absolutely not optimal (this is a common misconception).

The most common 'wrong handling' is when a snake is snappy and the person picks it up and holds it anyway in a misguided attempt to calm it down. Basically, the snake is striking and biting because it believes the human is a predator wanting to kill and eat it. Despite the attempt to scare away the human and/or flee, the human picks up the snake, which the snake of course sees as having been captured (bizarrely, this is not obvious to most keepers!). The snake continues to bite and/or flee until the session is over and the person puts the snake down, which the snake interprets as being successful in scaring the human predator into letting it go, and so it is unintentionally being trained to bite aggressively (some will argue and say snakes are never aggressive towards humans, but those people are clearly unfamiliar with the definition of aggression despite it being explained in every dictionary).

The above description is very generalised and there are plenty of variations, but it's a basic way to see one common example of how snakes are trained to fear humans. There are other ways it happens and of course there are other ways to interact with snakes which makes them learn not to fear humans. Amusingly, the best way to deal with snakes to train them not to fear humans is very similar to exactly what you do if you have no interest in handling snakes (snakes will instinctively see that you are doing something in the shared environment but don't seem to take a particular interest in interacting with the snake, so you clearly aren't a threat, and down the track if there is a physical interaction, it isn't scary because they've learned that you aren't interested in eating/harming them).

Don't overthink it; young pythons generally become good handlers within their first few months of life, and it's only a few problem animals which don't, and those are the ones which will respond badly to 'wrong handling'. Most of the others pretty quickly catch on in spite of handling being done poorly, just not as quickly as they otherwise might.
 
Sorry to answer for Herp' (I'm not going to type that fully name!) and he can give you his own good answer, but the once per week thing is based more on the way our week is structured and human schedules than it being the optimal time. It does work well enough though. Ideally I like to feed young snakes of almost all species more than once per week, reducing to around once per month for most adult pythons. Wild hatchling pythons will often eat a lot more than once per week, but will often be eating much smaller meals than we give them. With wild adults it's often the opposite. Having said that, what happens in the wild is absolutely not optimal (this is a common misconception).

The most common 'wrong handling' is when a snake is snappy and the person picks it up and holds it anyway in a misguided attempt to calm it down. Basically, the snake is striking and biting because it believes the human is a predator wanting to kill and eat it. Despite the attempt to scare away the human and/or flee, the human picks up the snake, which the snake of course sees as having been captured (bizarrely, this is not obvious to most keepers!). The snake continues to bite and/or flee until the session is over and the person puts the snake down, which the snake interprets as being successful in scaring the human predator into letting it go, and so it is unintentionally being trained to bite aggressively (some will argue and say snakes are never aggressive towards humans, but those people are clearly unfamiliar with the definition of aggression despite it being explained in every dictionary).

The above description is very generalised and there are plenty of variations, but it's a basic way to see one common example of how snakes are trained to fear humans. There are other ways it happens and of course there are other ways to interact with snakes which makes them learn not to fear humans. Amusingly, the best way to deal with snakes to train them not to fear humans is very similar to exactly what you do if you have no interest in handling snakes (snakes will instinctively see that you are doing something in the shared environment but don't seem to take a particular interest in interacting with the snake, so you clearly aren't a threat, and down the track if there is a physical interaction, it isn't scary because they've learned that you aren't interested in eating/harming them).

Don't overthink it; young pythons generally become good handlers within their first few months of life, and it's only a few problem animals which don't, and those are the ones which will respond badly to 'wrong handling'. Most of the others pretty quickly catch on in spite of handling being done poorly, just not as quickly as they otherwise might.
Alright yeah that makes a lot of sense, thanks a lot for ur help I’ll be sure to take it into mind when I bring one home.
 
Handling is exclusively for your enjoyment. Most of my snakes don't get handled other than for cleaning/feeding, and most of the others only get picked up a few times per year to have a close look at them or for pictures etc. They almost all handle very well. It's mostly a myth that you need to handle snakes to make them good handlers. The vast majority of snakes will best calm down with zero handling, and most snakes which are snappy will become worse with handling, especially the wrong type of handling. When snakes calm down over time while being frequently handled, it's usually in spite of the handling rather than because of it. There are a few exceptions and someone here might point one out, or more likely they'll demonstrate they don't understand snakes by giving an anecdote of a snake being handled over time and becoming less snappy (these snakes would have calmed down more quickly without handling, but there's no comparison). Many people frustrated by snappy snakes get told to keep persevering with handling, which causes the snake to become more snappy and the person more upset and frustrated. Having said that, most likely you won't have a snake anything like this.

Generally speaking you can handle a snake most days, most of them will tolerate it, though if you do it for too much time and/or you're too active while handling them you can stress them out. Pythons naturally spend most of their time resting, and active handling (moving them around while you're holding them as opposed to having them coiled up in your lap while you watch a movie) forces them to remain active and burning energy, which is a drain on their system and can lead to stress or various diseases due to the snake's immune system etc not being as well resourced. If the snake cooperates, you can have it sitting on your lap all day while you sit at your desk working and it won't hurt at all, but if you were to be actively playing with it outside all day most days, you'd stress it and eventually kill it.

Generally speaking, you'll be find to handle as much as you want to, just let the snake settle into a stable feeding routine first, don't overdo it and keep an eye on it to make sure it stays in good health.
The most common 'wrong handling' is when a snake is snappy and the person picks it up and holds it anyway in a misguided attempt to calm it down. Basically, the snake is striking and biting because it believes the human is a predator wanting to kill and eat it. Despite the attempt to scare away the human and/or flee, the human picks up the snake, which the snake of course sees as having been captured (bizarrely, this is not obvious to most keepers!). The snake continues to bite and/or flee until the session is over and the person puts the snake down, which the snake interprets as being successful in scaring the human predator into letting it go, and so it is unintentionally being trained to bite aggressively (some will argue and say snakes are never aggressive towards humans, but those people are clearly unfamiliar with the definition of aggression despite it being explained in every dictionary).

The above description is very generalised and there are plenty of variations, but it's a basic way to see one common example of how snakes are trained to fear humans. There are other ways it happens and of course there are other ways to interact with snakes which makes them learn not to fear humans. Amusingly, the best way to deal with snakes to train them not to fear humans is very similar to exactly what you do if you have no interest in handling snakes (snakes will instinctively see that you are doing something in the shared environment but don't seem to take a particular interest in interacting with the snake, so you clearly aren't a threat, and down the track if there is a physical interaction, it isn't scary because they've learned that you aren't interested in eating/harming them).

Don't overthink it; young pythons generally become good handlers within their first few months of life, and it's only a few problem animals which don't, and those are the ones which will respond badly to 'wrong handling'. Most of the others pretty quickly catch on in spite of handling being done poorly, just not as quickly as they otherwise might.

Very interesting. Thank you for the clear concise information.

Humans haven't been prey for such a long time that I think it is hard for us to put ourselves in that mindset. It's why we do stupid things like approach wild animals and then get upset when we end up mauled. It's helpful to be reminded that we need to look at it from the snakes perspective.
 

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