Handling Confidence

[Nix]

I've been reading over this forum and heard of baby snakes in pockets, snakes in hoods (still looking at those great photos of the boom family) and generally just handling them as one would handle a small mammal.

This got me wondering, how do you go about handling you're little ones?
I’ve only had the confidence to take Lennie out of my hands once, and he immediately dashed behind a mug and took up an S position (so I promptly picked him up and placed him back in his vivi).

Just looking for tips and weather it's just experience or knowing the nature of your snakes.

[guidofatherof5]

It's both.
My large radixes have been with me from birth so they know me also.
I find the more I handle them the calmer they are but my experience is with T.radix mostly.

Photos of the boom family? Do you mean my Bommerang?

[Nix]

aye i do =3, your boomerang always looks so calm and seems to pose for the camera.

guess i'll just have to keep at it then, give my lennie a bit more freedom each time

[guidofatherof5]

aye i do =3, your boomerang always looks so calm and seems to pose for the camera.

guess i'll just have to keep at it then, give my lennie a bit more freedom each time

Here's a link to the outcome of her breeding.
Start at post #33.

[guidofatherof5]

aye i do =3, your boomerang always looks so calm and seems to pose for the camera.

guess i'll just have to keep at it then, give my lennie a bit more freedom each time


Here's a link to the outcome of her breeding.
Start at post #33.

http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/general-talk/8161-boomerang-you-go-girl-4.html

[Jeff B]

I think handling confidence and trust come with time spent with a snake over an extended period of time as well, so that both you get to know the mannerisms of the snake and trust it as well as the snake gets comfortable with your mannerisms and movements and trusts you to not do them harm. We are after all about 500 times there mass. It would be the equivalent to a 90,000 pound alien picking me up, I would be a little unsure of the situation at first to say the least, I might even crap myself the way garters sometimes do, lol. This is just my oppinion and every snake and snake keeper is an individual, with a different set of variables and different learning curve and hense a different amount of time needed to get to the goal of the relative term "tame" or "handleable". Just keep working with and studying and learning about your snake. Some people say that you can't build a bond with a snake like you can a cat or dog, I believe they are wrong.

[guidofatherof5]

[QUOTE=Jeff B;160936] We are after all about 500 times there mass. It would be the equivalent to a 90,000 pound alien picking me up, I would be a little unsure of the situation at first to say the least, I might even crap myself the way garters sometimes do, lol.QUOTE]

Now that is funny. Thanks Jeff.
I'm still laughing, can't catch my brea...............________(flatline)

[Didymus20X6]

http://www.houstontx.gov/fire/unitsandterms/images/ambulance.jpg

[Nix]

thanks for the advice so far, and yeah

We are after all about 500 times there mass. It would be the equivalent to a 90,000 pound alien picking me up, I would be a little unsure of the situation at first to say the least, I might even crap myself the way garters sometimes do, lol.

really puts this into perspective, i guess i'll get to know him better with time =3

[d_virginiana]

You and your snake will eventually get used to each other :) Even though Houdini is very comfortable being handled, I've never been able to let him out of my hands... He's just so energetic and quick!
Have fun getting to know your little one better!


We are after all about 500 times there mass. It would be the equivalent to a 90,000 pound alien picking me up, I would be a little unsure of the situation at first to say the least, I might even crap myself the way garters sometimes do,

Hahaha.... Great comparison :D

[RedSidedSPR]

It took four months before my self-caught garter tamed up like that, but now he's cool with it.

Just work with him. Handle him often, but not everyday or he'll get stressed.

Hand feeding mine helped. It connected something good to my hands. When he is willing to come up to you and eat out of your hand, it kinda shows he's not scared of you.

Touching him without actually picking him up helps too. Stroking his side or whatever so he gets used to your hand.

Holding him just off the ground of his cage keeps him from freaking out.

Just doing anything to get him used to you is key. Interact with him everyday you can, but don't pick him up everyday unless he likes it or he'll get stressed and will temporarily "fear" you. Or at least be very nervous.

Lots more things to try, but those are some that helped me let my snake know I was friend.

Good luck


We are after all about 500 times there mass. It would be the equivalent to a 90,000 pound alien picking me up, I would be a little unsure of the situation at first to say the least, I might even crap myself the way garters sometimes do, lol.

Good comparison Love it.:D

[ConcinusMan]

I would be a little unsure of the situation at first to say the least, I might even crap myself

I think I just did. Shot beer out of my nose too.:D

[drache]

today I have a gig at a Harry Potter birthday party for a nine year old: the handling of mythical creatures

[guidofatherof5]

Well, I didn't see that one coming Rhea.:D
You are so muti-talaented.
Take one of your Uromastyxs as a baby dragon and I'm sure you have a snake that can fill in as a young Basilisk:D

[Nix]

guess i'll have to start hand feeding him then ;_;. i'm not a fan of holding pinkies, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

and again, thaks everyone for the advice

[guidofatherof5]

After a few times I'm sure you'll do fine.
You've got the right attitude going in.;)
Keep us posted on you and your snake's progress.

[Didymus20X6]

Well, I didn't see that one coming Rhea.:D
You are so muti-talaented.
Take one of your Uromastyxs as a baby dragon and I'm sure you have a snake that can fill in as a young Basilisk:D

A baby dragon? You mean like this?

http://www.hrwiki.org/w/images/4/41/Baby_Trogdor_%28store%29.png

[ConcinusMan]

No, like this:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2084/2360665717_cf498939bb.jpg

[Roger Wildcat]

No, like this:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2084/2360665717_cf498939bb.jpg

That's a cigarette lighter. :)

[ConcinusMan]

Yes, he comes in handy when you forget your lighter. I call him "little smokey"

[amattel]

My main issue with Thea, my Black neck girl, is she is prone to leap into mid air and I don't want to her to get lost or hurt.

When I handle her I usually have a slight pressure on her to slow her movements just enough so she doesn't launch herself.

I trust my boas to crawl all over me and keep their "footing" so to speak, but I know Thea thinks she is a flying snake and there are too many places in my room for her to disappear into :)

[ConcinusMan]

I have to really hold on to Amy too, (Iowa christmas albino radix) especially if I'm walking with him and the light levels fluctuate. He's blind and the sudden light changes startle him and he does that too. He'll leap right out of your hand.

[RedSidedSPR]

DANG I WAS GOING TO POST THAT!! (the dragon) sucks.

Amy is a male? Kinda like "little Dude"?:D

[ConcinusMan]

Yup. He is. Totally screwed that up. First off, he was sexed as a female when I bought him. Then, he gave an overall impression of being very yellow. Yellow = Amarillo or "Amy" for short. Then it turned out he's a male, then he went and turned all orange on me. Well, all of this happened way too late. I had already been calling him "Amy" for so long, I just said screw it and kept the name.

[RedSidedSPR]

Thought it was something like that.

[drache]

I've had a few snakes who launch themselves - exciting . . .
takes a lot of attention
many do calm down eventually, but a lot will revert when startled
didn't bring any of those

our little class went well, and given the theme, I stuck with scientific names - they're pretty exotic sounding to most kids
I'd borrowed two RTBs from the rescue and gave a little spiel on how the branch of the ministry of magic responsible for NYC has banned certain creatures because of the high density of muggle population, and that I had these on loan from a visiting wizard with a special permit
I also brought my tiliqua scincoides, uromastyx dispar, pogona vitticeps, and heterodon nasicus - all cool names for magical creatures, don't you think?
snakes are generally much easier on kids than lizards - no scratchy claws - but everyone pretty much got to hold at least one of each
the parents tipped me really well

[Didymus20X6]

Amy is a male? Kinda like "little Dude"?:D
Are you making fun of my Little Dude?

==(>8>-<

[RedSidedSPR]

No... but when i first heard her name I thought for sure it was a male, when I found out it wasn't I was wondering why she was named that. Ya know "dude" is for guys... no offense (in case you weren't kidding:rolleyes:)

==(>8>-< What's all that???

[Didymus20X6]

Look at it again, but think of the 8 as a pair of eyes.

[RedSidedSPR]

Look at it again, but think of the 8 as a pair of eyes.

I knew what it was I was kidding. At first it just looks like a bunch of random symbols:D

[Nix]

Just a bit of an update, i've tried hand-feeding my garter pinkies for the last 3/4 feeds with no luck, he just seems to get scared and dashes off under a hide.
I've been thinking of using worms but i'm not sure if the local variety here in north england is even safe for use. is there any particular type of worm i can grab that i can be pretty sure is safe for my little one?

[guidofatherof5]

I believe you have these worms available. You just need to make sure they are collected from or raised in a safe manor to be used as food for your buddy.
Lobworms:
Lumbricus terrestris - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumbricus_terrestris)

[Roger Wildcat]

Just a bit of an update, i've tried hand-feeding my garter pinkies for the last 3/4 feeds with no luck, he just seems to get scared and dashes off under a hide.
I've been thinking of using worms but i'm not sure if the local variety here in north england is even safe for use. is there any particular type of worm i can grab that i can be pretty sure is safe for my little one?


I had the same problem feeding pinkies to Slick. It took tease feeding for Slick to take the pinkies.

[amattel]

I found a quick dip into tuna juice did the trick. With Thea I am to the point of just dipping the tip of the nose. Hopefully she will take it unscented soon.