afraid of my own snakes ...

[kazariel]

hey there,

4 weeks ago i bought 4 garter snakes, concinnus in fact, i really llove this snakes, i love wathing them and feeding is real fun. i don't have any problems with cleaning their terrarium and doing alll the other stuff i have to do.

BUT i an afraidd of touching them, i am afraid when my big femal comes near my hand ... i just can handle them with gloves cause i can not touch them. they aren't biting, a bit stinky but no biting.

here in germany i never had contact to wild snakes and the only snake i touched before my garters was a tiiger python when i was around 5 or 6 ...

well i red a lot of books abount garters and searched a lot in the net so i was prepared for housing them but then ... i am really scared of touching my sweeties and can't really explain why

i didn't know that it would be like that annd i don't wanna give mmy babies away. can anybody give me a tip how to manage this problem?

thanks for reading and sorry for my bad english,

kaza

[drache]

hi Kaza
und willkommen zum forum

I'm not sure what part of it is scary to you
if you're worried about getting bit, I can tell you despite the fact that it's no big deal, I don't like it either. It's not that it hurts, but I still don't like it. I do have one snake I handle with gloves when I first take her out of her enclosure, because she's a biter, and I am better with her if I don't worry about it. After just a minute of handling, she calms down and I take the gloves off

many people get freaked out about feeling the way snakes move - it can seem unmanageable when you're new to it. there's a tendency to want to hold on to them which they respond to by whipping around and becoming even less manageable. The way to "hold" them, so they calm down, is to just support them from underneath. This is difficult to describe, and perhaps some day Steve can make a demo video of Gabby holding a skittish snake. But essentially you keep moving your hands so that the hand that's underneath the rear end of the snake moves underneath the front end as the front slithers out. They tend to calm down faster when they don't feel restrained. this is something you can practice with gloves on.

frankly - I think it's better you wear the gloves until you feel comfortable, because I believe it's better for the animal when you don't feel nervous. and after you handle them with the gloves for a while, you will become more comfortable

please show us photos of your snakes when you can

[ConcinusMan]

That's a new one on me. Most people either loathe the snakes and won't touch them, or even look at them, or they love them, and like to hold them.

[Stefan-A]

I can relate to that. It took a lot of effort of me to get used to holding live snakes. I used to only hold snakes by the neck before I got my first pet snake. The only advice I can give, is to stop using gloves and keep trying. Continued exposure is the best cure.

[Tyrel26]

try putting your hand into the enclosure and letting the snakes move over you, least that way if you pull away you dont drop them

my dad was very afraid of snakes all his life (even though he'd never even seen a real one) but now he likes when i visit so he can get to see them AND hold them, took him a while tho

just dont give up

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I just reach for the midsection of the snake, gently lift up and if it's a bigger snake, slide my other hand underneath. Handling snakes is so second nature to me now that I don't even think about the fact that there is a method to it, until I hand one to someone who's never held a snake before.... they look so awkward trying to hang onto it! Haha....not a day goes by where I have not handled at least 10 different snakes!

[guidofatherof5]

try putting your hand into the enclosure and letting the snakes move over you, least that way if you pull away you dont drop them
just dont give up

Good advice.
This way they learn your smell and feel. Snakes are very tactile.

[jere000]

Hmm this is quite an odd situation, but you don't have to get rid of your snakes because you don't want to handle them infact the snakes will benefit more from you not handling them so if you don't want to handle them it doesn't mean you have to get rid of them.

[ConcinusMan]

True. You don't need to handle them, and they don't need it either. But, at some point, handling becomes necessary.

[guidofatherof5]

True. You don't need to handle them, and they don't need it either. But, at some point, handling becomes necessary.

In my humble opinion, both can benefit from handling